Small as an Elephant - Jennifer Richard Jacobson [31]
“I hope nothing’s wrong,” his teacher had said.
“Doctor’s appointment,” his mother had replied.
Jack had gathered up his stuff, asked his homeroom teacher (who was also his English teacher) for his homework assignment (knowing he was going to fall further behind), and followed his mother out the door. “But I’m not sick,” he had said.
“I know, honey. It’s a regular checkup. All kids have regular checkups.”
“They do? Why?”
She’d begun talking about vaccinations and how sometimes a little dose of one thing could prevent something worse from happening and how visiting the doctor was like that — you got a little dose of doctoring so that you wouldn’t need a bigger dose of hospitalization later — but it was one of those times when he hadn’t felt smart enough to follow what she was saying, so he’d just buckled up and hoped it didn’t mean he was getting a shot, like the one he had to get when he stepped on a nail at the construction site near Nina’s high-rise. Her mother had insisted.
They’d driven for a long time that day, and Jack had begun thinking that maybe he had some rare disease and had to see a special doctor in a special city, or maybe they were moving again. But no, Mom had pulled into the parking lot of Canobie Lake Park, which had (according to the sign) more than eighty-five rides, games, and attractions.
“Which is going to keep you healthier?” she’d asked. “Someone poking at you with God knows what or a ride on the Corkscrew Coaster?”
Jack still didn’t know if he’d had a doctor’s appointment that day or not. But he did know that the Corkscrew Coaster was undoubtedly the coolest ride he’d ever been on.
After another twenty minutes of trudging through the rain, he arrived at the Lamoine General Store. Not only was his backpack soaked, but so was his sleeping bag inside. It was getting heavier by the minute.
Confident in his new lie about homeschooling, he went inside to dry out. It didn’t occur to him that the store would be so little (only three open aisles, with a lunch counter in the front) and he would be so obvious. He slipped into one of the aisles and pretended to be studying the wide assortment of snack food. Every now and then, he glanced toward the front of the store. Two women in hairnets were working behind the counter. One was making cheesesteak sandwiches on the grill; the other was at the register, cashing out a man who was wearing a T-shirt that read, The way life should be. Two men sat at the counter, waiting for their lunch.
“What is it you’re looking for, kid?” asked one of the guys at the counter. The man was about forty, Jack guessed, dressed in grungy, paint-splattered clothes. Even though both his face and his voice were ragged, his eyes were smiling.
“Just looking,” said Jack. He involuntarily shivered as he said this.
“Shouldn’t you be in school?” asked the second guy — a younger guy, maybe the first one’s son — whose clothes were also covered in paint but whose eyes were definitely less kind.
“Homeschooled,” Jack said, trying to muster up some authority in his voice.
The young one snickered and whispered, “Mama’s boy.”
Jack’s face prickled. Yeah, I’m some mama’s boy. That’s why I’m stranded in Maine, standing here soaked to the bone. I haven’t eaten a full meal in days. I’ve slept on the ground, in a barn, and in a truck.
“So, does being homeschooled make you smarter than the average Lamoine kid?” asked the older guy.
“Ralph,” said one of the women as she flipped the sandwiches onto plates.
“I’m not from Lamoine,” Jack blurted before he could catch himself.
“You don’t say,” said the younger guy, laughing.
“Hey,” said Ralph, reaching for a newspaper next to him on the counter, “are you that kid —?”
Jack didn’t wait to hear what he was going to say. He bolted out of the Lamoine General Store and ran as fast as a kid drenched from head to toe and carrying a heavy backpack could run.
Dang it! Now what was he going to do? He imagined the guys in the store being just interested enough that they’d call the police, tell them they’d seen the kid. Not only would