Melody (Logan 1)

"That's not the point. She thought she was in love and that he loved her, but. . . Let's just say I know it was a mistake, okay, and leave it at that." He glared down at his textbook. "I hate this stuff. What does it have to do with what's important?"

"It's important to understand our language so we can express ourselves," I said, my voice hard and firm. Like a splinter, Cary had a way of getting under my skin.

He grimaced again and raised his eyebrows.

I wasn't intimidated by him.

"You're not just going to spend all your life talking to lobsters, Cary Logan. You're going to have to talk to your customers, too, and if you sound as if you don't know what you're doing, they won't believe in you, no matter how good a fisherman you are."

He broke into a smile. "Don't get so mad."

"I'm not mad. I'm--"

"What?" he teased.

"Mad," I said. "Why should you have to be talked into educating yourself? We don't live in the Dark Ages. Even up here in Cape Cod heaven where everyone is supposedly so perfect, people still need to be educated," I snapped.

He laughed. "Okay, help me talk to my customers." I gazed at the page.

"Clauses are easy to recognize. Just test them. If they don't have a subject and a verb, throw them back in like a lobster that's too small."

His smile widened. "I like that. That, I can understand."

I went over what a subject does in the clause and then what the verb does.

He listened, tried some examples, and then widened his eyes. "I understand what you're saying. I just don't understand how you know whether it's an adverb or an adjective."

"Test it again," I told him. "Here's one way: if you can move it around in the sentence, it's an adverb. Look at this one: Because I got sick, I had to go home. I had to go home because I got sick. See?"

His eyes lit up.

"Yeah."

"Your teacher never showed you that?" I asked.

"I don't remember. I guess I wasn't paying as much attention to her as I paid to you. Maybe you should be a teacher."

"Maybe I will. Do those exercises at the end of the chapter. I'll correct them when you're finished."

"Yes ma'am."

I went to the closet to sift through the clothing. Tomorrow, I would wear one of my own things, I thought, not that I had much from which to choose. How could Mommy not have called Mama Arlene yet? She knew I needed my clothes.

"Laura always looked really good in that," Cary said. I hadn't known he was watching me. I held a light yellow cotton dress in my hands. "You thinking of wearing that to school?"

"I might just wear a pair of jeans and a blouse I brought with me," I said.

"Laura never wore jeans to school. My father didn't think it was proper."

"Well he's not my father," I replied. "And I'm not Laura."

He shrugged. "I'm just telling you."

"Are you finished with the exercises?"

"No, I--"

"Then finish," I commanded.