Jasper John Dooley, Left Behind Read Free

cot.
    â€œAre you sure you’re okay?” the nurse asked.
    â€œYes!”
    Jasper thanked her and ran outside and around the school until he found his friend Ori, who was in his class and lived across the alley and one house down. Ori was playing with some other kids. When Jasper lifted his shirt to show off his Band-Aid, everybody crowded around him. Everybody wanted to see. He lifted his shirt again and again. He felt so so so so popular!

    Nothing happened the rest of the day except when Jasper hid under the pillows in the Book Nook and Isabel sat on him and screamed. Jasper forgot all about stapling his story to his tummy until after school when he saw Mom waiting. As soon as Jasper saw her, he remembered that Nan was away and that he had three holes in himself. He clutched them and bent over.
    â€œAre you okay?” Mom asked, hugging him. “Does it hurt?”
    â€œI stapled my story to myself!”
    â€œI know. The nurse phoned and told me.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you come and pick me up?” Jasper asked.
    â€œShe said you were fine. She said you were outside playing.”
    â€œI
was
fine,” Jasper said. “But now I’m not. I’m wounded. I don’t think I can walk.”
    â€œHere,” Mom said, crouching down. Jasper got on her back.
    They lived a block from the school. Out of all the kids in the class, Jasper lived the closest. Even so, out of all the kids, it was always Jasper who got the lates. Ori lived the second closest to the school, across the alley and one house down from Jasper, and he never got the lates. Usually they all walked home together — Jasper and Ori and Mom.
    â€œYou should see Jasper’s Band-Aid,” Ori told Jasper’s mom. “It’s green!”
    â€œI can’t wait,” Mom said.
    â€œCan Jasper come over?” Ori asked.
    â€œI can’t,” Jasper said. “I’m wounded.”
    â€œThe thing is,” Ori said, “we have a whole bunch of wood left over from our renovation. My dad said I could build something.”
    â€œWith a hammer?” Jasper asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI didn’t know you were renovating,” Mom said.
    â€œWhat
is
renovating?” Jasper asked.
    â€œIt’s a new room in the basement,” Ori told him.
    â€œI’ll be better tomorrow for sure,” Jasper said, and Ori waved and went off down the alley to his own house.
    At home, Jasper flopped down on the sofa and lifted his shirt for Mom. “Wow,” she said. “I’ve never seen such a nice Band-Aid.”
    â€œI love it,” Jasper told her. “I’m going to wear it for the rest of my life.”
    When Dad got home, Jasper told him the whole long story about why he was lying on the sofa. He told him about the iceberg, the stapler and the snake.
    â€œHold on, Jasper John,” Dad said, and he sat on the sofa and put Jasper’s head in his lap. “I’d like to hear more about that snake.”
    â€œNan doesn’t like snakes. This one was six miles long. His tail kept getting hurt. Cars ran over it. People stepped on it. Doors slammed on it.”
    â€œOuch,” Dad said. “Maybe you can answer this question. It’s something I’ve wondered all my life. Where does the snake’s body end and its tail start?”
    â€œThat’s a good question,” Jasper said.
    â€œIt’s a hard question,” Dad said.
    Jasper thought a little, and then he smiled. “I know the answer.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œYes,” Jasper said. “A snake’s tail actually starts at the end.”
    â€œJasper John Dooley,” Dad said. “You astound me.”
    â€œIt hurt so much when the staple went in,” Jasper said. “I have three holes now.”
    â€œThree holes?”
    â€œYes. One from Nan leaving. Two from when the staple went in.”
    â€œOuch, ouch, ouch,” Dad said.
    Because of the