Almost Zero by Nikki Grimes

Author:Nikki Grimes [Grimes, Nikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101657171
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-10-28T04:00:00+00:00

6. Tales out of School

The minute her mother walked in the door that night, Dyamonde ran to her.

“Mom! I need to go through my clothes—not for me this time, though. A girl in my school got burned out of her apartment and she doesn’t have anything left.”

“Slow down, Dyamonde. Let me get in the door first.”

“Sorry.” Dyamonde hopped from one foot to the other, impatient for her mother to set down her purse, kick off her shoes and settle into the recliner.

“That’s better,” Mrs. Daniel said, sighing. “Now, what were you saying?”

Dyamonde told her all about the announcement her teacher made in class and all about the crazy school policy about taking up collections.

“Mrs. Cordell said I could do something myself, if I wanted to. And I want to give Isabel some of my clothes because she doesn’t have any at all, and we’re the same size. So can I have my clothes back, just for a little while? You can take them away again. I just want to pick out a few for Isabel,” said Dyamonde.

Dyamonde waited for her mother to say something. Instead, her mom just smiled.

“Why are you smiling?”

Mrs. Daniel ignored the question. “Let’s get dinner going, then I’ll see if I can remember what I did with all your clothes.”

Dyamonde knew her mother was kidding about remembering where the clothes were, because she gave Dyamonde a wink when she said it.

“Tell me about this girl,” said Mrs. Daniel, over dinner.

Dyamonde shrugged. “She’s a girl in my class I talk to sometimes. She’s got this great white streak in her hair, and she’s nice. I don’t really know her as much as I know Free and Damaris, though.”

“I see.”

“You don’t have to know somebody to help them. Right?”

Dyamonde’s mother flashed that slow smile again, saying nothing.

After the dishes were washed and put away, Mrs. Daniel slipped out of the apartment. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.

“Oh, puleeze!” said Dyamonde, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “Mom forgot her keys. Again.”

When Dyamonde opened the front door, she found her mother and their neighbor, Mrs. King, both juggling armloads of boxes.

“Say hello to Mrs. King,” said Mrs. Daniel.

“Good evening, Mrs. King,” said Dyamonde.

“Mrs. King was kind enough to store these boxes in her extra bedroom closet.”

So that’s where they were, thought Dyamonde.

“Well, come on! Give us a hand,” said her mom.

Dyamonde was happy to grab one of the boxes.

Once all of the cartons were neatly stacked in front of Dyamonde’s closet, Mrs. King said good night and left.

“Whew!” said Mrs. Daniel. “Glad that’s done. I’m off duty for the rest of the night, but you can go ahead and put away whatever clothes you’ve decided to keep for yourself.”

Raising an eyebrow, Dyamonde turned to her mother. “But I thought—”

“You thought I’d take your things away again, after you set aside clothes for Isabel?”

Dyamonde nodded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.