Read Online The Graham Cracker Plot by Shelley Tougas - Free Book Online

interrupted. “WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”
    â€œTell you what,” she said, clutching her cross necklace. “You kids can take a donut from the case in the back. I recommend the ones with chocolate frosting. And it’s on me.”
    I grabbed Graham’s arm to stop the donut leap and tapped the counter with my other hand. “Ma’am, lots of people offer to help. They say all kinds of nice things, but, I’m embarrassed to say this, nothing ever comes of it. They probably just forget about their kind offers. Thank you so much for your gift of donuts, but we actually can’t have donuts . Carbs are bad for ear cancer. If you want to help, really help, then you could think about doing what Jesus would do and pay for our gas. Because our mom spends all of her money on co-pays and medicine.” Her eyes grew big, and her mouth kind of hung open. I continued, “We could cover an entire co-pay for the cost of that gas.” She tilted her head and I asked, “You’re a grownup. You know what a co-pay is, don’t you?”
    â€œYes, dear.” Her voice was tight. “Do you?”
    â€œI sure do,” I said. “It’s when the County stops paying your doctor bills because your mom gets a job, then your mom has bad insurance and every time you get a sniffle she has to write a check for the co-pay at the doctor, and it’s usually just a virus anyway, not the real flu, and all that money is gone and you don’t even have a prescription.”
    Graham looked at me and said, “WHAT?”
    â€œI told her we don’t have a lot of money.” As I spoke, I moved my hands like sign language.
    Graham nodded. “EVEN THE COUNTY WON’T HELP,” he said.
    The lady’s lips were small and puckered. She looked at the poor boy with cancer. She looked at me, sad, sweet, cute little me. I clutched my money.
    Finally, she cleared her throat and said, “Perhaps I can help this one time.”
    I tucked the birthday money in my pocket. On the way out the door, Graham and I each took a donut, plus one for Ashley.

 
    DEAR JUDGE HENRY,
    Graham told a whale-sized lie. Ear cancer! Sometimes he’s so stupid. At least that lady had a job, and she could afford gas. That’s probably what Graham was thinking when he started the lie. It wasn’t my fault. I took over only because I knew his brain would freeze.
    After we got gas, it rained harder. Because we were on the back roads, Graham sat up front with the map, and I sat in back. Ashley squeezed the steering wheel, leaned forward, and muttered to herself. Graham led us down country roads to avoid cop cars. The prison was only forty-five minutes away, and we’d spent at least that amount of time driving but getting nowhere. All Graham’s directions were wrong. We passed the same barn three times.
    Graham wouldn’t admit he didn’t know how to read the map. “It’s not the same barn. The other one had a fence around it.”
    â€œThere was no fence,” I told him. “It’s the same barn.”
    Ashley pounded the steering wheel. “Your map is wrong!”
    â€œThe map’s fine.” I leaned forward and got in Graham’s face. “ He can’t follow a black line.”
    Graham threw the map at me. “If you’re so smart, you figure it out.”
    â€œI’m definitely the brains of this operation.”
    â€œMore like the butt of this operation,” he said.
    I wanted to smack his head. He’s the one who said to use back roads, since the car burped smoke and Ashley didn’t have the gift of driving the speed limit. The County is messed up. They gave Ashley a driver’s license.
    And now we were closer to lost than to Club Fed. I yelled at Graham, “You’re the King of Stupid!”
    â€œYou’re the Queen of Stupid.”
    â€œSooooo original! Can’t imagine how you came up with that one,” I