Quaking by Kathryn Erskine

Author:Kathryn Erskine
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-02-26T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Jessica does not ask if I am okay after school. Even though I am shivering. And sweating. And about to throw up. She is too giggly and pink-faced about her own news. “Guess what? Sam got a job!”

I am still reeling from the Rat, but the significance of what she says finally hits me. “You mean, he did not have one already?”

“Well, he was doing community service.”

“Community service?” My knees start to buckle so I sit on the floor, still clutching my backpack, and narrowly miss the Blob. “To pay for what?”

“No, no, not forced community service. Repairing houses for the elderly. Working in the drug rehab clinic. He also reads to prisoners. He volunteers because he wants to help our community.”

“Oh, you mean because he cannot get a real job?”

Her pink face is turning red now. “He’s working on his GED.”

“He never even finished high school?” I am surprised. Sam is definitely not stupid. I know that now. He probably knows more about what is going on in the Middle East than Mr. Warhead, for God’s sake.

Her mouth is closing into a tight-lipped line.The pot on the stove starts to bubble over.The liquid hisses as it hits the burner and cooktop. Jessica turns a knob on the stove and grabs a napkin—blue-flowered—again, they clash with the décor. She dabs at the spilled mess. Not very successfully, I might add.

Her voice is shaky, like she is trying to rein in her words so they will not come out screaming. She stares at the pot on the stove and stirs it deliberately. “You know, Sam had a lot of people depending on him from the time he was a young boy. His father died when he was only five, and he was the oldest of three kids. By the time he was eight, he was mowing lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow, anything to make money. Because he was so responsible, he started babysitting when he was eleven.As a teenager, he didn’t have time to focus on school. . . .”

The Blob is grabbing for me and I slide across the floor. He slides after me.When did he get to be so quick? He does not crawl but sits on his butt and yanks on chair legs or anything handy to pull himself along. His hands reach out to me, opening and closing rapidly. I decide to stand up. In time to hear Jessica say, “So he’s going to be a substitute bus driver.”

Excuse me? Is this Sam’s new job that Jessica is all excited about? I review the school hierarchy in my head:

Student

Coach

Teacher

Principal

Guidance Counselor

Librarian

Nurse

Cafeteria Worker

Custodian

Substitute Teacher

Bus Driver

Snake on the Football Field

Substitute Bus Driver

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