Read Online Saturday Boy by David Fleming - Free Book Online Page B

all the way.

THE SMELL OF COFFEE woke me up. I reached over and lifted the blind a little and peeked out. The sun was just starting to come up and the world outside the window was full of shadows. I got out of bed and went to my closet and got my slippers and a hoodie sweatshirt and went downstairs to the kitchen.
    Mom stood at the counter waiting for the coffeemaker to beep. She was wearing her purple robe and a pair of Dad’s slippers. Her hair was wild. I think she may have still been asleep, which would have been something because you could totally hear Aunt Josie snoring in the other room and it was pretty loud.
    â€œHey, Mom!”
    â€œHm?”
    Mom looked over at me. Her eyes were half-shut and there were dark circles under them.
    â€œOh! Hi, Piggy. How’d you sleep?”
    Her voice was all mumbly but I knew what she said. She’d been saying the exact same thing to me every morning for as long as I could remember.
    â€œOkay, I think,” I said. “How did you sleep?”
    â€œHm?”
    â€œHow did
you
sleep?”
    â€œNot well, sweetie. Not well at all.”
    â€œMaybe you could take a nap later,” I said.
    She smiled a little—the kind where it’s not really a smile at all.
    â€œMaybe.”
    The coffeemaker beeped and Mom got a mug from the drying rack and poured coffee into it. She took it to the table and sat down. I stood there in my slippers and sweatshirt and waited for something else to happen. When it didn’t I grabbed the last of the frozen waffles from the freezer and stuck them in the toaster oven and turned it on.
    â€œBreakfast! You need breakfast,” Mom exclaimed suddenly. She got up out of her chair so fast she almost spilled her coffee. “I can’t believe I forgot! I’m the worst mother in the world.”
    â€œI don’t know, Mom. The world’s a pretty big place.”
    â€œHere, what can I get for you? Waffles? Let me get you some waffles.”
    She opened the freezer and moved some things around. A bag of frozen chicken nuggets fell out and landed on her foot.
    â€œDammit! I’m so sorry about this, honey. It’s just . . . I’ve been—where the hell are the waffles already?”
    â€œThey’re in the toaster. Mom, it’s okay.”
    â€œIt’s not,” she said. “It’s really not.”
    â€œThey’re just waffles.”
    â€œAnnie? What’s going on?” Aunt Josie stood in the doorway, yawning and rubbing her eyes.
    Mom picked up the bag of chicken nuggets and put it back in the freezer and shut the door. Then she leaned her forehead against it and closed her eyes.
    â€œI forgot to fix breakfast for Derek,” she said.
    â€œCome on. Come sit down. Have some coffee,” said Aunt Josie.
    She took Mom’s arm and sat her down and put the coffee in front of her. Then she sat down also. She looked worried. I wondered if there might be something else going on besides waffles but I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t think it was a good time to ask. Instead I got a plate from the cabinet and when my waffles were ready I put peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff on them and took them into the living room to eat in front of cartoons. A little while later I thought I heard my mom cry out. A little while after that I smelled bacon.
    Mom came in while I was watching
Dinoboy
. She took the quilt from the back of the couch and unfolded it so it covered both of us. Then she curled up against me with her head on my shoulder and we watched TV for a few minutes like that without saying anything.
    â€œDinoboy, eh?”
    â€œYup.”
    â€œAnd what does he do?”
    â€œOh, Mom, Dinoboy’s so cool! He’s this kid who can transform into any dinosaur! He can even be like part one kind and part another like a pterodactyl with the claws of a Therazinosaurus! Plus, did you know the Therazinosaurus was actually an herbivore? He used