Lu by Jason Reynolds

Author:Jason Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

“Yoooo, you almost played yourself, kid!”

That was Skunk. He was sitting outside on his front porch, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he continued to clap for me. Clap at me. A little scraggly hair dog sat next to him. The dog looked exhausted, as if it had worked a hard day. Or had been jumping hurdles. Or had been smoking cigarettes. The dog’s name is Stinky Butt. Skunk’s had him forever. “Almost lost your whole life out here,” Skunk dragged the joke on. His voice was squeezed, almost choked, as he blew the smoke out, then dabbed the cig butt on the bottom of his shoe.

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t, and you should be too because this for you,” I said, coming up to him, my arms out holding what seemed like something way more important than it was. Like I was delivering some kind of special scroll. The closer I got, the more Stinky Butt perked up. And right when I got to his porch, the puny mutt started growling.

“What’s this?” Skunk asked, nodding at me and rubbing his dog’s head.

I thought about doing my whole rollout with the Good afternoon, my name is Lu and whatnot. Just to be funny. Instead I just said, “Camel.”

“What?” Skunk took the box.

“A camel.” I handed him the note from Patty’s mom. “Made of fruit.” He opened the letter, read it, kissed the air. Then he opened the box. “Don’t eat the skin. It comes right off.” Skunk was the kind of guy who would try to eat whatever was in front of him. Type of dude that needed to be warned.

He pulled a piece of the “fur” off, pinched off some of the kiwi mash, tasted it. Flashed a distinguished frown. Then looked back up at me. Pinched another piece and gave it to Stinky Butt, who had stopped growling and was now sitting up, waggy-tail, waiting for it. Skunk nodded, then, balancing the camel with one hand—I just knew he was about to drop it—got up and opened the front door.

“Ash! Lu out here!” he yelled into the house, all of a sudden.

“Oh, I gotta go.” I wasn’t expecting him to call for Cotton—Ashley her government name—but I guess he figured I must’ve been standing there looking silly for a reason. But I wasn’t. And if I was standing there looking silly, the reason would’ve been because he was eating a camel.

“No, you don’t,” Skunk said, taking a few steps into the house. He was now holding the camel with both hands. Called out for his sister again. “Ash!”

“I’m coming!” she yelled back. A few seconds later Cotton was standing in the doorway, pushing Skunk farther in, away. Stinky Butt followed behind. “Eww, you smell like smoke! And what you eatin’?”

I stood there trying to figure out what to do with my hands. Fold them. Nope. Behind the back. Nope. In the pockets. Maybe. But there was an orange there. A tangerine.

“Hey,” Cotton said to me. She had

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.