Cody and the Fountain of Happiness by Tricia Springstubb

Author:Tricia Springstubb [Springstubb, Tricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7696-4
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2015-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

The cat coiled tight, a big furry ball in a slingshot.

Then, boing! She leaped, spun in midair, and dove under the table, where she huddled on Cody’s foot.

Cody looked at Spencer.

Spencer looked at Cody.

In perfect sync, they raised their palms and high-fived.

“It worked!”

If this were a movie, everyone would hug, music would swell up, and ta-da! Happy Ending Time. The whole audience would burst into applause.

Only this was real life.

Where things are not so simple.

At all.

Dad had three more days off, so Cody got to stay home with him.

Is there any need to say how wonderful that was?

But the day before he was due back on the road, two things happened.

Neither one was in the Happy Ending category.

Thing #1: Wyatt fainted at doctor camp.

When camp called, Cody and Dad jumped in the car and sped there. Wyatt sat in the nurse’s office, his face like an uncooked marshmallow.

“Are you all right?” cried Dad.

The nurse had brown eyes and a kindly smile. She said, “It’s common to faint when they do their first dissection.”

At the word dissection, Wyatt leaned his head against the wall.

“He’ll be fine,” said the nurse. “But you better take him home for the rest of the day.”

In the car, Wyatt sat with closed eyes. Cody knew what dissection was. She’d watched her brother do it online. You cut open a once-alive creature, and then you removed its internal organs. Watching made her stomach feel like a blender on high. But if she ever said “Ack,” or “Ugh, that is so gross,” Wyatt called her a fainthearted, weak-kneed girl.

“What did you dissect?” Cody asked from the backseat.

“An earthworm,” croaked Wyatt.

Cody gulped. Worms were not in her top ten of the animal kingdom. But still.

“I would never do that,” she said.

“Surgeons have to do it,” said Wyatt. “If you can’t dissect, you can’t be a surgeon. End of story.”

This was bad news, all right.

Dad cleared his throat. Some grown-ups give so much advice, you don’t need to listen. You can be sure plenty more is on the way soon.

But not Dad. His advice was rare and precious as golden coins.

“Wyatt, when I drive my rig down that lonesome highway, I pay attention to what’s in front of me,” he said. “But at the same time, I keep my eyes on what lies up ahead. I see the big picture.”

“Uh,” said Wyatt. “Okay.”

“It’s the same on the Road of Life,” Dad went on. “You have hit a pothole here. You have hit a traffic jam. But you can’t focus on that. The road stretches before you. Keep your eyes on the many miles that lie ahead.”

He pulled up in front of the house and said he was going to the grocery store. Inside, Wyatt collapsed on his invisible bed. Thinking of his life as a road full of potholes wasn’t helping.

But before long, Dad came back with all of Wyatt’s favorite foods. He heaped a plate with chips and dip and filled a bowl with moose-tracks ice cream.

“I have another surprise,” Dad said as Wyatt began to eat.

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