The Absolute Value of Mike Read Online Free PDF Page B

Probably because he was clueless. Then I realized something else. Dad had forgotten to give me the emergency money he’d promised. Now I couldn’t even help! I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket and checked inside. Only twenty-seven dollars. I looked at Moo, helpless.
    She held the opened electric bill in one hand and patted my back with the other. “It’s all right, Mike. We have flashlights and a camp stove. We can go for quite a long time without power. We’ve done it before.”
    â€œHow long?”
    â€œOh, weeks at a time.”
    â€œWeeks? We don’t have weeks! We’ve got to get this artesian screw off the ground—or into the ground—or wherever it goes.”
    She stared up at me through her big owl glasses, her eyes cloudy.
    â€œWe need power! Power tools don’t work without electricity!”
    â€œTrue.” She looked through the pass-through at Poppy. “But he’s not working so well, either.”
    She was right. We had two problems: powerless tools and powerless Poppy. I could handle getting electricity for the workshop, but I wasn’t sure how to get Poppy plugged in.
    I took the electric bill out of her hand and looked for a phone number. There it was, next to their slogan, You Have the Power! “I’m calling the electric company and seeing if I can negotiate a deal to get them to turn on the power.”
    â€œThat won’t work, dear.”
    â€œSure it will.” I picked up the phone. “Every power company has an assistance program to help people who can’t pay their bills.” I shook the handset. “What’s wrong with this phone?”
    â€œThat’s what I mean, dear. It doesn’t work.”
    I stared at her.
    â€œThe phone always gets cut before the electricity.”
    I slowly hung up the receiver. How long had they lived this way? I thought about what to try next. I really wished Dad had let me bring my phone. “Okay. Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll drive over to the electric company—”
    â€œBut Tyrone’s out of gas, remember?”
    I groaned. “What about that Suburban in the driveway?”
    She shook her head. “That’s Poppy’s. It doesn’t work.”
    Like Poppy. “Look. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll go take care of the electric bill if you’ll work on . . . giving Poppy a little charge.”

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    I t was a great plan, except I forgot one thing. I’m lousy at remembering directions, even in a small town like this. That’s part of my dyscalculia. I couldn’t find Allegheny Power. I did find a Shop ’n Save, though, and remembered what Moo said about scrapple being the only thing that kept Poppy alive, so I bought some. I had to. It was my only hope.
    It took a while to find the scrapple, though, because I combed the cereal aisle before the manager asked if she could help me, and then busted out laughing when I told her. How was I supposed to know that scrapple is meat? I bought five pounds of the stuff. That was another bad plan, because whoever said rural Pennsylvania is cooler than D.C. must not have been here during a June heat wave. Sweat was running down my arms and legs like I’d been in PE for the last hour. I could only imagine what was happening to the scrapple.
    Finally, I saw a sign of hope at the next corner. You Have the Power! Yes! It was the power company’s slogan. I ran down the block, the bag of scrapple banging against my leg. I wheeled around the corner and saw the rest of the sign. You Have the Power! Build a Family, Adopt a Child!
    What? I looked closer at the building. It was a warehouse or something. I looked down the street. No sign of anything like an electric company. Across the street was a park.
    I put my bag down and groaned. The only other person on the street was a homeless