All About Sam by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online Page A

they didn't get to be first for graham crackers at snack time, or because Nicky bit them, or because the carpool car had a flat tire. Sam
never
cried at things like that. But when your own mother said "sweetie" and you didn't feel like a sweetie at all because you had this bright red giant-sized pack of Dentyne gum in your hand, and you didn't even
like
Dentyne gum, or
want
Dentyne gum, and you weren't having a good day at all, well—
    Sam began to sob. He handed the gum to his mother.
    And after they returned to the supermarket, found the manager, explained about the gum, apologized about the gum, paid for the gum, and then went outside and threw the gum away in a big trash can, it began, finally, to be a good day again.

8

    "I want a pet," Sam said one evening at dinner.
    His mom reached over and patted his cheek. "Oh, Sam," she said, "you know how much we would love to have a dog. But Daddy's allergic to dogs."
    "My eyes get all itchy, and I sneeze and feel terrible if I'm anywhere
near
a dog," his dad said. "And I turn grouchy. I snarl at everyone."
    "What about—" Sam began.
    "Same with cats," his dad said.
    "I had a cat once, Sam," Anastasia told him, "when I was younger, before you were born. And Dad was sick for two whole months before we realized it was the cat causing it."
    "Was he sneezy?" Sam asked.
    "Yes."
    "And grumpy?"
    "Just like the Seven Dwarfs," Anastasia said.
    "Did you have to
kill
the cat?" Sam asked. He sort of hoped they had. He didn't want anybody's cat to be dead, especially, but for some reason he was very interested in shooting guns and dropping bombs. At nursery school, Sam and his friend Adam always dropped a lot of bombs on stuff until the teacher said, "Time Out, guys," and made them stop. Now Sam was kind of wondering about how you would get rid of a cat that was turning you into a Sneezy and a Grumpy. Maybe you would have to drop a bomb on it.
    "Of course not," Anastasia said. "We gave the cat to my friend Jenny. Later it got run over by a car."
    "Squooshed flat?" asked Sam.
    "Yuck," Anastasia said. "I suppose so. But I don't want to think about it while I'm eating."
    "Eat your dinner, Sam," his mom said. "Chicken's your favorite."
    "Could I maybe have an
alive
chicken?" Sam asked. "I really want a pet."
    "No, sweetie. People raise chickens on farms. I think your school is going to have a field trip to a real farm some time soon. So you'll get to see lots of live chickens. But you won't be able to keep one, I'm afraid. A chicken wouldn't be a good pet, anyway."
    Sam scowled and drove his spoon around his plate, pushing a trail through some peas into a mound of squash. Oh, yuck. Now there were some peas touching his squash. He hated when his foods touched each other. The
worst
was when spinach juice got onto mashed potatoes and turned them green.
    No. The
real
worst was when
beets
touched something.
    Sam poked at his peas. "Anastasia got to have gerbils," he grumbled.
    The whole family groaned. Sam giggled. The gerbils had been terrible. They had had babies, and then they had all gotten out of the cage, and there had been gerbils all over the house for a while.
    The Krupniks had all been very glad when they finally gave the gerbils away.
    Carefully Sam removed three peas from his squash mound and tried to de-squash them with his finger. It didn't work. No one was looking at him, so he put the squashy peas into his pocket. He could throw them away later.
    He gnawed on his chicken leg and wished that he could have a pet. If he had a pet, it would be sitting under his chair right now, right this minute. And he could drop peas down and his pet would eat them and no one would ever know but Sam. A good pet would even eat
broccoli,
Sam thought.

    "You stay in the yard, Sam," his mom said. "And after I finish the dishes, I'll bring you in for your bath. It's almost bedtime." She buttoned his sweater.
    Sam nodded. His mom closed the screen door, went back into the kitchen, and left Sam alone on