Read Online Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson - Free Book Online
Authors: John David Anderson
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CONSTANT.
I came in to find that written on Ms. Bixbyâs board one day. It was said by a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus over 2,500 years ago. I know. I looked it up. Of course, Heraclitus was a recluse who rubbed himself with cow manure before he died because he thought it would cure his swelling, so his wisdom is questionable. Still, Iâve found the quote to be frustratingly true. Just when you think youâve got something pinned down, it shifts on you.
Take Pluto. I was devastated when I found out Pluto wasnât a planet anymore, and all because itâs not gravitationally dominant in its own orbit, which is suddenly whatâs important. Not that I think Pluto should be a planet. I just think people should beconsistent in how they define things. You canât suddenly stop being a planet because a bunch of scientists say so.
The diorama on my headboard has nine planets. Astronomically inaccurate, I realize, but it gives me comfort seeing little Pluto sticking out on the end. Topher says I worry about this kind of stuff too much. He once said to me, âThe more things change, the more they stay the same.â I told him that may be the dumbest thing Iâve ever heard.
The problem is that you get used to things being the way they are, and then you wake up one day to find that theyâve rearranged the aisles at the grocery store so that you can no longer find the individually packaged applesauce cups, which have moved from the canned fruit to next to the crackers. Or your sister, who used to let you sleep in her bed with her when you were little and your parents were arguing, suddenly starts whispering to boys on the phone and screams at you to get out of her room when you are just stopping by to see if she wants to play Scrabble. Or your teacher disappears with only a month left in the school year, leaving you with a sub who doesnât even know the capital of Syria and doesnât call on you because sheâs afraid youâll politely point out when sheâs wrong.
Or the empty chair at the lunch table youâve been sitting at for years is suddenly not empty anymore. And instead of the two of you, like usual, there are three of you. And even though youknow that nothing has changed, not really, that your best friend is still your best friend, you still feel uneasy, because it could all change, your whole relationship. Because, as the saying really goes, âNo man ever steps in the same river twice.â
Thatâs actually what Heraclitus said, 2,500 years agoâthe exact quoteâprobably just before he covered himself in cow poop. Iâm sure his fellow Greeks wished heâd stepped in a river once or twice.
One thing I am certain of: Bus 142 smells like a wet dog.
The bus picks us up at State Street and then heads east, stopping seventeen more places before it hits Woodfield Shopping Center. It has two sets of doors, one at the front and one in the middle. It holds approximately forty-eight people. Forty-nine if you count the very large woman driving it. She stares out the front window as we drop our coins into her box. I actually drop mine in one by one because I like the sound they make; it reminds me of wind chimes.
We head to the back, and Iâm a little surprised when Brand and Topher take a seat together. Not that they arenât allowed to, exactly, itâs just that typically Topher and I sit together. We take the same bus to school, Bus 17, and every day he saves me a seat. He saves me a seat toward the back, and then he copies off of my math homework while I eat some of the prepackagedcookies his mother gives him for lunch. My parents donât pack me sweets. They donât want me to be one of those fat American kids the TV is always complaining about. Unlike my Tupperwares full of fresh fruits and vegetables, everything in Topherâs lunch box comes in its own foil wrapper, which is a very tidy if environmentally unsound way of doing
I came in to find that written on Ms. Bixbyâs board one day. It was said by a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus over 2,500 years ago. I know. I looked it up. Of course, Heraclitus was a recluse who rubbed himself with cow manure before he died because he thought it would cure his swelling, so his wisdom is questionable. Still, Iâve found the quote to be frustratingly true. Just when you think youâve got something pinned down, it shifts on you.
Take Pluto. I was devastated when I found out Pluto wasnât a planet anymore, and all because itâs not gravitationally dominant in its own orbit, which is suddenly whatâs important. Not that I think Pluto should be a planet. I just think people should beconsistent in how they define things. You canât suddenly stop being a planet because a bunch of scientists say so.
The diorama on my headboard has nine planets. Astronomically inaccurate, I realize, but it gives me comfort seeing little Pluto sticking out on the end. Topher says I worry about this kind of stuff too much. He once said to me, âThe more things change, the more they stay the same.â I told him that may be the dumbest thing Iâve ever heard.
The problem is that you get used to things being the way they are, and then you wake up one day to find that theyâve rearranged the aisles at the grocery store so that you can no longer find the individually packaged applesauce cups, which have moved from the canned fruit to next to the crackers. Or your sister, who used to let you sleep in her bed with her when you were little and your parents were arguing, suddenly starts whispering to boys on the phone and screams at you to get out of her room when you are just stopping by to see if she wants to play Scrabble. Or your teacher disappears with only a month left in the school year, leaving you with a sub who doesnât even know the capital of Syria and doesnât call on you because sheâs afraid youâll politely point out when sheâs wrong.
Or the empty chair at the lunch table youâve been sitting at for years is suddenly not empty anymore. And instead of the two of you, like usual, there are three of you. And even though youknow that nothing has changed, not really, that your best friend is still your best friend, you still feel uneasy, because it could all change, your whole relationship. Because, as the saying really goes, âNo man ever steps in the same river twice.â
Thatâs actually what Heraclitus said, 2,500 years agoâthe exact quoteâprobably just before he covered himself in cow poop. Iâm sure his fellow Greeks wished heâd stepped in a river once or twice.
One thing I am certain of: Bus 142 smells like a wet dog.
The bus picks us up at State Street and then heads east, stopping seventeen more places before it hits Woodfield Shopping Center. It has two sets of doors, one at the front and one in the middle. It holds approximately forty-eight people. Forty-nine if you count the very large woman driving it. She stares out the front window as we drop our coins into her box. I actually drop mine in one by one because I like the sound they make; it reminds me of wind chimes.
We head to the back, and Iâm a little surprised when Brand and Topher take a seat together. Not that they arenât allowed to, exactly, itâs just that typically Topher and I sit together. We take the same bus to school, Bus 17, and every day he saves me a seat. He saves me a seat toward the back, and then he copies off of my math homework while I eat some of the prepackagedcookies his mother gives him for lunch. My parents donât pack me sweets. They donât want me to be one of those fat American kids the TV is always complaining about. Unlike my Tupperwares full of fresh fruits and vegetables, everything in Topherâs lunch box comes in its own foil wrapper, which is a very tidy if environmentally unsound way of doing
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