“He can’t?”
“He’s blind. But he can h-hear really g-good and so he never b-bumps into trees.”
“How can he hear trees?” Armpit asked.
“The leaves rustle in the wind,” said Ginny.
Ginny must have said that same sentence many times before because she didn’t stutter over any of the words.
“This is Daisy,” she said, handing Armpit a basset hound with long, floppy ears.
“How ya doin’, Daisy?” said Armpit.
“She c-can’t hear you,” said Ginny. “She’s deaf. But she has a keen sense of smell.”
Armpit smiled. He liked it that she used the word “keen.”
The next one she showed him was Roscoe, a fuzzy bear with twisty arms and legs. Roscoe was paralyzed due to a “horrible accident.”
Ginny sat on the edge of the bed with her legs bowed out and her toes pointed downward. As a baby she couldn’t learn to walk because she was always on tiptoe. She had to wear a special brace just to straighten out her feet.
Armpit looked over the three animals. Hooter was out. Everyone would just laugh at the name.
“Oh, I know!” Ginny suddenly exclaimed as she brought both hands to her face. “You need Coo!”
Coo was a sort of bunny creature lying next to Ginny’s bed. It had arms and legs like a person but had bunny ears.
“I’ve had Coo my whole life,” Ginny said.
“I better just take Roscoe,” said Armpit.
Ginny frowned.
“I think Coo’s great,” Armpit assured her. “I just don’t want to take your favorite. It’s just a stupid speech. What if something happens?”
“Coo isn’t scared,” said Ginny. “He is always strong and brave. H-he will be the b-best ruler of the w-w-world!”
“Well, I wouldn’t count on Coo winning,” Armpit cautioned. “I get real nervous when I have to give a speech.”
“Coo will help you,” said Ginny.
Armpit held Coo in one hand. It was soft and spongy, the kind of toy given to babies because it was easily held on to by tiny fingers. “So is there something wro—” He caught himself. “Does Coo have a disability?” he asked.
“Leukemia,” Ginny whispered. “But we don’t talk about it.”
7
Friday, with the concert just eight days away, Armpit went to the Stop & Shop after school to buy a newspaper. He had paid thirty dollars for the ad; he might as well pay another fifty cents to see it.
He dropped two quarters into the newspaper vending machine and pulled up on the handle, but it wouldn’t open. He pressed the coin return and got back nothing. He pulled harder on the handle. He slammed his hand against the coin return.
He was already mad that X-Ray had waited two days to buy the ad because he only wanted to pay for one week, and now the machine had eaten his money. He shook it so hard he might have broken it, but then a voice in his head reminded him that it wasn’t worth going to jail for fifty cents.
Instead, he went into the store and told the clerk what had happened.
“You have to wait for the coins to drop,” the guy told him, and wouldn’t give him his money back.
Armpit asked him for change for a dollar.