Better Than Weird by Anna Kerz Read Free Book Online Page B

them. He’s forever carting home something he found. It’s not that I don’t want him to have a pet. It’s just that…” She sighed. “Well, you know…taking care of Aaron is as much as I can handle.
    â€œAnyway, like a fool I sent a note telling the teacher Aaron could have the mealworms. They’re small and quiet, I thought. What could go wrong? Who knew I’d be out when he brought them home! Still, you’d think he would have put them someplace sensible. But oh no. Didn’t he dump the whole lot of them into my box of bran flakes!”
    Mealworms like bran , Aaron wanted to say, but Gran’s voice rose as she said, “You can stop laughing. I didn’t think it was the least bit funny. Okay. Maybe it’s funny now, but it wasn’t then. Do you know what it’s like to pour out your breakfast cereal and find mealworms wriggling in your bowl? It took me three days to get my appetite back.”
    She laughed. Aaron liked the sound. Gran laughing.
    She hadn’t laughed when she found the mealworms. “That’s it!” she had yelled. “You can’t keep them! Not the mealworms and not the toad. They’re all going!” And she had carried the box of cereal out and poured it on the compost pile in the garden. She made him put the toad into the flower bed behind the house.
    There was silence in the kitchen now. When she spoke again, the laughter was gone from her voice. She sounded different as she said, “For all the trouble, I wouldn’t trade the last eight years for anything. If nothing else, he gives me a reason to get up in the morning. Still, who knows what will happen when…” Her voice dropped, and he couldn’t hear what she said at the end.
    â€œIt’s all right, Buddy,” he told the toad. “When Dad comes, you won’t have to hide anymore.”
    The toad blinked. Then it peed. A brownish liquid puddled in Aaron’s hand before it seeped between his fingers and dripped to his shoe. He grunted, shifted the animal to his other hand and wiped his wet palm on his pants before he slid the toad back into his pocket.
    â€œWhat’ve you got there?”
    He looked up, startled. He hadn’t heard Gran hang up the phone, and now she was in the hallway.
    â€œAaron? What’s in your pocket?” she asked again.
    He shifted from one foot to the other. “Have to go to the bathroom,” he said, starting up the stairs.
    â€œAaron Waite!” Gran called out in her doomsday voice. “Don’t take another step.”
    He stopped and turned to stare at his grandmother.
    â€œDon’t give me that wide-eyed innocent look. I want to know what you’ve got.”
    Aaron pulled Buddy out again.

TEN
    Right after lunch the next day, Aaron’s Big Brother, Paul, arrived with an empty fish tank and a bag of supplies. He draped his jacket on the newel post and blew on his hands to warm them. “It’s a good thing you called before you put that toad outside. It’s freezing out there. It would have died. The best thing to do is to set up a vivarium and keep it till spring.”
    Aaron watched Gran’s face. She was thinking. He could tell.
    Paul looked at her face too. “Toads are quiet and they don’t take much care,” he said.
    Gran threw up her hands. “All right,” she said, “keep your toad. Just make sure I’m not going to regret this decision.”
    â€œI’m gonna keep it. I’m gonna keep my toad,” Aaron sang and bounced until Paul placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
    â€œAll right, Aaron, chill,” he said.
    So Aaron stopped singing, but his body kept making little jerking movements as if a motor somewhere deep inside was running in overdrive.
    That morning they turned the empty fish tank into a home for the toad. They filled the bottom with activated charcoal. “To filter the dirt and the air,” Paul