Read Online My Life as a Cartoonist by Janet Tashjian - Free Book Online Page B

automatic doors are locked, and he’s trying to open the regular door and wheel himself through. No one else is around, and I’m the only one who can see him.
    â€œCome on,” I tell Matt and Carly. “Let’s go.”
    Someone will probably come along to help Umberto. It’s just not going to be me.

My First Detention
    pestering
    Needless to say, my parents are not happy when they find out I have a week’s detention. My mother listens to my side of the story and says she’ll call Ms. McCoddle tomorrow.
    â€œIt sounds like this new kid’s really been pestering you. What do you think set him off?”
    I tell her I’ve been trying to figure that out for weeks.
    abruptly
    â€œWe’ll get to the bottom of this,” she says. One of Mom’s interns knocks at the door and says there’s an emergency with a Dalmatian who got hit by a car. I feel bad about the dog but I’m I glad the conversation abruptly ends. I grab a handful of Girl Scout cookies and head to my room.
    ingenious
    I’ve got to hand it to Umberto—the guy’s pretty ingenious when it comes to slipping out of trouble. It makes me wonder what he was like at his old school. Did he lure other innocent kids into detention there too?
    To take my mind off my punishment, I spend the rest of the afternoon working on my comic strip. I name the bad guy Roberto as a nod to my own school yard villain. I sketch him sitting in a jail cell with nothing but a cot, a toilet, and a giant cellmate covered in tattoos.
    Drawing actually makes me feel better and by dinnertime I have a stack of papers full of Roberto in ridiculous situations and one new Super Frank comic strip.
    As he serves the chicken, Dad says he wants to “throw his two cents in” by telling me to “take the high road” when kids are looking for trouble. His little talk has me wondering why parents have to resort to idioms when they want to have a serious discussion. It makes me want to “bury my head in the sand.”
    â€œSo now that the dust has settled…,” my mom begins.
    I close my eyes. If she’s starting in with the idioms too, this can only mean they’re gearing up for A Serious Conversation.
    â€œWe pulled together some information to go over with you,” she continues.
    â€œInformation on what?” I ask.
    My father looks me straight in the eyes. “Bullying.”

Get Me Out of Here!
    preoccupied
    The last thing I want to do is spend even more time preoccupied with Umberto, but I can tell by both my parents’ faces that there will be no escaping them tonight. They’ve even printed a handout from the Internet. I pray my dentist calls, demanding my presence for an emergency root canal.
    â€œBullying is a hot topic now,” Dad begins. “There are websites, books, and public service announcements where you can get a lot of information.”
    I’m almost embarrassed to ask the next question. “Are you telling me this because I’m being bullied or do you think I AM a bully because I got into a fight?”
    rarity
    My mother suddenly seems confused, a rarity for her. “From everything you’ve told me, Umberto’s been bullying you. Am I wrong?”
    â€œNo! I just wanted to check.” I’d give anything to change places with Frank in his cage right now. Anything.
    My mother settles down. “The experts say when you’re being taunted by a bully, the most important thing to do is walk away.”
    Both of them stare at me, waiting for some kind of answer that makes sense.
    relentless
    â€œI know I should’ve walked away,” I say. “I tried to. But Umberto was relentless.”
    â€œYou still had a choice,” my mother says. “You could’ve left school at three o’clock. You could’ve told a teacher.”
    â€œThere are lots of things I could’ve done,” I say. “But I