Story Time Read Free

paused, tapping lightly against his temple. "Sorry. That's redundant. If you're lassoing something, you're already using a rope. You don't need to add 'with a rope.'"
    Kate tried to change the subject. "Is dinner ready?"
    "It's almost like if they find a street with a smart kid on it, it becomes part of their district. But if the next street has a dumb kid on it, it doesn't."
    "Yeah, whatever." Kate's head turned at the soft
dingdong
of the doorbell. "That'll be Molly."

3. A Father without an Address
    Kate tramped down the front stairs, through the parlor, and into the vestibule.
    She opened the door to a short girl with black hair, which, although completely natural, fell in such unnaturally straight lines that it looked like a wig. The girl was accompanied by an even shorter old lady with gray hair, tied up primly in a bun. Kate said, "Hi, Molly. Hi, Mrs. Brennan."
    Molly reached up to hug Kate. Then she squeezed in past Kate and turned back toward her grandmother. "Good-bye, Grandmom."
    But Mrs. Brennan was not so easily dismissed. She stared Molly down. Then she redirected her gaze to Kate and asked, "How are you, dear?"
    "I'm fine, Mrs. Brennan."
    "Looking forward to starting school?"
    "Oh, yes, ma'am. I can't wait."
    "That's nice to hear." She looked past Kate's shoulder and asked, "Is your mother here?"
    Kate blinked. "Yes, of course. She's making dinner."
    Molly said, "Ms. Melvil will be driving me home, Grandmom."
    "Who, dear?"
    Molly exchanged a look with Kate. "Kate's mom."
    Mrs. Brennan's cheeks flushed. "Oh. I'm sorry. I thought your mother was"—she gestured at Kate—"Peters."
    Kate shook her head. "Nope. I'm the only Peters now." She tried to sound matter-of-fact. "Well, just my dad and me. The rest of them are Melvils."
    "I see. I'm sorry, Kate. It's not my business to pry." She continued anyway. "But wasn't your mother named Peters, too?"
    "She was. Until the divorce became final and she went back to her maiden name."
    Molly said, "Anything else, Grandmom, like Kate's blood type?"
    Mrs. Brennan stared her down again. "Don't be snippy, Molly. I need to know how to address Kate's mother properly when I see her."
    Molly answered with practiced contrition, "Sorry."
    Mrs. Brennan looked at Kate. "I'll be going now. Tell Ms. Melvil I said hello."
    Kate closed the door. Molly told her, "Sorry she was so nosy."
    "That's no problem, no problem at all. I really like your grandmother." Kate led the way through the parlor. The floors and walls were now shaking perceptibly. Kate added, "At least your grandmother doesn't clog."
    They climbed up to the landing just as George was clicking out of the website. He asked Kate, "Do you want me to leave the map? So you can show Molly?"
    Kate's face lit up with a fake, perky smile. "Molly? Do you have any interest in seeing a map of the King's County School Districts?"
    "Do I look like a hopeless geek?"
    "I'll take that as a no."
    Yet Molly did lean forward and squint at the screen. "You're looking at the Whittaker Magnet School site." She spoke like someone familiar with the topic. "That is a very weird, ultra-geeky school. It's down in the basement of the county library." She bulged her eyeballs at Kate. "Seriously, it's in the basement, like some indoor mushroom farm. They say the kids there never see the sun."
    Kate poked George. "Sounds great, eh, Uncle George?"
    "I never said it sounded great."
    "I haven't heard you say it sounds horrible. Which it does. It sounds like the most horrible school in the U.S.A."
    "Actually, it has a reputation as one of the best schools in the U.S.A."
    "See! You
do
want to go there. Admit it!" Kate grabbed him, playfully but firmly, by the earlobe.
    George winced. "I'm just saying that if we had to
go
to some other school, there are worse places to go."
    Kate demanded, "Name one." When George hesitated, she announced triumphantly, "Aha!" and finally let go of his ear.
    Molly told Kate, "My grandmother says the Whittaker Magnet School gets