McKenna, Ready to Fly by Mary Casanova

Author:Mary Casanova
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUVENILE FICTION/Sports & Recreation/Miscellaneous, JUVENILE FICTION/Readers/Chapter Books, JUVENILE FICTION/Animals/Horses, JUVENILE FICTION/Social Issues/Friendship, JUVENILE FICTION/Social Issues/Emotions & Feelings, JUVENILE FICTION/Social Issues/New Experience, JUVENILE FICTION/Social Issues/Special Needs, JUVENILE FICTION/Social Issues/Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, JUVENILE FICTION/School & Education, JUVENILE FICTION/Girls & Women
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2012-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

That night over a lasagna dinner—with Cooper under the table, hoping for someone to drop a slice of garlic bread—I told Mom and Dad that I’d “graduated” from needing a tutor.

“Bravo, McKenna!” said Mom, lifting her glass. We all toasted with glasses of milk.

After dinner, while Mom read to the twins, Dad and I worked on dishes. With his hands in sink water, Dad asked, “Where should we go?”

“Go?” I said, not sure what he meant.

“To celebrate your hard work and graduation from tutoring,” said Dad.

“Oh. The top of the Space Needle?” I suggested, expecting to hear the same old answer: “It’s too expensive.” The Needle towers above the harbor in downtown Seattle, and from the top, you can see the whole city. Just below the rooftop is the revolving SkyCity Restaurant, which I’d never been to before. I didn’t hold my breath.

Dad gave me a wink.

“Really?” I asked.

He nodded and went back to scrubbing a skillet. “What you’ve accomplished is huge, and so important,” he said. “When you learned you were falling behind, you could have just shrugged your shoulders and said ‘so what?’—and fallen further behind.”

My cheeks burned with happiness. It felt so good to know Dad was proud of me.

He kept talking and scrubbing. “I see lots of kids like that at the high school,” he said. “They slip behind somewhere early on and never catch up. So, yes, I want to do something extra special—our own awards celebration. You’ve worked hard at school and at gymnastics. That’s no easy feat!” He hugged me with one arm, keeping his dripping wet hand outstretched over the sink.

“At the top of the Space Needle?” I said excitedly. “Really? When? I can’t wait!”

“Well,” Dad said, “we’ll have to work on that. I have so many meetings lately I can barely see straight. But we’ll schedule it just as soon as we can. And, McKenna, would you like to invite a friend?”

I instantly thought about both Josie and Sierra. I wouldn’t be where I was in school or at the gym without their support. But then I thought of Toulane. Even if things felt broken between us now, she’d been there for me for years. Maybe inviting her could be a good way to patch things up.

“Dad?” I asked as I wiped dishes. “I have an extra special request. Could, um, Josie and Toulane both come?”

Dad paused to think about it. “If that’s what you would like,” he finally said, “then that’s what you’ll get.”

“Thanks, Dad!” I said, hugging his waist. I felt like dancing and leaping across the kitchen. Instead, I spun around, planted my feet, and stretched out my arms in a gymnastics salute.

Dad turned sideways and started clapping, sending water droplets across the floor—and me.

I cracked up and took a bow.

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