Jumping the Scratch Read Free Page B

wrappers.”
    Marge was the home nursing aide. She came every morning before I left for school to watch over Sapphy while my mother was sleeping, and she stayed until five, except on the weekends. Marge never came right out and said it, but I don’t think she liked any of us very much, especially not Sapphy. The insurance company paid for her to come, and we needed the help, but I hated the way she treated Sapphy. I wished the insurance company would pay for me to stay home from school and take care of her instead.
    â€œI’m sorry. Do I know you?” Sapphy asked, looking at Marge as though she’d never in her life laid eyes on her before.
    â€œHere we go again.” Marge sighed. “You know me, and I know you too. Now let’s go have a pill, and while we wait for it to kick in, you can add that wrapper to your chain.”
    Sapphy looked confused, but she let Marge take her by the arm and lead her back to her room.
    â€œYou can’t be talking about that old gum wrapper chain I used to have. I haven’t seen that thing in years,” Sapphy said.
    â€œUh-huh. Not since this morning,” said Marge.
    Both Sapphy and my mother had collected gum wrappers back when they were kids. They’d used only the silver foil part of the wrappers, folding and hooking them together into zigzaggy chains. There had been a fierce competition between the two of them to see whose chain would get to be the longest. My mother’s got lost or thrown out at some point along the way, but not long after we moved into the trailer, we found Sapphy’s gum wrapper chain curled up in the corner of an old box of junk high up on a shelf in the back of one of the closets.
    Sapphy’s accident had made her unsteady on her feet and clumsy with her hands. It was my mother’s idea for her to work on the wrapper chain to help improve her coordination. Sapphy seemed to enjoy it. It brought back pleasant memories for her, and she would reminisce, telling the same stories over and over again without realizing we’d heard them all before.
    The wrapper chain was kept on a hook on the back of Sapphy’s door. She liked the way the light from the little window over her bed caught in the folded foil and made it sparkle on sunny days. She liked anything that sparkled. I read somewhere that crows are like that too. If you leave a diamond ring outside on your windowsill, a crow will fly right down and steal it if you’re not careful. I think maybe Sapphy was a crow in another life. She looked like one, the way she tilted her head when she listened, and she sure was crazy about those sparkly foil wrappers.
    I carried my glass of milk out into the living room, pulled my math workbook out of my backpack, and started going over the homework problems. Pretty soon Marge appeared with a basket of dirty laundry in her arms.
    â€œI’m going to go put a load in the machine,” she said. “I won’t have time to get it in the dryer before I leave, though. Can you remember to do that later?”
    I was in the middle of trying to solve a difficult math problem.
    â€œJamie!” she said sharply. “I asked you a question. Can you please remember to put the laundry in the dryer?”
    Have you ever noticed that some people take it personally when you don’t answer their questions right when they ask them? Marge was like that, and so was Miss Miller. Whenever she called on me in class, she’d stand there, tapping her foot, saying, “I’m waiting, James. We’re all waiting.” I didn’t understand why she called on me. It’s not like I ever raised my hand. I didn’t want to answer her questions, or Marge’s questions either. Or anybody else’s, for that matter.

5
    â€œ WELL?” SAID MARGE IMPATIENTLY .
    â€œI’ll remember,” I said.
    â€œLaundry isn’t supposed to be a part of this job,” she complained as she dug around in the jar