The New Kid Read Online Free PDF

Buster’s after the birthday trail ride.”
    Carson whispered, “Nah! You got this guy beat, Dad. Let’s you barbecue, at home after the trail ride! Here’s to getting through the first two weeks!” Carson added cheerily.
    They toasted each other with bottled water and iced tea.
    Keeping smears and smudges of barbecue sauce off his homework was proving to be a bigger challenge than Carson expected. Plus, he got a huge splatter of sauce on his sleeve.
    “No worries. I’ll wash it and toss it into the dryer.”
    “Thanks, Dad.”
    Carson’s dad showed him how to draw pictures to help with word problems. “And don’t forget the labels, like minutes or pickles or whatever,” his dad reminded him.
    “Okay. There’s potato salad on your ear, Dad.”
    Carson closed his math book.
    Next. Language-arts homework. Paragraphs. Again. Choose a topic sentence from a list and write a paragraph. The list included “Soccer is a great game,”“Hiking is a great sport,” “A dog makes a great pet,” and “Or choose your own topic sentence.”
    With the goal of becoming Deputy Pet Care Giver in mind, Carson wrote his topic sentence:
Rats are remarkable
.
    Next he wrote:
    Rats are playful. They really know how to have fun, and their toys are inexpensive. A toy can be as simple as a paper-towel roll, if the rat is able to squeeze in. Rats have life skills. They’re brave and loyal. They’re protective of their owners. A rat has been known to bite a robber’s nose and chase it out of a house. Rats are intelligent. They can be taught tricks, like how to come when called. Rats are frisky. They like to exercise. They also like to hang out in roomy, clean cages, with fresh water and an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, not just rat blocks
.
    The next best thing to being an outdoor rat is being a very loved indoor rat with a Free-Range Roaming Rat Arena. Rats freak some people out, but others find them attractive animals
.
    Whew!
    Done.
    Carson’s dad was looking over and reading Carson’s paragraph as he wrote it.
    “Protective? Well, that’s quite a claim.… Bit a robber’s nose? What evidence do you have to back that up?”
    “A sworn statement from Weston Walker.”
    “Ah.”
    Carson’s dad poked into his small plastic container of ranch beans. “So we’ll take that with a grain of salt, as they say.…”
    “I thought you didn’t like ranch anything, Dad.”
    “Ranch beans are the rare exception to my ranch rule.” He ate a few bites. One bean fell on his collar and rolled down into his shirt. “I’ll shake it out later. So rats can come when called? Who told you that? Wes again?”
    “Nope. I saw with my own eyes.”
    “You called him?”
    “Patrick did.”
    “And he came running? Remarkable. Hmmm.” He took a big gulp of iced tea and looked sideways at Carson.
    “Well, he doesn’t really run right
straight to you
, Dad, but he comes eventually. Anyway, on to alliteration!”
    Carson wrote:
Raquelle the raucous raccoon really ran like a rocket
.
    “Next I’ll work on my extra-credit alliteration and onomatopoeia Whiz Quiz poem. I’m goin’ for ten Bonus Bucks and a chance at the Bonus Bucks Wheel of Fortune! And maybe win a No-Homework Pass. Wahoo!”
    “Eight years of university training and I have to be honest: I forget! What
is
onomatopoeia?”
    “Don’t ask me!”
    Carson and his dad bused their own dishes. His dad quietly and politely burped into his fist near the recycling can and then tipped his Porsche cap good-bye to Buster. They headed to the car.
    “There’s a napkin stuck to your shoe, Dad.”
    “Right.”
    At home, Carson’s dad looked up “onomatopoeia” in his big Webster’s dictionary. “Oh, it’s a word like ‘buzz.’ Or ‘click.’ Or ‘zoom.’ Like: When I clicked my camera at a buzzing bumblebee, it zoomed after me. And I plopped in the muck.”
    Carson smiled. “I’m glad you didn’t get hurt, Dad.Does a blob of goopy chocolate yogurt plopped into