When Friendship Followed Me Home Read Online Free PDF Page B

Chucky.
    BC: Who told you the wink means profound admiration and respect?
    CM: Rayburn, why?

10
    DESTINED FOR AMAZINGNESS
    â€œHe’s going to be amazing with the kids,” the lady at the Read to Rufus office said.
    Mom elbowed me and got back to signing the paper that said she would sponsor my training to become a Read to Rufus facilitator because I was underage.
    â€œThis girl, my friend, we’d like to start a program at my library,” I said.
    â€œSounds fantastic,” the lady said. “You and Flip will need to attend some classes to get him certified. There’s a bunch of homework too. Can you commit to that?”
    â€œA hundred and eleven percent,” I said.
    â€œHe’s absolutely devoted to you, Ben,” the lady said. “Go ahead, do it again. I’d like to take a picture and post it on the website, if you’re cool with that.”
    I read to Flip from
The Memory Door
, by N. T. Castillo-Cormier. His little ears perked up and he cocked his head, hisbig gold eyes on me. When I winked at him he dove at my mouth and stuck his peanut-butter-stinking tongue in there.
    â€œCheck your training books about how to teach him not to fly at the reader’s face,” the lady said. Her phone camera clicked. “Keep going, Ben.”
    The book was about this guy who finds a doorway that’ll let him travel a hundred and forty million years into the future. “‘He opened the door and the whole Earth was ice. The sky was black even though the sun was shining. The sun itself was ten times bigger, but the future was all cold wind. He turned around to go back home, but the door had disappeared, and now it and everything and everyone he’d ever known and loved existed only in his memory.’”
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    The subway car was crowded on the way home. I left the backpack open, and Flip stuck his little head out to look around. This girl in the next seat said, “I want to cuddle him till I crush him.” I held the backpack a little closer to me. The train stopped and the girl got off and actually said bye to me.
    â€œWield your newfound power gently, Traveler,” Mom said. “Who’s this friend you were talking about? The one who’s going to help you set up a Read to Rufus clinic at the library?”
    â€œYou know, just this girl I met.”
    â€œOkay,” Mom said. “How long have you known her?”
    â€œLike, since last winter? Mom, she’s a
library
girl, for cripe’s sake. Relax.”
    She put me into a sort of headlock and kissed my forehead and then she went back to her book, some nonfiction thing about getting traumatized kids to talk again. That’s what she did for work. That was how we met.
    I didn’t want to think about it anymore, the time before I went to live with Mom.
    I put on my headphones and listened to the
Transformers
soundtrack and dreamed about the future, about all of us hanging out at the library: Flip and me and the Read to Rufus kids and Halley Like the Comet.

11
    I WRITE, THEREFORE I AM
    Wednesday was Rayburn-free. Word was getting around school that he cut out to do something illegal, not to mention profitable. Angelina started the rumor, and the way she said it, I was pretty sure she thought Rayburn was the most fascinating humanoid on the planet. “He’s gonna be so rich someday!” Big deal. A rich moron, some prize.
    Chucky and I were going to eat in the cafeteria, but the urge for half-decent slices overwhelmed us and we went out to Nice Guy Eddie’s. “Does she have a nice butt at least, the library chick?”
    â€œMold?”
    â€œCof
fin?”
    â€œDo I need to smack the snot out of you?”
    â€œSure, pick on the short kid.
Now
you’re a tough guy. My hero. Are you going to eat the rest of that?”
    â€œWhat, you want to lick the plate?” I said. He did, too.
    After school I picked up Flip and we went to the