Red Shirt Kids by Bryce Clark Read Free Book Online

shock. She ripped off her headphones and ran to him.
    “What is it, Mike? What’s wrong?” she asked.
    Mike didn’t budge—he just stared at something over Amy’s shoulder. Amy turned slowly to follow his gaze and immediately leapt to her feet. They both stared in amazement. “Amy?”
    “Yeah?”
    “How’d this happen?” Amy had no response. How could she? How could she explain the fact that a full-size, real-life, honest-to-goodness
cow
was standing by her closet?
    “There’s a
cow
in your room,” said Mike.
    “I agree,” said Amy.
    “Should I get Mom?”
    “She doesn’t know anything about cows.”
    “We have to do something.” The cow mooed and shifted its weight. Mike and Amy took quick steps away from the cow. Mike stumbled on Amy’s sketchpad and noticed the drawing.
    “Holy crap!” he shouted.
    “What?”
    “You drew it, Amy!”
    Amy looked at her drawing, then at the cow. Her eyes filled with joy.
    “If you did this, then you can make it go away.”
    “How?”
    “Erase it.”
    “It’s charcoal.”
    Mike grabbed the pad and ripped the page off, holding it up for comparison. They looked exactly the same. Mike stared at the cow, and the cow seemed to stare back. Mike moved to Amy’s desk and picked up an eraser. He started to erase but just smeared the picture. The cow mooed, agitated.
    “See?” Amy huffed.
    Mike sighed in frustration. He yelled at the cow. “Go away! Shoo!”
    “Where’s it gonna go? Don’t be stupid.”
    “I. AM. NOT. STUPID! You’re the one who did this stupid drawing. Now Mom’s gonna find out—and, and they’ll take away our shirts!” Mike crumpled the paper with fury.
    Amy did a double take. “Mike,” she said.
    “What?” Mike roared. Amy pointed, and Mike turned toward the cow. It was gone. Mike looked at the crumpled paper in his hand, and his grimace turned into a grin. “No way! OK, that’s so freaking cool.” Amy’s eyes were brimming with tears.
    Mike thought, his eyes darting rapidly. “All right, OK. Draw a, uh, draw a Snickers!”
    “Oh yeah, think big.”
    “Well, draw something.”
    Amy pondered for a moment then picked up her sketchpad and began to draw. Mike lowered himself onto the bed as she furiously worked her pencil. She stopped and blew on the picture. Mike turned towards where the cow had been. A substance like gold dust swirled in the air before falling to the ground. When the dust settled, there was a three-foot-tall porcelain doll standing on the floor.
    Mike was disappointed. “A doll?”
    Amy walked to the doll, touching its face. “She’s beautiful.” She held up the sketch of the same doll so Mike could see.
    “I guess we found your power,” said Mike. Amy smiled.
    “So, what are your rules?” Mike asked.
    “Huh?”
    “You gave me and Sam rules, right? So what are yours?” Mike smiled.
    Amy thought. “Well … I guess I can’t draw something unless we all agree. I mean, that would be the fair rule, but …”
    “No buts,” said Mike. “If we can’t do anything without you, then you can’t do anything without us.”
    “Okay, that’s fair. I guess whatever I draw disappears when I crumple the paper, huh?” mused Amy.
    “Yeah, but don’t do it and crumple just so you can get away with it,” said Mike.
    “Oh, I won’t,” promised Amy with a sly smile.

11
    HUNDREDS OF KIDS played basketball on the large blacktop parking lot behind the school. The kids stood in cliques spread out across the pavement. The rusty basketball rims, which had been stripped of their nets long ago, stood unused. A few kids played tag halfheartedly. Others hopscotched on a game drawn in red, white, and blue chalk. A few boys played catch with a Nerf football.
    Ben led a group of kids in a game they called “suicide.” They threw a tennis ball against the side of the school and then fielded it like in baseball. The rules were simple—if a player didn’t catch the ball in the field, then he had to run to the wall and