EllRay Jakes is a Rock Star! Read Free

anyone there.”
    â€œI’d have fun, that’s what,” Alfie says, staring hard at the spaghetti bowl. “I always have fun. Do I have to eat salad too, or can I just eat this?” she asks my mom. “I had carrot sticks for lunch,” she reminds her.
    Alfie is an optimist, which means she is another positive thinker. She’s only four, exactly half my age, so she hasn’t had that much experience with life yet.
    â€œYou have to eat salad too,” Mom tells her.
    â€œOkay,” Alfie says. “But don’t put anything weird on it. Please ,” she adds quickly, seeing the look on our mother’s face.

    Mom frowns. “Just because it’s Friday night and your father is away for the weekend,” she says, “that doesn’t mean important things such as manners can go flying out the window.”
    â€œYeah, EllWay ,” Alfie says, trying to kick me under the table. That’s Alfie-speak for EllRay.
    â€œShe was talking to you ,” I tell her, moving my legs away.
    â€œI’m talking to both of you,” Mom says, putting some bare salad in a little bowl for Alfie, and then tossing the rest of the torn-up lettuce with salad dressing. “There,” she says, sitting down. “You may begin.”
    And the three of us are quiet for a few minutes as we slurp up our noodles.
    Well, my mother doesn’t slurp, she winds the noodles around her fork. But that’s hard. Only grown-ups can do it.
    I clear my throat, because I have something important to say—and my dad being gone means that this is the perfect time to say it. “We should get an ATV,” I say, looking at my plate. I try to sound like an ATV is something our family obviously needs, only we have forgotten to buy one before now.
    â€œYeah,” Alfie agrees. “And we should put it in my room so I can watch anything I want. In the middle of the night, even.”
    Mom dabs at her lips with her napkin, which doesn’t even have any spaghetti sauce marks on it, even though we have been eating for almost five minutes. She smiles. “I don’t really see that happening, sweetie,” she says to Alfie. “You watch enough TV as it is.”
    â€œNot a TV ,” I say quickly, before Alfie can start arguing. “An ATV. That’s an All-Terrain Vehicle.”
    â€œBoo,” Alfie murmurs, losing interest.
    â€œI know what an ATV is, EllRay,” my mom tells me. “And I can’t really see your father buying one, can you?”
    â€œYes, I definitely can,” I say. “It would be useful when we’re collecting rocks. You can have an ATV and still love the environment, you know.”
    â€œBut don’t you think your father’s more likely to spend any extra money we might have paying bills, or put it into your college savings accounts?” she asks me. “Or even into our retirement fund?” she adds, not looking very hopeful.
    Alfie looks up. “Only grandmas and grandpas retire,” she informs us. “They’re old. And you’re not old, Mommy. Not that old.”
    Alfie’s kissing up—for no reason. Just to keep in practice, I guess.
    â€œWell, thank you, Miss Alfie,” Mom says. “But your daddy and I will be old, someday.”
    Alfie looks at her, horrified. “No,” she says. “I don’t want—”
    â€œAn ATV, ” I interrupt, because we are straying from the topic, as Ms. Sanchez so often tells us. “For the desert and the mountains and the beach. Lots of people have them.”
    â€œName one,” my mom challenges me.
    â€œJared’s dad,” I tell her.
    â€œAhhh.”
    She says it like that because Jared and I have had some problems in the past.
    In the past few weeks, even.
    I can tell my mom thinks I’m jealous of Jared and his ATV. Which I am, a little.
    â€œJared’s lucky,” Alfie says sadly, speaking to her last few