Read Online Looking for X by Deborah Ellis - Free Book Online

as a character-building exercise.”
    I’ve got enough character, I thought, as Istraightened my back, but I said my apology just as I’d rehearsed it with Tammy.
    Everyone seemed disappointed I didn’t slug her again.
    Miss Melon followed it up with a lecture on the importance of good citizenship, using me as an example of how not to behave. I knew nobody was listening to her, but it made me feel lousy just the same.
    When I got home Wednesday afternoon, Mom and the boys were out. Mom had told me at breakfast they had an appointment at Sick Kids, but I’d forgotten. I was already grumpy, and having them gone made me even grumpier.
    â€œCome right home after school and stay here,” Tammy had told me. She didn’t like me going out when she wasn’t around.
    The apartment felt empty and lonely. It was raining outside, off and on. There wasn’t any sun to shine in through the windows, and the apartment was as dark and gray as the day outside.
    I put one of Mom’s Monkees records on, just for company.
    Tammy had left out some potatoes for me to peel for supper, but I was too grumpy to do them.
    I picked up my homework, then put it down again. I wandered around the apartment and into my brothers’ room.
    Mom had packed their clothes and toys into boxes.
    I didn’t stop to think about it. I went right to work, unpacked all the boxes, hung up their shirts, put their toys back on the shelves, folded sweaters and T-shirts into drawers. I gathered up all the empty boxes and carried them out to the balcony.
    Looking down from the balcony, I saw X standing in the park, waiting for me. She hadn’t been around all week. It was good to see her.
    Halfway through making X a sandwich, I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to leave the apartment. Could I be back before Mom returned? Yes, probably, and if not, Mom wouldn’t mind me dashing out to give X something to eat. At least, I hoped she wouldn’t.
    By the time I got down to the street, X had gone. It was getting even darker out. Putting the boys’ things away must have taken more time than I’d thought. I could see X a block or so away on Gerrard, heading toward Allan Gardens, and I hurried after her.
    If I’d known her real name, I could have yelled it out, and maybe she would have stopped. I could have handed her the sandwich and rushed back home before Tammy found that I’d left. The whole mess that followed could have been avoided.
    But I didn’t know X’s real name, and even if Ihad, I couldn’t have yelled it out. She would have thought it was the secret police calling her.
    So, once I’d decided to take X the sandwich, there was no way to avoid The Trouble. Of course, if I hadn’t taken the empty boxes out to the balcony, I wouldn’t have seen X, and therefore would have been obediently at home when Mom got there. If Mom hadn’t packed away my brothers’ things, I wouldn’t have had to unpack them, and wouldn’t have been carrying the empty boxes onto the balcony, from where I saw X. So, in a way, the whole mess that happened was Tammy’s fault.
    How’s that for passing the buck?
    I caught up with X at Allan Gardens. She was on a bench inside the park a little ways. I sat down at the other end of the bench and passed her the sandwich.
    â€œI can’t stay very long,” I said. “In fact, I have to get back home right away.”
    X pushed her blue suitcase a bit under the bench with her feet. She didn’t reach for the sandwich. I pushed it toward her a bit more.
    â€œHere — here’s a sandwich. I’ve got to go!” I stood up. X still hadn’t moved. I started to walk away, then turned back and looked at her. She was hunched down into her trench coat. She looked very sad and very lonely.
    I sat back down. What else could I do? Sheprobably wouldn’t have eaten if I’d gone away, and who knew when she’d eaten last?