The New Kid, page 15
“Yip.”
“Can we make her a Templeton Trash Tub?”
“Tell me more.”
“Put clean trash, like rags and wadded-up bags and newspaper, into a nice new plastic wastepaper basket, along with nuts, Cheerios, and yogurt drops.”
“Sure.”
“Shall we invite some more of the grown-ups to the barbecue? You could stand to meet some more people, Dad. There’s got to be other fun things for you to do up here besides blogging about baked beans.”
“I’ve been blogging about ranch beans, but yup. Let’s invite the grown-ups.”
It hadn’t been easy moving before the end of the school year, from a very small private school where Carson knew everybody to a very huge public school where he knew nobody. It hadn’t been easy, being the New Kid.
Carson had never been the New Kid before.
And it still wasn’t easy. But it was getting easier.
Especially now that he had a few friends and a birthday plan.
“You’re an awesome possum, Dad.”
“You are, too. Happy Almost Birthday, son.”
“Thanks, Dad. Can you speak Pig Latin?”
“A little. Not fluently.”
“I think Dollie might be pretty good at it. Do you want me to see if she’ll bring the LeSabre to the park and let us take it once around the block while everybody’s fishing?”
“Aybemay. But rather than leave my post as host, I’d prefer to take it once around the racetrack. She has a pit pass, right?”
“Right.”
It was fun being friends with Wes.
Carson’s dad was right about horsing around on the trail ride, though.
Fishing in the pond with Weston Walker would be challenging enough, but at least a boat wasn’t going to be involved. Dollie’s Stink Eye had a better chance of working at the edge of a pond than behind a horse heading off into a ravine.
And they could sign each other’s Hello Bingo cards in the “Went fishing” box.
• • •
Carson looked out across the neighborhood, above the treetops. Birds darted in the air, and landed in the treetops, and took off again. Above them, a hawk was catching an updraft.
Maybe it was Coop.
It was awesome having a pond only about a quarter of a mile away, as the crow flies.
Carson was definitely warming up to crows. If Bob crashed the birthday barbecue, so be it. If he got pushy about the tri-tip, Genevieve could bark at him and chase him away to roost beside his great horned owl gal pal with the pretty golden eyes. Sure, Genevieve was low-key, but when necessary she could get the job done.
Moose would hide under the covers.
As for putting him up on a shelf when Carson turned nine, forget it.
If there were life skills or guidelines related to the point at which a little old antlerless, wattleless, and cropped-tailed stuffed moose should be put up on a shelf, Carson didn’t know what they were, and he didn’t care what they were.
The day Moose would be put up on a shelf would be the day Carson opened the door of his veterinary office. He would put him up on a shelf behind the counter beside a WELCOME sign and an artfully asymmetrical ceramic business-card holder that held a neat stack of cards that said Carson Blum, DVM in the middle and had a small picture of a moose jumping over the letters with his dewlap flying and his antlers grown back.
MAVIS JUKES is the award-winning author of several books for children and teenagers, including the picture books No One Is Going to Nashville, Blackberries in the Dark, I’ll See You in My Dreams, You’re a Bear, and the Newbery Honor Book Like Jake and Me. Other titles include several nonfiction books in a series for adolescents, the latest of which is Be Healthy! It’s a Girl Thing: Food, Fitness, and Feeling Great, co-written with Lilian Cheung.
Mavis taught school for many years, then became a lawyer, before writing her first book for children. She recently returned to teaching full-time and is now a computer teacher in three public schools, teaching word processing, graphic design, and language arts to nine hundred enthusiastic students a week. It is from this job that she drew inspiration for the ideas and antics featured in The New Kid.
Mavis lives with her husband, the artist Robert Hudson, in Sonoma County, California. They share their small ranch with four cats, a dog, and numerous hawks, owls, raccoons, opossums, skunks, and other mysterious critters whose eyes twinkle in the dark. Mavis and Bob are the parents of four children, all artists.
Mavis Jukes, The New Kid
