The Genius of Little Things Read Online Free PDF Page B

heard papers shuffling, a cough, and someone’s cackling laugh in the background.
“Nope, everything’s awe -some.”
I didn’t believe him, so I asked him, point-blank, whether Carl or Janet called him recently. More paper shuffling, a squeak, a sniff, and finally, “yee….ahhhh… no.”
“They didn’t?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Yes, they did.”
“What did they—”
“Gotta run. Keep blowing that sax.” For the record, I had never played a saxophone in my life. Stupidly, I told him I would keep blowing.
Later that day, I wondered whether blowing a sax was a metaphor or euphemism, like blowing one’s horn. I decided he had, like the case manager before him, mixed up my chart with some other foster. Which meant that, possibly, everything was far from awe -some.

 
FOUR
     
Unlike many students who apply to your university, (LOOK UP STATS) I have held some kind of job since I was in my early teens. Impressive? Perhaps. Necessity? Absolutely. I don’t rely on anyone, although I will not turn down financial aid or grants , and I feel that is one of my strongest attributes. It also explains why, with the exception of my science fair achievements, I do not have an impressive array of extracurricular activities. While others have wasted spent time on meaningless pointless ridiculous various pursuits, I have been working and saving money for your inflated tuition college. Call me a geek, but don’t call me pampered .
     
**
     
My catering hours had been reduced to less than ten per week, but at least I still had one regular, non-crazy tutee. Levi Butler was ideal in many respects. I didn’t need to commute to his house. He was a lazy student and never seemed to learn much, which meant he would always need my services. The only drawback was, he was sixteen going on eleven.
I met Levi at Covenant Catering. When were preparing for a funeral reception by carving flowers out of radishes, I mentioned that I did tutoring on the side. Later in that shift, Levi whispered, as if he were being stalked by an organized crime ring, “I totally need you.”
Levi was home schooled, and he was certain his mother had been keeping important facts from him. To prevent her from learning how he was “cheating” on her, Levi always called me whenever he had a convenient excuse to get away. He made me promise to never call his house. Today I regretted picking up the landline.
“It’s Levi. I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Please give me more notice when you need a tutoring session, because—”
CLICK
I was pressed for time because Carl and Janet and had planned an important dinner.
I waited for Levi on front doorstep. His ancient white Lincoln Continental pulled up to—more like docked at—the curb. He hopped out and loped toward me. It didn’t look like he was going to stop. He was all bone and sinew, like me, but he was about half a foot taller. He misjudged distances between himself and other objects, like a dwarf who had magically been transported into a giant’s body and was still getting used to it.
“Check it out,” he said, thrusting an iPod at my nose.
I leaned away from the device and reminded him that he already had several iPods.
“I used to. Gravy got inside one and I lost the other, but that’s okay because this one holds more music.” Levi maniacally touched icons with his index finger, as if he had a time limit.
I couldn’t help myself. I had to ask about the gravy.
“Oh that. It was last Friday at work. I was in the middle of training this new girl, you know the kinda hot one? And the phone rang. I had to answer it because nobody else was around and I wasn’t wearing underwear because mom forgot to put the clothes in the dryer again . I was all out of boxers and the swim trunks I was wearing were binding and I was listening to this new band. What’s their name? I forgot the band’s name. Here maybe I can find it…”
This happened often. The more Levi talked, the further away from the point he