good.â
âWhenever I have someone come over, which isnât very often, Mom makes them. I think itâs because they were Michaelâs favorite.â
âMichael OâReilly?â I ask.
âYeah. You know we used to be best friends in elementary school, right?â
âYouâre not friends anymore?â I ask as I reach for my glass of milk.
âNah. I donât know if you can tell, but Iâm not really the athletic type. I tried. I played soccer and baseball through fifth grade. But I just wasnât good enough. It stops being fun when you feel horrible about how you play all the time.â
âWhat does that have to do with being Michaelâs friend, though?â
He shrugs. âSports are his life. Things changed. I donât know. Now he hangs out with his friends he sees all the time at games and practices.â
He sounds kind of sad. I donât know what to say. He keeps talking. âYou and Isabel, youâve been friends for a long time, right?â
âYeah.â
He reaches for another cookie. âThatâs cool. Does she want to be an actress too?â
âNo. Flight attendant. Travel the world and all that stuff.â
âItâs weird,â he says. âI always thought girls were the ones who had problems with friends. And here I am, the one with the problems.â
I think of the audition and Isabel. I swallow hard. I donât want to go there. âWell, Dennis, maybe if you wouldnât do odd things, like ask people if they want to see a dead birdâs foot, youâd have more friends.â
His face turns red. âCan I tell you something?â
âSure.â
âI never really had a dead birdâs foot.â
âYou didnât? Then whyâd you say you did? Just to freak me out?â
He shrugs. âI donât know. Sometimes I donât know what to say. There was a dead bird on my porch that morning. It just popped into my brain and before I knew it, I was talking crazy-bird-feet talk.â
âWell, I guess sometimes I donât know what to say either.â I think of the conversation I need to have with Isabel someday about the audition. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. Iâm not sure Iâll ever figure out what to say for that conversation.
Dennis stands up and takes the empty plate and glasses to the counter. âWe should come up witha saying we automatically go to when weâre having a hard time. So we donât say something stupid. Like my dad, he always talks about the weather. And heâs always so excited about it. Doesnât matter what it is; it can be forty-five degrees and raining, like it is almost every single day in Oregon, and heâll still want to talk about the weather.â
âMy dad loves the weather too. The Weather Channel is his favorite channel. What is up with that? Look outside, Dad. Thereâs the weather.â
Dennis laughs. âI know, itâs the truth.â
Itâs quiet for a minute. âWe should get to work,â I say.
âWhatâs your all-time favorite movie?â he asks.
âI think Iâd have to go with
The Wizard of Oz.
Why?â
âNo, see, that should be our question. When we donât know what to say. Movies are a safe topic.â
âWhatâs wrong with the standard âHowâs it going?ââ
âBecause all you get is an âOkayâ or âFine,â and then what? Youâre right back where you started. Itâs a useless question. Like anyone is going to tell you how itâs really going. âHey, thanks for asking. Man, things are terrible. My grandmaâs sick, my dog justdied, and I didnât have any clean underwear this morning.ââ
Iâm trying hard not to laugh. Heâs right. Itâs true. âCome on. Letâs get our write-up done. Tell me what youâve got for the
Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins