Sydney A. Frankel's Summer Mix-Up by Danielle Joseph

Author:Danielle Joseph [Joseph, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Chapter Book, Chapter Books, Jewish, Judaism, Kar-Ben Publishing, Kar-Ben, Older Readers
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2021-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

When Mr. Stein drops me off at home, Dad answers the door.

“Why aren’t you at work?” I ask.

“I’m checking up on Mom. She went to the doctor again this morning, and her blood pressure was a little high. That’s not good for the baby. She needs to rest for five days until her next appointment.”

My heart sinks. The baby is stressed. Mom is stressed. We’re the family-sized bucket of stress. “But is she okay?”

“She’s fine.” He pats me on the back.

I walk into the family room, where Mom’s lying on the couch watching a cooking show. There’s a bowl of popcorn and a full glass of lemonade in front of her.

“Mom, Dad said you were on bed rest!” I put my hands on my hips.

“I am. That’s why I’m parked in front of the TV.”

“But whenever I’m sick, you tell me I can’t watch too much TV.” Not to mention that she never lets me eat a whole bowl of popcorn on my own.

“I’m an adult, and this is a different kind of sick.”

“It’s for the baby,” Dad adds.

“That’s so unfair!” I burst out. “The baby gets to watch TV when it’s sick, and I don’t!” I stomp toward the kitchen.

Dad follows me. “What’s gotten into you? Mom has to rest, and your behavior’s not helping.”

I sigh. “Sorry.” I open the fridge and pull out the milk for a bowl of cereal.

“Rough day, sheyne meydl?” Dad sits down next to me at the kitchen table.

“Yeah. This boy thought I said something rude, but he misunderstood me.”

I’m not even going to tell him about the trip to the nurse’s office. The last thing I want Dad to do is check in with the nurse.

“Did you tell him that?” Dad asks.

“I tried, but then the class ended, and we left.”

Dad nods. “That’s tough. Tell you what—I need to get back to work, but how about Monty’s tonight, just you and me?”

“Okay.” I nod. No matter what, I’m never going to turn down cake-batter ice cream with gummy bears and sprinkles!

“That’s my girl. We’ll talk this evening.” He fluffs my hair and goes back to the family room to say goodbye to Mom.

I try to finish my cereal, but I’m not that hungry, so I join Mom on the couch. “Sorry for snapping at you,” I mumble.

She puts her arm around me. “Don’t worry about it, Syd. Want to make it up to me by keeping me company?”

“Sure.” Even though I’m still annoyed at her for all the embarrassing things she’s done to me this summer, I love spending time with Mom.

I get her to change the channel to a bloopers show where people make funny mistakes on TV and movie sets. If there’d been a camera in our class today, everyone would’ve laughed when I said I didn’t like Ollie. Then the director would’ve yelled “Cut!” and we would’ve done the scene again. The second time, I would’ve said, “Of course I like Ollie. He’s my friend.” No one would’ve laughed,

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