The Mealworm Diaries Read Free Page A

“Where’d ya go, man? C’mon. We need you to make even teams.”
    To his surprise, Tufan yelled, “He’s ours.” And then, “Go play third base.”
    Jeremy smiled as he walked to his place. That’s all it takes to get a good spot on the team, he thought. One good mealworm rescue.
    It wasn’t until the first kid was standing at the plate that Jeremy noticed Aaron. He was crawling on his hands and knees at the edge of the diamond, combing the grass with his fingers as if he was searching for something. Obviously he didn’t play with the guys.
    The game went fast. The boys kicked and caught and passed the ball easily. It was a good game, and Jeremy soon got into it. When he had a runner on third, waiting to race home, he watched the kid at the plate angle himself and he knew the ball would come his way. He got ready. The boy kicked hard, but instead of a long drive, the ball rose.
    â€œI got it,” Jeremy called, his eyes on the ball. He positioned himself, arms ready. It would be an easy catch. He stepped back, and back again, and swayed to correct his stance. There were shouts, but his whole body stayed focused on the falling ball. He raised his hands for the catch, took another step back and fell, his arms windmilling. He landed heavily on a body—Aaron’s body—as the ball bounced into the dirt beside him.
    There were cheers from the other team as three runners, one behind the other, crossed home plate, but his own teammates were hopping mad.
    â€œNo fair!” they shouted. “Interference!” And then, “Aaron! Aaron!” their voices loud with frustration and anger.
    Horace came running. “You okay?”
    â€œI didn’t see him,” Jeremy said, rubbing a sore spot on the back of his head. He checked his elbows. The right one was scraped and dust-covered, but there was no blood.
    â€œAre you okay?” Horace asked again.
    â€œYeah. I’m all right.”
    The bell rang for the end of recess. Still arguing, the boys straggled off the field.
    Jeremy stayed back. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know what, so he watched Aaron sit up, push his glasses higher on his nose and look around.
    Stunned, Jeremy thought. The kid is stunned . He kicked the toe of his shoe into the dirt. A small cloud of dust rose and drifted toward Aaron. Too bad, Jeremy thought. Too bad for you. Then he turned and ran to join the boys already lined up at the school doors.

SIX
    â€œAre you up for a snack?” Milly asked, offering him a plate that held a couple of cheese slices, some apple wedges and a few crackers.
    Jeremy looked up in surprise. He hadn’t heard Milly come outside, but he was happy to accept her offer of food. “I’m always up for a snack,” he said, accepting the plate and placing it on the porch beside him. “My mom says I have a hollow leg.”
    â€œMy mother used to say that too,” Milly chuckled. “You have to wonder where that expression came from.” She turned and walked to the wicker rocking chair beside the front door and straightened the flowery cushion before she lowered herself down.
    Milly was some kind of relative—his grandfather’s cousin or second cousin, or something like that. He remembered his mother explaining it all when they were on the train coming to Toronto.
    â€œWas she at the funeral?” he had asked.
    â€œNo. She sent a card,” his mother said, and Jeremy had nodded and gone back to staring at the river and the trees and the telephone poles that flashed by his window. What he knew for sure was that Milly’s husband was dead, her daughters grown up and gone. They were staying with her so his mother could go to college, and so there’d be someone at home for him after school or when his mother was at her part-time job at the grocery store.
    Milly was a big woman, both tall and wide. She moved slowly and carefully, as if she was