Chapter 8-3
376 Words
“Where’s Tam?” Jaspar had to tug on his dad’s sleeve to get his attention. He was sitting in his office and glaring at his phone as if it had just bitten him, like that gerbil did to Tommy Hancock in Mr. Melk’s class.
“She’s with Ms. Williams today.”
The costume lady. Wait. Hadn’t she told him she’d be at Gretchen’s? She never lied to him. Sometimes she got his help when she needed to tell one, but she’d always told him the truth. Or had she? What was going on all of a sudden?
“When’s she getting back? I’m stuck on homew—”
“Not for a while, buddy. Look, I’m jammed up in this meeting for maybe another hour. Then I’ll help you. Okay? Can you work on something else until I’m free?”
Jaspar looked at the other men in his dad’s office. They had a lot of papers and drawings and notes and stuff spread all over the table. They were all looking at him, waiting for his dad.
He also had his phone out and was looking sorta pissed, like when he was trying not to scream at him or Tam for doing something dumb. He didn’t scream except when they’d really earned it, but he had that look.
“Sure, Dad. Whatever.”
Jaspar went back to the cubicle across the hall from his dad’s office where he usually did his homework. The problem was that he didn’t have any other homework except this lame book report on stupid Captains Courageous.
Tam usually helped him, even on books she hadn’t read. She’d make a game of it, just asking so many dumb questions that eventually he’d figure out what he wanted to say.
Now she was off with the costume lady doing girl clothes stuff. She’d gone all gaga over those dresses at the store. Bor-ring. Though getting to be in the opera was kinda cool. He’d liked that at first, even if the backstage stuff was way cooler, but they never let him work on any of that. Like he was still eight or something.
For some stupid reason he’d thought that being in the opera meant they’d all be spending more time together.
He turned to scowl at the book sitting on his desk. A story about a kid brain dead enough to fall off a ship in the middle of an ocean. Maybe he should have just drowned. Not that any dumb sister would ever notice.
- Writer
