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T.J.’s AdventuresOperation Superhero Support“Mr. Angel” Ramirez SAMPLE

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Copyright © 2021 Angel RamirezAll rights reserved The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, livingor dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express writtenpermission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 9798764592268 Cover design by: Angel Ramirez Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309 Printed in the United States of AmericaSAMPLE

CONTENTS Copyright1 Lots of Kids2 Don’t Look Back3 I Learned Something4 That’s So Cool5 What’s Secret Santa?6 Just Tell Me!7 One More Word8 To The Mall9 Only Fifteen Dollars?10 It’s Perfect! Right?11 You’re Already Done?12 You’re Just Overreacting13 Maybe She’s Right14 Maybe She’s Wrong15 What To Do16 Tell Us Already!17 Is This Enough?18 It’s Our Pleasure19 Operation Superhero SupportSAMPLE

About The AuthorBooks By This AuthorSAMPLE

Because little people can do big things, too.SAMPLE

1 Lots of Kids“Come on guys! If we win this game, we move on to thefinals!” a third grader reminded her teammates.“Finals? Ha! Not if we beat you!” a second grader from theother team taunted.Before the third grader could respond, two whistles sounded.That could only mean one thing.SAMPLE

“Five more minutes to go! Bathroom and water! But go slow!”Funmaker John announced.Wondering how I knew what was coming? It’s because we havea school wide whistle system. As in the metal whistles that the staffwear around their necks. Sound strange? I know. But hear me out.Before Funmaker John came to our school, we didn’t have awhistle system. The only whistle we heard was a single whistle. Itcould be short. It could be long. But we never knew what it meant!You never knew if the whistle was telling you that recess was over ortelling you to stop what you were doing, and because of that, lots ofkids would keep playing after the recess whistle was blown.Thankfully, Funmaker John has helped us with this problem. Now weknow exactly what whistles mean.If you hear one whistle, it means that someone is doingsomething that they’re not supposed to be doing. Like running on theblacktop. Or jumping off the swings. Or using fallen tree branches toplay sword fight. Just hearing a single whistle usually gets theattention of anyone breaking recess rules. And if that doesn’t work,hearing a single whistle followed by your name or what you’re doingusually gets the job done.If you hear two whistles, that’s the Water Warning whistle.Funmaker John or a supervision aide will blow their whistle twiceand loudly announce what you just heard Funmaker John shout out:Five more minutes to go! Bathroom and water! But go slow! Even ifSAMPLE

you don’t hear the announcement, you know what two whistles standfor. And since we have a large playground, supervision aides willrepeat the double whistle to make sure that everyone hears it. Ofcourse, they leave space between whistles so that no one getsconfused.Three whistles mean ‘Down and Done’. Notice that I didn’t sayit meant that recess is over. It can mean that recess is over, but that’sonly during first recess. If it’s lunch time, then the grade that is atrecess kneels and puts their hands on their head, while the grade thatis eating lunch gets ready to be released. After that, Funmaker John,or a supervision aide, will call out, ‘walking!’. The grade at recess,and the grade eating lunch, respond with ‘feet!’. Then the gradewhose recess is over, will line up to go back to class. The grade thatwas eating lunch, will throw away their trash, if they haven’t already,and head out to recess.You might have noticed a pattern and think that the next whistlein the system would be a quadruple whistle. It makes sense. Right?Sorry, but you would be wrong. The final whistle in the system is asingle, long whistle. If you hear a loud, long whistle, that seems likeit’s never going to end, it means emergency. If you hear theemergency whistle, then you run, and yes, I said run, to the nearestopen room and close the door. It could be a bathroom. It could be aclassroom. It could be the ball room. Just get in there, close the doorand stay silent. Not quiet. Silent! And don’t open the door for anyone!SAMPLE

Not even Principal Martinez. He wouldn’t tell you to open the doorsince he has a key that opens all the doors! You just stay there. Staythere until you hear the Safety Bell ring, or you hear PrincipalMartinez’s voice over the sound system say that everything is safe.It may seem like a bit much, but it works. And it sure beats thesystem that we used to have. Instead of a single, confusing whistle,we have four whistles that tell us, clearly, what they mean. If yourschool only has one whistle, and it confuses you too, then you knowwhat I mean. If your school doesn’t have a whistle system, thenmaybe you can show your principal this chapter and help your schoollike the Recess Revitalization Foundation has helped our school!Funmaker John blew his whistle three times. Guest what’s goingto happen next? Not sure, go back to a few pages and read it again.Already know? Good. Then keep on reading.“Down and done!” Funmaker John shouted.“Down and done!” we echoed.Everyone on the playground, play structure and on the fieldtook a knee and placed their hands on top of their heads.“Down and done, Devin!” Marcus yelled.Well, almost everyone.The only people allowed to move after ‘Down and Done’ iscalled, are supervision aides, Funmaker John and Future Funmakers.And no one is allowed to move until someone calls out—.“Walking!” Funmaker John hollered.SAMPLE

“Feet!” everyone responded.All the second and third graders stood up and walked to theirlines. Actually, most people speed walked. While everyone lined up,supervision aides and Future Funmakers made sure all the playgroundequipment was returned to its proper place for the next recess.Funmaker John and Erick walked to the line-up area to make sure thatclasses were ready to head back to class. Teachers usually take a fewminutes to come out of the teacher’s lounge, so Funmaker John,Future Funmakers or supervision aides usually lead students in a calland response style song or an echo style song. After singing a song ortwo, we make sure lines are straight and quiet.“Peel, banana! Peel, peel banana!” the second and third graderswere singing out loud.“Just one more recess to go!” I shouted, to Future Funmakers,holding up one finger.“One more pass and it’s back to class!” they shouted back.Besides bringing the whistle system and games to our school,the Recess Revitalization Foundation has also brought lots of coolsayings that rhyme. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m pretty surethat all of their sayings rhyme. Makes them catchy. Kind of like thosejingles from television commercials. You know which ones I’mtalking about. The ones that get stuck in your head and are playing inyour head when you wake up in the middle of the night. Or when youwake up in the morning. Or when you’re supposed to be writing yourSAMPLE

spelling words five times each. Yeah, that kind of catchy. Wait.Maybe that’s why all of their sayings rhyme. To help us rememberthem! I can’t believe that I was today years old when I realized that!◆ ◆ ◆When Justin, Sammy and I got back to class after the last recess,Mrs. Whiston was in the middle of a question and answer sessionabout her latest assignment for us.“On both sides of our family?” Shanika asked.“Both sides,” Mrs. Whiston answered.“How far back?” Zeph asked.“Three generations,” Mrs. Whiston responded.“What does that mean?” Kyle wondered, out loud.“That means it should include your parents, grandparents andgreat-grandparents,” Mrs. Whiston clarified.“I’m sorry,” Justin said, raising his hand while taking his seat,“but I have no idea what’s going on.”I know he raised his hand and all, but he didn’t even wait to becalled on. In our class, that means an automatic name on the board.But Mrs. Whiston must be in a good mood, because she’s not walkingover to write it down.“We were just discussing your Family Tree Diagramassignment,” Mrs. Whiston explained.“Oh,” Justin said, putting his hand down. “Okay.”SAMPLE

I can tell by the look on his face, that he’s still a bit confused.No worries. I’m sure that Sammy will explain it to him later.Wait a second! Did she just say ‘three generations’? Why threegenerations? That’s a lot of people. Why not two generations? Oreven one generation? One generation would be enough. Yeah, I’msure one generation would be plenty.Now I know what you’re probably thinking. You’re thinkingthat I’m overreacting. But I’ll tell you why I’m not overreacting. Incase you’ve forgotten, or in case you’ve never read book one, let meremind you of something important. I’m Mexican. Still don’tunderstand? Then then let me ask you a question. Do you have anyidea how many kids that Mexicans like to have? Lots of kids. That’show many. Lots, of, kids!SAMPLE

2 DON’T LOOK BACK“Who gives homework over Thanksgiving break!” Justinexclaimed, throwing his hands up.“Technically we have more than Thanksgiving break to finishit,” Sammy corrected.“But still!” Justin protested.Sammy should know better by now. Once Justin gets riled upabout something, his mind is pretty much made up. You can try asSAMPLE

hard as you like, but there’s no use in trying to change it. You’d havean easier time changing a baby’s diaper!Thanksgiving Break came sooner than I would have liked, butthankfully, I already have my diagram done. I used a tri-fold posterboard to make it. It was the only way to get all of my family to fit onthe front of the diagram! Of course, a diagram is only one part of ourassignment. We also have to write an essay about our research intoour family. You know, what did we do to complete our diagram andstuff. Did we ask our parents? Did we ask our grandparents? Did weresearch online using Facebook or Ancestry.com? Stuff like that. Andbelieve it or not, I’ve also finished that, too!All I have to do is finish preparing the third part of ourassignment: my oral report. The third part of the assignment is tointroduce three interesting family members to the class. I alreadyhave one person for my report. It’s my great Uncle Lupe from mydad’s side of the family. Dad told me that great Uncle Lupe isprobably where I get my compassion to help people.Great Uncle Lupe used to live in the United States, but movedto Mexico when he found out that his tía had cancer but couldn’tafford treatment. When he was still living in the United States, he ranhis own chain of fast food restaurants. They’re pretty popular wherehe used to live, but they aren’t national.SAMPLE

When he first went to Mexico to help his tía, he found out thatshe couldn’t afford her cancer treatment. But it wasn’t just her. GreatUncle Lupe found out that most of the people in her village didn’thave any health insurance. Why? They couldn’t afford it!After hiring someone to continue running his restaurants, GreatUncle Lupe decided to move to Mexico, permanently. He also set upa burger restaurant in a nearby city, but didn’t keep any of the profitsfor himself. Since he was still receiving money from his restaurants inthe United States, he used all the profits from his new restaurant to setup a non-profit that helps families pay for their medical bills. Notonly did he end up receiving a Key to the City from the Mayor, hereceived a Humanitarian of the Year award from the Governor!◆ ◆ ◆“Time to go!” dad announced. “If we don’t leave now, we’ll belate for dinner!”“Make sure to grab a jacket!” mom commanded, holding thespaghetti casserole she had just pulled from the oven.If you’re wondering where we’re going and what a spaghetticasserole is, no worries. I’ll explain. First of all, we’re going to myNána’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. My Nána is my mom’s mom.Second of all, a spaghetti casserole is basically a baking pan, filledwith spaghetti, and covered in cheese. I know that it’s not exactly aThanksgiving dinner dish, but some of my cousins, and Xochitl, areSAMPLE

picky eaters. And one thing that most kids like, picky or not, isspaghetti. But if you bring spaghetti by itself, it doesn’t seem like aproper side dish. But make it into a casserole and voila! Proper sidedish!“I get to choose the music!” Xochitl called out.“No, you don’t!” I called back.“But the calendar says it’s my turn!” she argued.“No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t say it’s anyone’s turn,” I rebutted.“But yesterday was your turn. So, that means that today is myturn,” she fought back.“That’s not how it works,” I said, putting on my jacket andwalking towards the front door.“Yes, it does!” she yelled.“I’m choosing the music,” dad said, in a ‘I win, and that’s final’kind of voice.Xochitl and I didn’t dare argue with dad. When he uses thattone of voice, you do whatever he says, or agree to whatever he’s justsaid. If you have the courage to stand against him, there’s almostdefinitely going to be a consequence. No one can overrule dad whenhe uses that voice.“Actually, I’ve already prepared a ‘To Nána’s House We Go’playlist,” mom said, handing dad her spaghetti casserole. “It has alittle bit of music for everyone’s taste.”SAMPLE

No one except for mom, of course. Everyone always says that‘the man wears the pants in the house’, but my mom has added herpart to that saying. ‘The man may wear the pants,’ she says, ‘but Iwash and dry and iron and hang up the pants!’ In other words, shegets the final say so. Most of the time, she agrees with whatever dadsays, but occasionally, she opposes him.“Very well,” dad said, in defeat, “playlist it is! Now get in thecar before I leave you all!”Dad laughed maniacally and scampered to open the front door.“You’re not going without me!” I exclaimed, rushing to the car.“Or me!” Xochitl followed up.“And you wouldn’t dare leave without me,” mom said, in thevoice she usually uses before giving dad that look. You know whichlook I’m talking about. The one your mom or dad uses before theystare into each other’s eyes and kiss. I know. Gross! That’s why Ididn’t look back.SAMPLE

3 I Learned Something“We’re here!” dad announced, as we pulled onto Nána’s farm.It’s a little over three hours to Nána’s farm, without traffic, soXochitl and I didn’t exactly wake up from dad’s announcement.When he didn’t get the response he wanted, he decided to try anothermethod. He whispered to mom and turned the volume up on theradio. It didn’t take long before Xochitl and I began covering ourears, begging him to make it stop.SAMPLE

“We’re awake. We’re awake!” I tried to shout, over dad’s songselection.“What! I can’t hear you over this amazing music!” Dad shoutedback, with a huge smile on his face.“Mom! Make him stop!” Xochitl pleaded.“I’m sorry, dear. The music’s so loud that I can’t hear youclearly,” mom said, shrugging her shoulders and holding her handsup.I decided to do something that I knew would make the musicstop. Well at least temporarily.“Incoming message from ‘Tomasito’. To hear it, say listen,” thecar announced.“Listen!” I said, loudly, before mom could do anything.“We are awake,” the car said, in a computerized, female voice.“You can turn the music down now. Would you like to reply? If youwould like to reply, say ‘send message’.”“You can’t pretend you didn’t hear that,” I said, confidently,closing the cover of my tablet.“Oh yes, I can,” dad said, in a mischievous voice.“Mom!” Xochitl whined.“Don’t worry. I’ve already paused the song,” mom reassuredher.“Aw. No fair!” dad pouted.Mom laughed and shuffled his hair.SAMPLE

When we finally reached the house, there were already sevencars parked in front of it, and none of them were Nána’s. Dad honkedhis horn, which led to a scene you would think was meant for acomedy television show. Once the front door opened, a seeminglyendless line of people began to exit the house. Actually, it was onlyforty-two people. What? That’s not a lot. If you have a family likemine, then you know that forty-two isn’t that many people. Especiallywhen you consider that my mom is the youngest of eleven children.And if you think that’s a lot, my dad is the oldest of fif-teen!“Tía!”“Tío!”“Prima!”“Carnal!”Even though everyone immediately approached our car, they allknew to keep a clearing open for Nána. She gets the first hugs. TíoFelipe held on to Nána’s arm as he helped her down the stairs and tothe car, where Mom exchanged Tío Felipe her spaghetti casserole fora hug from Nána.“Ay, mi híjita,” Nána said, holding mom’s face in her hands.“It’s so good to see you.”Nána then kissed mom on both cheeks and gave her a big,strong hug. After mom, the routine followed with dad, me andXochitl. Once she had finished with us all, we were attacked by therest of our family. Maybe attacked is the wrong word. Let’s just saySAMPLE

that some hugs were bigger than others and some included claps onthe back. Strong claps. Some embraces even started with a punch tothe arm. By the time we finished greeting everyone, which took agood chunk of time, my left bicep was nearly numb. And believe it ornot, Cousin Maria said that we’re still waiting for Tío Frank’s family!One good thing about having a big family, is that there are lotsof people you can talk to about your family’s history. Since I’m stilllooking for two interesting people for my oral report, I’m not wastingany time before interviewing my aunts and uncles.◆ ◆ ◆After a few failed attempts to find someone I felt was worthy ofsharing with the class, I finally found someone I thought they mightbe interested in. I had learned, earlier this week, that my Great UncleLupe was where I probably got my compassion from. Now I think Iknow where I get my bad luck from.When I asked my Tía Suzette if she knew of anyone interestingin our family, she told me of Nána’s father. My Great Grandpa Júlio.It seems that although he was someone that everyone liked, youknow, a person that was always willing to help family, friend orstranger, he could never keep a job. Well, at least not for long.Tía Suzette told me that if it wasn’t for my Great GrandmaSocórro, who ran a taquería, her and my great grandpa wouldprobably have gone broke! And it wasn’t that my Great Grandpa JúlioSAMPLE

wasn’t skilled at anything. He was skilled in lots of things. He couldfix your car. Patch up that whole in your wall. Replace your roof. Hecould even cut your grass and your hair in the same visit! No, hisproblem wasn’t a lack of skills, it was a curse. I know. I didn’tunderstand what she meant either.When I asked my tía to explain, she told me that when GreatGrandpa Júlio was a teenager, he had gone to see a traveling circuswith his family. One of the sideshows that the circus offered, was awoman who could tell your fortune. Great Grandpa Júlio had been inlove with Great Grandma Socórro since the sixth grade, and wantedto find out if they would get married and live happily ever after.When he went to see the fortune teller, she told him that it costtwo pennies. He pulled two pennies out of his pocket and showedthem to her but said that she would only get them if what she told himmade sense. Without asking him what he had come there for, thefortune teller told him that the girl he was in love with, loved himback. Only more. She also told him that they would be married rightafter they finished school and would have a large family. Afterthanking the fortune teller for her fortune, Great Grandpa Júlio tossedover what the fortune teller thought was two pennies. But, just beforehe was able to exit her tent, the fortune teller told him that he wouldbe cursed for the rest of his life since he had tried to pay her with twopenny slugs. Don’t know what those are? Do what I did and look itup. Two interesting people down. Just one more to go!SAMPLE

◆ ◆ ◆We’ve already had dinner and dessert and I still haven’t foundanother interesting family member to share with my class.“Tómas!” Cousin Artúro called to me.“Artie!” I called back.Artie is sixteen and the captain of his soccer team. I don’t get tosee him that much, but if his team is playing nearby, my mom makessure that we get to go see him play. They’re just two more wins awayfrom their third straight championship!“I hear that you’re looking for someone interesting for yourclass project,” he said, putting his arm around my shoulders.“Yeah,” I said, trying to reach his shoulders. Trying being thekeyword. Let’s face it, I’ll probably never be able to reach hisshoulders!“Why don’t you tell them about me! I mean, come on. Who elseif this family has a shot at making it to the big leagues?” he said, in a‘you know that I’m right’ kind of voice.“I know, I know. But I’ve already got a story about my GreatUncle Lúpe helping poor people get free health care, and a storyabout our Great Grandpa Júlio getting cursed for giving fake moneyto a fortune teller,” I answered in a ‘don’t be mad at me, but I’mlooking for a better story’ voice.Cousin Artúro took his arm from around my shoulder and beganto slowly scratch his chin while staring at the ceiling. Then he startedSAMPLE

to look around the room while making a ‘hmmm’ sound. I wonder ifthat’s what I look and sound like when I stare off into mid-space andthink.“Hey!” he shouted, holding up one finger. “I know someone youcan use!”He grabbed me by the hand and led me to one of Nána’s roomsat the back of the house. I usually just play with my cousins outsideor go look at some of the animals with some of my other cousins, soI’ve never really gone into any of Nána’s bedrooms.“I think it’s in here,” he commented, making a quick right turn,almost making me crash into the wall.Once we were inside, he finally let my hand go and headedstraight for a bookshelf in the far corner of the room. While hesearched for a specific book on the shelf, I took a look around theroom. It was a most interesting room. On every table, wall and shelf,was some sort of newspaper clipping, trophy or handmade project.Hey! That’s the photo frame I made her for Grandparent’s Day lastyear!“Here it is!” Cousin Artúro announced, taking a magazine fromthe bookshelf.He sat down in a recliner chair in the opposite corner of theroom and patted the empty space next to him, motioning for me tojoin him. Luckily, I’m still tiny, and Cousin Artúro is as thin as he isSAMPLE

tall, so we can both sit, comfortably, on a piece of furniture that isdesigned for only one person.“What is it?” I asked, my interest having been piqued by theexcitement in his voice.“It’s a magazine from México,” he said, turning the pages.“You can read that!” I inquired.“You can’t!” he asked, still flipping past pages until he foundthe one he was looking for. He then placed the magazine in my lap.I was a bit confused at what I was looking at. It was a picture ofa clown, with a huge smile, holding a rubber chicken. And by clown,I mean full face makeup and rubber red nose. It only showed himfrom his chest up, but I’m sure if it showed the rest of his body, therewould be huge shoes on his feet.“Who’s that?” I asked.“It’s Cousin Cuáutli!” he answered, just as excitedly as before.“Who’s Cousin Cuáutli?” I asked, genuinely interested in whohe was and why he was in a Mexican magazine.“Cousin Cuáutli is a famous clown in México,” Cousin Artúroexplained.“Famous like Ronald McDonald?” I wondered.“No!” he responded, quickly. “In México, clowns are popularand not scary, like in the United States. Cousin Cuáutli started off as aclown at birthday parties. He did magic tricks, made balloon animals,SAMPLE

and played games with the kids. He even sang popular songs, but inhis clown voice, and did comedy, but he always wanted to do more!“Then he decided to start doing his act at local schools, fairs andcarnivals and stuff. Pretty much anywhere they had an open stage.After that, he started getting hired by important people, and it was at abirthday party for the Mayor’s son that he was discovered by atelevision executive. The television executive just happened to workfor Télemundo!”I looked at Cousin Artúro with a ‘what’s Télemundo’ look onmy face. He responded with a ‘how can you not know whatTélemundo is!’ look on his face.“Please don’t tell me that you’re one of those people who thinkit’s not important to learn Spanish!” he said, getting up from therecliner and pacing the room. “One of those people who say ‘this isAmerica. People in America speak English. People in America readEnglish. Why should I waste my time learning Spanish?’ One ofthose people who think it isn’t important to remember our heritage.Who think we should leave the past in the past and focus on what’s infront of us? Please tell me you at least understand Spanish!”When he finished talking, he stopped pacing and gave me a veryintense look. It was a look that made me uncomfortable. Actually, itwas a look that made me not want to answer. It was as if he wassearching my soul for the answer.“I understand Spanish!” I protested.SAMPLE

“But do you speak it?” he rebutted.“I can if I want to!” I redirected.“Can you read it? Can you write it? Do you know where theaccents go?” he continued.Before I even had a chance to answer, he came back to therecliner, sat down next to me and grabbed the magazine out of myhands.“Read it to me!” he commanded, pointing at the first paragraph.“What?” I asked.“Read the article to me,” he ordered, forcefully putting themagazine back on my lap. “Go ahead.”I was afraid to tell him that I have dyslexia and that I wouldprobably have a tough time reading it. I mean, I have a hard enoughtime reading out loud in English! I doubt I’ll be able to read thiswithout his help. I picked up the magazine anyway, with as muchforce as he had used to put it into my lap, and began reading.Believe it or not, it was much easier for me to read in Spanish,than it is for me to read in English. With an exception for a fewwords, Cousin Artúro didn’t have to help me at all. Most of the wordsare pronounced exactly the way they look and there weren’t manytricky consonant or vowel combinations. Who knew that I could readSpanish better than I can read English? I sure didn’t! Well, what doyou know? I learned something new about myself!SAMPLE

4 THAT’S SO COOLIt was way past my bedtime when we finally left Nána’s house,so it didn’t take long for Xochitl and I to fall asleep in the car.Actually, Xochitl had already fallen asleep on Nána’s couch, but momwoke her up so that she could tell everyone goodbye. If you haven’tguessed already, it takes quite a bit of time to say goodbye when yourfamily is as big as mine. And just consider this, some of mom’sbrothers and sisters aren’t even here! If they were, it would havetaken even longer!SAMPLE

When I woke up in the morning, it was already lunch time.Which doesn’t surprise me. We didn’t get back home until three orfour in the morning. At least I think that’s what time it was. I can’treally remember what my Batman clock said. I only glanced at itbriefly before turning over onto my stomach to go back to sleep.Now that I think about it, I’m still in my clothes from yesterday,but how am I not wearing any shoes? Dad must have taken them offme when he put me to bed. Or was it mom? Maybe it was mom. It’snot like I’m that heavy. She could have just as easily carried me upthe stairs. Eh, who knows? It doesn’t matter anyways. All that mattersis that I still have to finish my project. I want to try and finish it todayso that I have the whole weekend to play!I took my tablet out of my backpack and made sure to documenteverything I could remember from yesterday, using my V2T App.V2T stands for Voice to Text. When I push the record button andspeak, it takes my words and types them up for me. Then I just haveto copy them down onto paper. You may think that I’m cheating, butthis helps me make sure that all my words are spelled correctly. Andsince I still have to write it on paper, I technically have to do twice thework.Now, I’m still pretty tired, so I’m fairly sure that I forgot somedetails. Saying that, I think I’ll wait a while before writing it down onpaper. That way if I do remember something, I can just come backSAMPLE

and add it to my story. Then, when I’m sure that there aren’t any moreimportant details to add, I’ll write it in pen.◆ ◆ ◆“Don’t forget to write your name and classroom number on theback,” mom told me, as I grabbed my tri-fold poster board.“Thanks mom!” I said, taking a pen out of my backpack andwriting my name and room number.It was a good thing she noticed! Mrs. Whiston automaticallydeducts five percent off your final grade if you don’t write your nameon your work. She also doesn’t put your graded work into the Gradedbin. That way, when you say that she didn’t grade your work, she canwatch you write your name on your work. Your graded work. Andseeing as how she usually reminds us to write our name on our workbefore we turn it in, we can’t say that she’s being mean. If anyonesays that she’s being mean, she reminds them why she’s not.‘Am I being mean? Or did they earn their consequence?’ sheasks us. Actually, it’s not really a question anymore, since we alreadyknow the correct answer. And like it or not, we all know that theyearned their consequence. I’ve already learned not to call Mrs.Whiston ‘mean’, but every once in a while, someone forgets. And boydo I feel sorry for them.“My turn to choose the music!” Xochitl announced, bumpingme as she ran to the front door.SAMPLE

“Is it though?” I said, in a ‘I know it’s your day, but I want to beannoying since you just bumped me out of the way for no reason!’kind of voice.“Yes! It’s my day!” she shouted, at me. “If you don’t believe methen go check the calendar!”“But it’s so far” I pointed out, lazily holding out my armtowards the kitchen.“Mom!” Xochitl screamed.“Tómas Raymúndo!” mom called from upstairs.“I’m not doing anything!” I responded, giving my sister thestink eye.“Yes, he is!” Xochitl argued.“Tómas Raymúndo Olivéra, don’t you lie to me!” she ordered.“Xochitl’s the one that pushed me for no reason!” I said,stretching the truth a bit.“No, I didn’t!” Xochitl lied. Sort of.“Tómas Raymúndo Olivéra Barriéntos López Espinósa!” momsaid, using my full name. Almost.Before I could say anything, mom appeared at the top of thestairs.“You are older and should know better,” she scolded.“But Xochitl started it!” I rebutted.“Don’t make me finish it,” she redirected.SAMPLE

I took a deep breath and gave Xochitl a ‘you’re lucky mom isstanding right there looking at us’ look. She’s always getting me intotrouble for something that she did! She is so infuriating!When we got to school, I closed the door behind me beforeXochitl could get out. I know I’ll probably have to pay for that later,but I don’t really care right now. She needs to understand that shecan’t just get me into trouble for no reason without some sort ofconsequence. I heard her scream ‘mom’ from inside the car, but Ididn’t look back. Luckily, the windows are up. I’m in no mood tohear her annoying voice more than I have to.“That’s your family tree diagram!” Sammy asked, taking myproject from me, and handing me hers.“Yes,” I answered, having a much easier time holding her small,no-fold board, than I was holding my huge tri-fold board.“Why is it so big?” she asked.“Mrs. Whiston said that we had to go back three generations onboth sides of our family,” I reminded her. “Do you have any idea howmany children Mexicans like to have?”“I’m getting an idea,” she answered, holding my open project infront of her.“Why is yours so small?” I asked, taking my project back so shewouldn’t mess it up. As you can imagine, it took forever to finish.“I’m an only child,” she answered.“But that doesn’t explain why–,” I started.SAMPLE

“It must be biological,” she continued. “Both of my parents areonly children, so I don’t have any cousins.”“What about-,” I tried.“Only children for two generations,” Sammy explained. “Beforethat, my great-great grandma on my mom’s side had three kids andmy great-great-grandpa on my dad’s side had two kids. Still not muchmore than one.”“Aren’t you lucky!” I commented.“Not really,” she said.“How do you figure?” I asked.“Do you have any idea how hard it was to find three people,who are still alive, with interesting stories to share? Very hard!” shesaid, answering her own question.“At least you didn’t have to get pictures of all your familymembers and then have to handwrite all of their names out,” Icountered.“Why didn’t you just type them out? Wouldn’t that have beeneasier” she asked.“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” I answered her questionwith a question.“What do you mean?” she asked, furrowing her brows.I opened my project, stood it up on the blacktop and startedpointing at my family member’s different names. The smallestSAMPLE

number of names anyone had was five. You know what I mean, right?First name. Middle name. And multiple last names.“Whoa!” Sammy whisper exclaimed.“Right!” I agreed. “Plus, I don’t know how to add all theaccents to their names on my computer.”Sammy shrugged her shoulders as if to say ‘I don’t know howto do that either’. Wait! Sammy doesn’t know something! I’mdefinitely writing this down somewhere.◆ ◆ ◆“Okay boys and girls, before we go into the classroom, we’regoing to take a little trip to the MPR,” Mrs. Whiston told us.I’ve never understood why people used the phrase ‘little trip.’When I think of a little trip, I think of getting into the car and goingsomewhere no farther than fifteen or twenty minutes away. When mybrain hears the word ‘trip,’ it automatically thinks of driving in a car,riding in a train or flying in a plane. Not walking. When my momsays, ‘let’s go for a walk,’ then I think of somewhere close, becausewe can walk there!As we turned the corner, I noticed that Mr. Anderson’s class wascoming out of the MPR. How’d they get there so fast? Now that Ithink about it, they weren’t at their normal line up spot before the bellrang. Mr. Anderson must have told them to line up at the MPRinstead of on their number line.SAMPLE

As Mr. Anderson’s class passed by, the T.J. League got togetherto do our special handshake before our teachers could notice. Andthat’s easier said than done. Our handshake started off as a short threemove handshake. You know, something simple. Then, little by little,each of us started adding other moves to the end of it. That includesusing other motions and other body parts. But new moves have to beapproved by the entire league. At first, moves didn’t need approval,but when Justin wanted to add a ‘digging for gold’ move, we decidedit was necessary to add that rule. Now our ‘handshake’ has a fewdifferent claps and we use our elbows, feet and hips. Yes, I said hips.If we do it right, it takes about fifteen seconds to complete theentire process. But that’s only if we do it right. Since we’re alwaysadding new movements, someone usually messes up and we have tostart all over again. And sometimes we mess up because other peoplejump in and try to join us, usually messing one of us up. Thankfully,no one jumped in and it only took us two tries to get it right this time,so Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Whiston didn’t notice.When we entered the MPR, Mrs. T was cleaning off thebreakfast tables. The tables next to those, which were usually onlyused on rainy days, were covered with the projects from Mr.Anderson’s class. Wait. Why did they leave them in the MPR?“Okay, class,” Mrs. Whiston said, getting our attention. “I wantyou to put your projects onto the empty tables across from Mr.Anderson’s class.”SAMPLE

As everyone started putting their projects on the tables, westarted looking at each other’s family trees. Before long, Jefferson letout a small cough. Then he let out a slightly louder cough. Finally, helet out a loud cough. No, not that kind of cough. Not the ‘I have a badcold’ cough. Not the ‘I have bronchitis’ cough. Not even the ‘I’mchoking on something’ cough. He did the ‘excuse me, Mrs. Whistondidn’t give us permission to do that’ cough.“It’s okay, Jefferson,” Mrs. Whiston said. “Go ahead and take alook at as many Family Tree diagrams as you like.”Jefferson doesn’t look too happy.“I want you to look at the details that people included on theback of their family tree,” she continued, “and I want you to take outa sheet of paper and write down five interesting facts that you’velearned about your friends.”That last directive made Jefferson smile. Why? I don’t knowwhy. Because he’s Jefferson. That’s why!I decided to look at the diagrams of everyone in the T.J. League,of course. I know lots about them, especially Marcus, but I don’tknow much about their extended families. Wait. I wonder if Mr.Anderson’s class is going to come back later and do the same? Eh. Ihave nothing to hide.◆ ◆ ◆SAMPLE

I had already written down four interesting facts when I passedby a project that had hand drawn people instead of pictures. And I’mnot talking about nicely drawn people. Not even people drawn with abig head and small bodies, like the people at amusement parks do.These people were like a step up from stick figures. Everyone had thesame stance and hair – short for boys and long for girls - with theirhands hidden behind their backs. Boys had pants and a shirt and girlshad dresses. Triangle dresses. The only difference between eachperson was the color of their clothes.When I looked to see whose project it was, I couldn’t find aname. Oops! Hopefully, Mr. Anderson doesn’t have the same policyas Mrs. Whiston! If he does, this person is about to lose five percentof off their grade! I think I’ll read about the three interesting familymembers of whosever project this is. Perhaps it will give me a clue.Hmmm. An aunt on their father’s side was the first person intheir family to graduate college. That’s cool. Their great-greatgrandma on that same side worked in a munition’s factory duringWorld War II. Well that’s different. Wait. Why is the third person’sinteresting fact longer that the previous two combined?Whoa! Their great-great grandpa on the other side of theirfamily was a Native American chief? Hold on. Would that make thisperson like a chieftain princess or prince? Wait! Not only was he atribal chief, but he served in World War II as something called a‘windtalker.’ Wait. It says that a windtalker was a person who was aSAMPLE

secret agent who used a code based on the Navajo language. That’s socool!SAMPLE

5 WHAT’S SECRET SANTA?“Two-minute warning!” Mrs. Whiston announced.“I’m already finished,” Jefferson announced.“‘I’m already finished’,” Justin mimicked, softly into my ear.“Is that a name?” Mrs. Whiston asked.I had to laugh. Wait. No. Not that Justin almost got into trouble!I laughed at the voice that Justin used when he mocked Jefferson.“I only have four interesting facts,” Erin told Mrs. Whiston.SAMPLE

“Well, you better hurry up and find one more!” Mrs. Whistoninstructed. “You guys have had plenty of time to find some interestingfacts.”“Can I add an interesting fact from my own family?” Erinasked.“Nope,” Mrs. Whiston answered.Erin rushed to the nearest family tree project and started to writedown words faster than I’ve ever seen anyone write before. Hopefullyit’s legible. If Mrs. Whiston can’t read someone’s writing, she doesn’tgrade it. She doesn’t take off any points or anything, she just makesyou rewrite it. It’s easy if it’s a worksheet with like five or sixproblems. But, if it’s a handwritten essay that has to be a few pageslong, well that’s a whole different story. Especially if it’s a front andback essay!◆ ◆ ◆When we got back to class, Mrs. Whiston had us share one ofthe interesting facts before choosing this week’s teacher’s assistant sothat they could collect our papers. She pulled out a name from theName Jar and guess whose it was? I’ll give you a hint: this is theperson that almost didn’t finish in time. Did you Guess Erin? Yup! Itwas Erin’s! Ironic? I know, right!Mrs. Whiston then announced that we wouldn’t be doing SSRtoday. For those who have never read any of my adventures before,SAMPLE

SSR stands for Sustained Silent Reading. Instead of reading, we wentstraight to the daily prompt. Today’s prompt told us to share aboutsomething that we were thankful for. Specifically, something thathappened during Thanksgiving break. Some people were thinkingwith their chin or tapping their pencils on the table or on the top oftheir head. For me, it didn’t take long to decide what I was thankfulfor. I only get to see my Nána like once a month, and sometimes evenless, so I was very thankful to be able to see her. And my cousins, too,of course. But mostly my Nána.For those of you who have read my first adventure, this is thesame Nána that handmade my Batman costume for Halloween when Iwas in kindergarten. She also crochets Christmas sweaters foreveryone in the family. Wait. Before I go on, let me make sure youread that last sentence carefully. She makes Christmas sweaters foreveryone in the family. Not just my family. Everyone in the family.Do you remember how many people are in my family? If not, go backand reread chapter three. I know there’s not an exact number, but itwill give you an idea how long it must take her to crochet that manysweaters! Not to mention how much it must cost her. That’s a lot ofyarn!“Okay boys and girls, put your journals away,” Mrs. Whistoninstructed, when the timer on the screen signaled that time was up.She then switched the screen over to the Classroom Communicationapp.SAMPLE

Well, this is different. She usually only does that on Fridaymornings to show us how close we are to our weekly points goal. Youknow, to earn a special activity or extra play time. I wonder why she’sdoing it on a Monday morning. Especially since we haven’t really hadany time to earn points yet.“I know that some of you are probably a little confused rightnow,” she commented, “but I’m going to use the ClassroomCommunication app to do something I’ve never done before.Actually, before Thanksgiving break, I didn’t even know that it coulddo this. I’m going to be using it to pair you guys up.”“Aw, man!” Gio exclaimed. “Don’t tell me we’re doing anotherproject. We just finished one!”“Yes!” Jefferson whispered, getting excited. Surprised? If youare, then you don’t know Jefferson that well.“No, Giovanni,” Mrs. Whiston answered. “This isn’t for anotherproject. But if you interrupt me by shouting out again, that’ll be aname.”Mrs. Whiston gave Gio a ‘you should know better by now’look, which made him cower with his hands up.“As I was saying,” she continued, “I will be pairing you up witha someone from Mr. Anderson’s class. But before that, I’m going tohave Erin pass these out, so that you can write your partner’s name onit. And before anyone asks, they are interview papers.”SAMPLE

Interview papers? What are we going to be interviewing for?We’re too young to work. I know that high schoolers do mockinterviews because Cousin Álvaro practiced with mom and dad lastyear when he had to do one at school. But if we’re not interviewingfor work, then what are we going to be interviewing for?“You will use these interview papers to interview your partner.Don’t worry, there’s nothing terribly difficult to answer. They’remostly simple questions like ‘what’s your favorite color?’ or ‘what’syour favorite sports team?’. Questions like that. There are a couple ofmore challenging questions, but nothing you shouldn’t be able toanswer. Try to be as specific as possible. These interviews will beused for something important later.”Later? What does she mean by that? Opening the ClassroomCommunication app on a Monday morning has already confused meenough. And ever since then, everything she’s said, has only mademy brain hurt more and more. But wait. What’s happening? Themouse on Mrs. Whiston’s screen is starting to move! I know whatyou’re thinking, ‘what’s so scary about that?’, right? What if I toldyou that Mrs. Whiston is nowhere near her computer!“Mrs. Whiston! I think someone’s hacking your laptop! Themouse is moving on its own!” Gio shouted out.I guess that he’s already forgotten Mrs. Whiston’s promise towrite his name on the board if he interrupted her by shouting out.SAMPLE

“Oh! Well, what do you know? My mouse is moving,” she said,in a calm voice.“How can you be so calm?” Gio continued. “What if theydownload a virus and destroy your computer!”“Hmmm. That is a possibility,” Mrs. Whiston said, in a 'fakinginterest’ voice.You know which one I’m talking about. The one you use onyour sister when she’s telling you something ‘interesting’ and youpretend to care, but you really just want to get back to what you weredoing. Yeah, that kind of fake interest voice.“Mrs. Whiston!” Gio exclaimed, with a face that matched thefear in his voice.Mrs. Whiston chuckled, which caused even more confusion inmy brain and more fear on Gio’s face. Actually, I’m not sure it’spossible, but if he opens his eyes any wider, I think they might popout of their sockets!“Everything is okay, Giovanni,” Mrs. Whiston assured him,putting one hand on top of his head and the other on his shoulder.“It’s just Mr. Anderson.”“Mr. Anderson?” Gio said, as his face morphed from fear intoconfusion and disbelief.“Yes, Giovanni, it’s Mr. Anderson,” she reassured him. “Mr.Anderson has connected his laptop to mine so that we can pair youguys up. Right now, everyone in Mr. Anderson’s class has the sameSAMPLE

interview paper that you have. We’re going to take turns using theClassroom Communication app until everyone has a partner.”“But Mr. Anderson’s class has thirty-two kids and we havethirty-one,” Maggie pointed out.“You’re right, Maggie,” Mrs. Whiston confirmed, “and Mr.Anderson and I took that into consideration when we planned thisactivity. The one extra person at the end will either pair up with Mr.Anderson or me.”“You mean they get to choose their partner, but we don’t?” Billyasked.“Not exactly,” Mrs. Whiston answered. “If the extra person isfrom Mr. Anderson’s class, then they will be my partner. But if theextra person is from our class, then they will partner up with Mr.Anderson!”“But then you or Mr. Anderson won’t have a partner,” Jeffersonsaid, in a ‘how is that being fair’ kind of voice.“That’s okay, Jefferson. I’m sure we’ll survive,” Mrs. Whistonsaid, with a smile.After pairing everyone together, Mrs. Whiston had Alejandroline us up so that we could meet Mr. Anderson’s class at the floormap on the blacktop. Alejandro is the line monitor this week.When we finished our interviews, Mr. Anderson instructed us totake a seat so that he and Mrs. Whiston could explain why we hadjust used the last fifteen minutes to interview each other.SAMPLE

“I know that we just came back from Thanksgiving break, butMrs. Whiston and I want to make sure that everyone has enough timefor this project,” Mr. Anderson began.“I knew it!” Gio yelled.“Knew what?” Mr. Anderson asked.“I told Mrs. Whiston that this was going to lead to anotherproject, and she said that it wasn’t,” Gio explained.“Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong,” Mr. Anderson defended.“But that means she’s wasn’t exactly telling the truth, either!”Gio exclaimed.Mrs. Whiston isn’t saying it with her mouth, but the look on herface is telling us that if Gio shouts out one more time, then writing hisname on the board won’t be the only consequence that he’ll bereceiving. Luckily, his partner, Amari, gave him a ‘you’re about to getin trouble’ look while gently elbowing him in the arm. Gio returnedher look with an intense ‘what!’ look, which only caused Amari topurse her lips and point toward Mrs. Whiston. After making eyecontact, Gio’s eyes got big, like earlier, but this time his face said,‘sorry, sorry. I won’t do it again.’“So, to clarify, this isn’t exactly a project, but it may feel likeone,” Mr. Anderson started over. “Since we only have about threeweeks until winter break, you will have two weeks to complete thisassignment. And the more thought and effort that you put into it, themore fun it can be.”SAMPLE

‘Can be’? What does he mean by that? I am so confusion.“We’ve never done this before, but we’ve decided that you guyshave reached an age where you should be able to use your criticalthinking skills to make the most out of this activity” Mrs. Whistonadded.Wait. Is this an assignment or an activity? My brain can’t takemuch more of this.“So, you guys are going to take the interview papers and turnthem back in so that we can pair you up again,” Mr. Anderson told us.Turn them back in? Pair us up again? Does that mean we weregoing to be interviewing someone else? How many times were wegoing to do this? My brain is dangerously close to the ‘overload’level!“And no, you won’t be interviewing someone else,” Mrs.Whiston clarified. “When I tell you to, you are going to line up byclass, single file. Mr. Anderson’s class will line up in front of me andmy class will line up in front of Mr. Anderson.”“I will be passing out interview papers from my class tosomeone in Mrs. Whiston’s class and vice versa,” Mr. Anderson toldus. “You are not allowed to show anyone your paper. Your partner isto remain a secret.”“But why?” Cayden asked.“Because the person you get is for your, eyes, only,” heanswered, in a creepy voice with matching stare that gave me theSAMPLE

chills. “Plus, if someone finds out who your partner is, it will ruin thewhole Secret Santa vibe.”Secret Santa! Did he just say, ‘Secret Santa’! Wait. What’sSecret Santa?SAMPLE

6 Just Tell Me!“Um, what’s Secret Santa?” JoJo asked.“Good question, Joel,” Mr. Anderson answered. “But to answerthat, I need everyone to take a knee.”Take a knee? This just keeps getting more and more strange.But here I am, taking a knee, and I feel like it’s just going to getweirder.SAMPLE

“Okay, boys and girls, by the power vested in me, by Mr.Martinez, I now dub you all Santa Claus,” Mr. Anderson declared,sweeping his imaginary sword from left to right, as if he wasknighting us before a battle.“I’m still confused,” JoJo commented.“Now that you are all officially Santa, when you get yourinterview paper, it will be your job to check your list to see what yoursecret partner likes. And don’t forget to check it twice!” Mr.Anderson instructed.“Two weeks from Friday, we will celebrate the holidays with afifth grade party, where we will all exchange gifts. That is the day thatyou will bring the gift that you got for your partner. But remember,it’s called Secret Santa. That means that you can’t tell anyone whoyou got. As Mr. Anderson said, that will only ruin the whole SecretSanta vibe,” Mrs. Whiston explained.“How much do we have to spend?” Bethany asked, a questionI’m pretty sure we were all thinking of.“How much you decide to spend is up to you,” Mrs. Whistonstated, “but it is not to exceed fifteen dollars.”“Only fifteen dollars?” Justin asked.“It may not seem like much,” Mr. Anderson said, “but there aremany families that struggle with the essentials every day. And duringthe holiday season, many families struggle with money even more.With that said, let me restate what Mrs. Whiston just said. You canSAMPLE

spend as much as you want, as long as you don’t go over fifteendollars.“Please listen carefully to what I am about to say. This is not acompetition to see who can get the best gift. We will be sending acontract home, for you and your parents to sign, stating that you agreeto keep your partner a secret and that you agree not to go over fifteendollars on your gift.”“To add to what Mr. Anderson just said,” Mrs. Whistoninterjected, “you can get one large item worth fifteen dollars or youcan get many smaller items. Just as long as the total doesn’t go overfifteen dollars.”There wasn’t much more to explain, so, when Mrs. Whiston toldus to, Mr. Anderson’s class lined up in front of her, and our classlined up in front of Mr. Anderson. Oh, how I hope I get Marcus! Iknow exactly what to get him! Actually, I’ve already asked my momand dad if I can do some extra chores around the house so that I canmake sure I have enough money to afford it. Not that it would go overfifteen dollars. It’s just that I also have to get something for mom anddad. Oh, and Xochitl. Sigh. Yes, even Xochitl.◆ ◆ ◆When we all received our Secret Santa interview papers, welined back up to go back to class. Mrs. Whiston reminded us thatSAMPLE

hallways are zero volume zones, which led Alejandro to get hisclipboard and pen ready.“But we’re on the blacktop,” Shanika pointed out.“That’s a name,” Alejandro said, putting his pen to his paper.“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Mrs. Whiston said, witha ‘you should’ve known that was coming’ smile.After that, no one dared speak. Of course, that didn’t stopanyone from finding other ways to communicate. Some people weretrying to mouth the words, but that didn’t work too well. Let’s justsay that if we ever play the whisper challenge, there are certainpeople that I’m not choosing to be my partner. Other people weretrying to ‘write’ words in midair using their fingers. That didn’t workout much better.Justin kept trying to get my attention, but I purposely evaded hisgaze. Knowing Justin, he’s going to do whatever he can to get me totell him who I got. It’s times like these that I use the same highquality ignoring skills that I use on Xochitl. Well, what do you know?Xochitl is actually coming in handy for something? Who would havethought?◆ ◆ ◆“Come on guys,” Justin whined, as we set up playgroundequipment for recess.“We’ve already told you no,” Paul said, in a ‘give it up’ voice.SAMPLE

“But I told you guys who I got!” he shouted.“And that’s exactly what you weren’t supposed to do!” Erickexclaimed.“But I haven’t signed any contract, yet!” Justin argued.“It doesn’t matter,” Erick shot back.“Sure, it does,” Sammy said. “It’s called Secret Santa. WhenMr. Anderson and Mrs. Whiston told us that we were supposed tokeep our partner a secret, it was like creating a verbal contract. And insome cases, a verbal contract is legally binding.”Have I mentioned lately how smart Sammy is?“It’s not just that,” Marcus added, “it’s the principle of it.”“What does this have to do with Principal Martinez?” Justinasked.“Not Principal Martinez,” Marcus said in a ‘can somebodyplease help me get through to him’ voice.“I think what Marcus is trying to say,” I said, taking Justin bythe shoulders, “is that if you told us a secret, you would want us tokeep that secret. Right?”“Yeah. Of course, I would,” Justin agreed.“Okay. Well, Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Whiston want us to keepour partner a secret,” I said, slowly so he couldn’t misunderstandwhat I was saying. “Just like you would want us to keep your secretfor you. Get it?”“I guess so,” he answered.SAMPLE

I let go of his shoulders and started to walk away so that I couldhelp finish setting up the playground equipment. But I should haveknown, from experience, that it was not going to be that easy. Ishould have realized that Justin was just agreeing with me so that Iwould let go of his shoulders. I should have remembered that out ofeveryone in the T.J. League, Justin has the thickest skull. I shouldhave remembered that the only person that gives Xochitl competitionin the broken ears department, is Justin. I should have known better. Ireally should have. But I think my brain is still a bit overloaded fromall the confusion of this morning’s activities, because when I was nomore than five feet away from him, Justin shouted out what he hadbeen telling us for the past five minutes.“Just tell me!”SAMPLE

7 One More WordI think that Justin has finally come to understand that none of usare going to tell him who our Secret Santa partner is, because hehasn’t bugged me once since recess.“What’re those for?” Joseph asked, as we passed by the officeon the way to lunch.There was a new hand painted poster just below the officewindows. Something Student Council probably put up. It said thatSAMPLE

there were angels and boxes in the office. There was an angel and ashoebox taped to the poster.“Oh, those are for the Angel Tree Program and OperationChristmas Child,” Zeph explained.Zeph is on the student council, so I’m not surprised he knows.“Still not exactly sure what they’re for,” Joseph told Zeph.“Well, flyers should be going home today, but I’ll gladly explainit for you guys,” he said. Zeph is always polite. “Let’s start off withthe Angel Tree Project. If you want, you can donate a dollar, or moreif you want, to support the Angel Tree Program. And when you do,you get to write your name on one of those angels.”“But what do you do with the money?” Lauren asked.“I don’t do anything with it,” Zeph explained. “But the moneythat we collect goes to the Angel Tree Program.”“And what do they do with it?” Lauren asked.“They use it to purchase gifts for children of families who arehaving a hard time at Christmas time. Families can fill out a form forthemselves or you can nominate a family you think would appreciatesome support,” Zeph clarified.“That’s cool,” Joseph, commented. “What about OperationChristmas Child? And what’s with the shoeboxes?”“The shoeboxes are essential for Operation Christmas Child,”Zeph said, with intensity. “You put a toy or sports ball, with a pump,or something like that, with some essential items, and turn it in.”SAMPLE

“Then what happens?” I asked, honestly becoming intrigued.“Then we turn them in at a drop off location,” Zeph went on.“Which reminds me, you have to include nine dollars with yourshoebox.”“Why?” Joseph asked.“That’s how much it costs to ship your shoebox,” Zeph said.“Ship your shoebox?” Lauren said, visually confused.“Yes,” Zeph confirmed. “After you turn in your shoebox, it’smailed to another country so that it can be given to anunderprivileged child!”“That’s so cool!” Lauren exclaimed.“I know, right!” Zeph agreed.I’m going to ask mom and dad if we can donate to the AngelTree Program and Operation Christmas Child. Or at least one ofthem. I’ll even do some extra, extra chores to help out. But first, Ihave to get a gift for my Secret Santa partner. I’m not exactly surewhat I’m going to get yet, but I have a few ideas.◆ ◆ ◆“Okay Leaguers, here’s today’s scenario,” I said, as Erick,Justin, Marcus, Paul, Sammy and I all huddled together. “This will beour first off world mission. Last night I received a distress signal fromone of my long range, deep space sensors. It seems the RuthlessResource Repressor has begun her attack on planet JLYJ-316.”SAMPLE

“Wait. Aren’t those people just simple, nomadic farmers?”Sammy asked, adding another detail to my scenario. Luckily, itwouldn’t drastically change the focus of the mission.“Yes. Which means that not only have the soils and naturalresources all been kept in optimum form, but the precious metals androcks have been left alone,” I continued. “I think that’s why theRuthless Resource Repressor has chosen this planet as her nexttarget.”“So, what are we going to do?” Justin asked, in a ‘hurry up andget to the point’ voice.“Well, it’s not that easy,” I continued. “It seems that she’s notworking alone. She’s teamed up with the Time Trapper.”“The Time Trapper?” Paul repeated.“Yes, Paul, the Time Trapper,” I confirmed. “The Time Trappercan trap time, in an area the size of Los Angeles County, for up totwenty four hours.”“What does that mean?” Marcus asked.“That means that she can pause time so that the sun stays in thepeak spot in the sky, for people to work overtime, in the fields andmines,” I explained. “With The Ruthless Resource Repressor eyeingJLYJ-316’s precious metals and jewels, she can have the TimeTrapper pause time to force the natives to work around the clock,until the whole planet has been wiped out!”“That’s terrible!” Marcus chimed in.SAMPLE

“I know! But that’s not the worst part!” I explained.“What do you mean?” Justin asked.“The Ruthless Resource Repressor’s modus operandi is todestroy the planet once she’s done with it!” I proclaimed.“What?”“No way!”“Not cool, man!”“You’ve got to be kidding me!”“And that’s why we have to stop them!” I shouted, extendingmy hand to the center of our huddle. Everyone quickly followed mylead.“We protect and serve all living things! The T.J. League reignssupreme!”◆ ◆ ◆“Let’s go guys! Into the car!” mom ordered.“Coming!” Xochitl yelled, from upstairs.“Mom, do I have to go?” I whined.Yes. I said ‘whined’. Not only has Xochitl taught me how toignore people, she’s also taught me how to whine pretty well!“For the last time, yes, T.J., you have to go,” mom answered.“But I can just go to Marcus’ house until you come back,” Ipleaded.“‘But I can go to Marcus’ house’,” Xochitl mimicked me.SAMPLE

“Shut up!” I ordered.“Don’t tell your sister to shut up,” mom commanded.“But why can’t I just go to Marcus’?” I asked.“They aren’t home, T.J. Daniel had a dentist appointment,”mom explained.“But, mom!” I griped, in my best ‘please, just let me stay home’voice.“I’m pretty sure I spoke in a language you understand,” momsaid, in a calm, cool voice.“Can we at least go to the mall after, so I can find a gift for mySecret Santa partner?” I asked, in a calm, cool voice.“You have plenty of time to find a gift,” mom pointed out.“But you always get busier and busier the closer we get toChristmas,” I rebutted.“Tómas,” mom said, in her ‘if you say one more word’ voice,with fists clenched, eyes closed, and head turned to the side.That’s all it took. I’ve learned better than to take matters pastthat combination. The hard way.SAMPLE

8 To The MallThis is so boring. They just keeping doing the same thing overand over. All because one of the girls can’t remember to dosomething called a pleeyay instead of a relevay. At least that what itsounds like her yelling teacher is saying. How much longer do I haveto suffer through this?“Mom, how much longer do we have to be here?” I asked.“We’ve only been here fifteen minutes,” mom answered.SAMPLE

“So, like fifteen more minutes?” I tried.“More like forty five,” mom corrected.Forty five? Forty five! What am I supposed to do for forty fiveminutes!“Don’t you have any homework you can be doing?” momasked.“I left my backpack at home,” I answered.“Well that wasn’t very intelligent, was it?” mom taunted.Man! If I at least had my tablet, I could be doing something lessboring than this. Why did Daniel have to have a dentist appointmenttoday? Why couldn’t it have been tomorrow. Or Yesterday. Or nextweek! This is almost like a punishment. Except I didn’t do anythingto deserve one!Maybe I’ll just close my eyes and rest. Who knows, maybe I’lleven fall asleep, that way I don’t have to keep hearing this lady’svoice. All she ever does is yell! How did she even become a teacher?Why did she even become a teacher?“Here you go,” mom said, handing me her phone.“What’s this for?” I asked.“You can do your reading for your reading log,” she answered.“But what do I read?” I asked.“I don’t know,” she answered. “Find something free on Kindleor Scholastic or something.”SAMPLE

“Can’t I just play games and read when we get home?” Isuggested.“You can either read or sit there bored. Those are your options,”she answered, holding her hand out for me to give her back herphone.I sat there wondering if I would get in trouble for handing thephone back. Like, was this a test that I could fail? And would I get introuble if I did fail? To read or to sleep? To read or to sleep? Hmmm?“Really!” Xochitl’s teacher yelled, for the umpteenth time.Mom turned her focus from me to the teacher and I kept thephone from her reaching hand. Better to be safe than sorry, youknow?As I opened the Kindle app to try and find something to read,Xochitl’s teacher announced a water break. After only fifteenminutes? They had barely done anything!“Here you go, sweetie,” mom said, handing Xochitl her waterbottle.“How come he gets to play on your phone?” she asked.“I’m reading,” I said, answering for mom.“Sure, you are,” Xochitl said, rolling her eyes like she alwaysdid.Mom gave her a light smack on the side of her head. That’swhat you get!“What have I told you about those eyes?” mom asked.SAMPLE

“That one day I’ll roll them too hard and they’ll get stuck in theback of my head,” she answered.“That’s right,” mom confirmed. “And if they don’t get stuckback there on their own, I might just help them.”Xochitl apologized and gave mom her water bottle back beforetaking a seat on mom’s lap. Sometimes I get in trouble for what shedoes. And sometimes, sometimes, she gets herself in trouble. And boyam I glad when I’m there to witness it!Luckily, mom has Kindle Unlimited, so finding a ‘free’ book toread proved an easy task. I ended up choosing a fiction book about akid named Nate. The hand drawn cover reminded me of the comics Idraw. I’m glad I stumbled across it.It didn’t take long before it captured and kept my attention. Themain character, Nate, reminds me of myself. He has a greatimagination! The only difference between the two of us, is that hisimagination comes to life! How cool would that be! Even for just oneday! I ended up getting so immersed in the story, that when mom tookher phone back, I hadn’t even realized that Xochitl’s class was over.“Aw, mom! Can’t I finish reading?” I asked, reaching for herphone.“Not right now,” she answered.“But I was right in the middle of a good part!” I begged.“You downloaded it onto my phone, right?” she asked.SAMPLE

“Yes, ma’am,” I answered, as politely as I could, hoping itwould sway her to let me keep reading.“I’ll send it to your tablet, so you can read it later,” she said,picking up Xochitl’s gym bag.“What?” I asked, confused.“I’ll send it to you tablet,” she repeated.“You can do that?” I wondered, out loud.“Yes, T.J., I can do that,” she answered.“Can I at least finish the page I was on?” I asked.“Look, you can keep bugging me,” she said, “but that means itwill just take us that much longer to get to the mall.”“The mall?” I asked, completely confused.“Yes, T.J. The mall,” she answered. “Xochitl’s ballet instructorjust said that everyone needs to have rainbow leggings for theirupcoming recital and you’re sister has grown out of hers.”“Xochitl has grown?” I asked.How come she keeps growing, but I still fit into the sameclothes from third grade?“Weren’t you the one who was begging to go to the mall beforewe came here?” mom said, more as a statement than a question.“Yes,” I answered, in more of a question than a statement.“Well, then let’s get going so we can get home before the meat Ileft in the sink goes bad,” mom instructed.“Yes, ma’am,” I answered, taking Xochitl’s gym bag from her.SAMPLE

Well, what do you know? Coming to Xochitl’s dumb practiceended up working out for me! Here we go. To the mall!SAMPLE

9 Only Fifteen Dollars?The mall parking lot was packed when we got there. Not only isit the afternoon, so most people are out of work and able to shop, butChristmas is just a few weeks away! We ended up parking half wayacross the wrong side of the mall. That means that not only do wehave to walk half way across the overcrowded mall, trying not tobump into people, but we also have to walk all the way back!SAMPLE

“Let’s just get in and out,” Mom said, holding Xochitl in onehand and me in the other.“But what about my Secret Santa gift?” I asked.“I don’t know, T.J.,” she started, “it depends on how long ittakes for us to get sister her leggings.”“So, if it doesn’t take too long, I can look around?” I asked,hopeful.“I don’t know, baby,” she answered. “We’ll see.”“Please don’t take too long. Please don’t take too long. Pleasedon’t take too long,” I whispered, crossing my fingers with my eyesclosed.It felt like the right thing to do but proved otherwise. Since Icouldn’t see where I was going with my eyes closed, I ended upbumping into an elderly lady, causing her to drop her bags.“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” I repeated, over and over, helpingher to pick up her bags.“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” mom said. “Are you okay?”“I’m sure I’ll be okay,” she answered, with a smile, taking herbags back. “Are you okay, little bear?”“I’m okay,” I assured her.“Merry Christmas,” she told me, shuffling my hair, thencontinued on her way.“You have to watch where you’re walking, T.J.,” momcommanded.SAMPLE

“Sorry, mom. She just came out of nowhere!” I lied.Note to reader. Not only do I not encourage lying to yourmother, I actually encourage the complete opposite. Not lying. Period.It just ends up coming back to bite you in the butt! Now, back to ourstory.“Come on, we still have like ten more stores to pass beforewe’re even there,” Mom commented, taking our hands again, pullingus a bit quicker than she was before.When we finally made it to the store, there was hardly anyonein there. Yes! That means we can get in and out and have time to goshopping for my Secret Santa partner.“Excuse me, where can I find girl’s rainbow leggings,” momasked the clerk near the front of the store.“They should be on the left wall, just past the unitards,” sheanswered.“Thank you,” mom said.I’m not sure she’s realized this, but mom is still pulling us alonglike a dog taking their owner for a walk. No, I did not misspeak. Imeant to say a dog taking their owner for a walk. You know what I’mtalking about right? Like when you see someone taking their dog fora walk, but it’s actually the other way around. The dog is so excited togo for a walk that they’re actually pulling their master along for theride. Yeah. That’s what mom’s kind of doing to us right now!SAMPLE

She finally released us when she spotted the rainbow leggings.Thank you! I looked at my hand and realized that not only was it redbecause mom was holding it so tightly, but it was probably also thereason I had lost feeling in it!“Come on medium. Where are the mediums?” mom asked, outloud, while shuffling through the hangars, checking the tags.Medium? Medium? I’m a medium!“Here’s one,” she announced, taking it off the wall.“Don’t I have to try them on?” Xochitl asked, as mom turned tohead for the cash register.“Not leggings, sweetie,” she answered. “They’re stretchy, soyou should be fine.”“If you say so,” Xochitl commented, with attitude.Bad idea! Mom stopped in her tracks, slowly turned around andgave Xochitl a ‘what did you just say to me?’ look. Xochitl’s eyesalmost popped out of her eye sockets. Similar to the way Gio's didearlier. Mom slowly walked towards her and took her by the hand.Luckily, mom was holding Xochitl’s leggings in her other hand, soshe couldn’t grab my hand.“Let’s get going,” mom ordered, staring Xochitl straight in theeyes, in a whisper that not only scared me, but probably made Xochitlpee in her pants a little. I mean I just almost peed my pants, and shewasn’t even talking to me!SAMPLE

Xochitl didn’t say anything this time. She just slowly noddedher head, not rolling her eyes. Actually, from my perspective, itlooked really weird. Xochitl’s entire head moved up and down, buther eyes stayed completely still. I don’t think I’ve ever seen thathappen before.It didn’t take long for mom to pay for the leggings since therewere only two people in line. Now I was faced with a new dilemma.Mom hasn’t been in the best mood since we left the house. Should Iask her if there’s time for me to go shopping for my Secret Santa gift?What would you do if you were in my shoes?We were coming up to the store I wanted check out, so I took adeep breath and used the calmest, most pleasant voice I could muster.“Um, mom,” I started, “is there enough time for me to look formy Secret Santa gift?”Mom stopped speed walking, released my hand, and checkedher watch.“How long do you think it’ll take?” she asked. “We still have toget home so I can cook the meat in the sink.”“It shouldn’t take longer than twenty minutes,” I answered, stillusing my ‘I don’t want to get in trouble’ voice.“You have fifteen. Which store did you want to go to?” sheasked.“This one,” I answered, pointing to the store just ahead of us, toour left.SAMPLE

“Are you sure?” mom questioned.“Yes,” I answered.“But you always whine when we go in that store to get Xochitlsomething,” mom commented.“But mom, I’m not buying something for me. I’m buyingsomething for my Secret Santa partner,” I reminded her.“And you’re sure they’ll want something from here?” shecontinued to interrogate.I reached into my pocket, unfolded the interview paper fromearlier this morning, and handed it to mom. She quickly glanced at it,folded it back up and handed it back to me.“Let’s go,” she ordered, taking my hand again.I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what I was going to get, but Ihad a few ideas in my mind.Once we entered the store, I headed straight for the schoolsupplies section. Mrs. Whiston had pointed out that we could get onelarge item worth fifteen dollars or that we could get lots of little itemsthat add up to fifteen dollars. I had decided that I was going to get lotsof little items. This store has a dollar section. That means that I canget fifteen things for my Secret Santa partner.Now I know what you’re probably thinking. You’re probablythinking that I’m forgetting about the sales tax that’s added at theregister. But I’m not. When Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Whiston wereexplaining Secret Santa to us earlier, Enrique had asked if he boughtSAMPLE

something for $14.99, and it went over because of taxes, would thatcount as over fifteen dollars. Mrs. Whiston had looked at Mr.Anderson, who shrugged his shoulders and gestured back towardsMrs. Whiston, as if giving her the final say so. Mrs. Whiston hadturned back to Enrique and said that it would be okay.“What about this?” Xochitl asked, shoving a kiddie toy in myface.“No, Xochitl,” I answered. “My partner is in fifth grade, notsecond.”She hurried away as I started to grab a few of the dollar items Ithought my partner might like. But before I could even grab five, shewas back.“They might like this,” she said, placing a different toy in myhand, making me drop what I was holding.“No, Xochitl!” I said, handing it back so I could pick up what Ihad dropped.Once again, she hurried away. I had only grabbed two moreitems before she returned for a third time.“They’ll definitely love this!” she urged, showing me a differenttoy.It took all the patience I had not to scream at her.“Mom!” I shouted.“What is it?” mom asked, coming around the corner, with a fewthings in her hands.SAMPLE

“Xochitl keeps shoving toys in my face and won’t let me shop!”I said, intensely, staring Xochitl in the eyes.“I’m just trying to help him!” Xochitl claimed.“I know honey. Why don’t you go find something you thinkCousin Cristina would like,” mom told Xochitl, who quickly left mealone and rushed down a nearby aisle.“So how much do you have to spend, again?” mom asked.“We’re not allowed to spend more than fifteen dollars,” Ianswered.“Only fifteen dollars?” mom asked.I just nodded my head.SAMPLE

10 IT’S PERFECT! RIGHT?After choosing what I thought would be the perfect fifteen itemsfor my Secret Santa partner, we got into the slightly longer line at thisstore. Actually, there were two registers open, but seven people infront of us. Luckily, the cashiers were quick, so it didn’t take long forus to get to the front of the line.As the cashier, Martha, rang up the school supplies, I took outmy wallet. Any guess to what logo is on it? If it doesn’t pop into yourhead right away, then you probably haven’t read any of my otherSAMPLE

adventures. And if that’s the case, then since it’s the time of the yearwhen kindness and generosity are the focus, I’ll just tell you who’slogo it is. Batman’s! It’s actually an all-black wallet with a metal baton the front that’s painted yellow. I’ve had it for years, and you cantell by the wear and tear, but I’m going to use this thing until it fallsapart!Once we got out of the store, it was back into the clutches ofmom’s hands, being dragged through the crowd so we could get backbefore the meat in the sink could go bad. Now that I think about it,why doesn’t mom just call dad and tell him to put it into therefrigerator? He should be home by now. Oh, well. I got my SecretSanta gift and that’s all that matters. Everyone else will be frettingover the next couple of weeks and I’m all done. Thank, you, mom!◆ ◆ ◆“Homework time!” mom announced, as soon as we entered thehouse.“Can I at least get changed?” Xochitl asked.“Yes,” mom answered. “But then it’s straight to work!”“Okie dokie!” she said, sprite like, as she skipped towards andup the stairs.“Can you send me that book I was reading, to my Kindle app,so I can finish?” I asked.SAMPLE

“Don’t you only have to read for twenty minutes each night,”mom asked, taking the meat from the sink and putting in into a pan.“Yes. Why?” I asked.“Well, you read for over thirty minutes at Xochitl’s practice,”she explained. “I’ll do it later, okay?”“Okay,” I said, in a ‘I guess so’ voice.“Now go put that Secret Santa gift away before your sisterdecides to claim some of it for herself,” she instructed.“There’s no way she’s getting any of this!” I declared, holdingthe bag up.“I don’t know,” mom said, in a mischievous voice. “You knowyour little sister. She can be sneaky.”“Uh uh! Not this time!” I argued. “I’m putting this into myBatman safe!”“Well you better get going then!” she directed, turning mearound by my shoulders, as if telling me to hurry up.◆ ◆ ◆I had just finished my homework when mom called us down fordinner. Mmm. Breakfast for dinner. There aren’t many things on thisplanet that can beat the flavor and simplicity of a chorizo and eggburrito. The way the scent envelops not only the kitchen but reachesevery corner of the house. And oh, how the flavors complement eachother. And don’t forget the texture. Exquisite!SAMPLE

Please excuse my food jargon. I know it’s not usually the way Italk, but mom has been streaming some food shows and I found thisone where kids are the chefs. I’m not saying that I’m addicted to it oranything. I’m just saying that it’s cool to see kids getting recognitionfor something that most adults don’t think kids can do!“So, mom was telling me that your class is doing a SecretSanta,” dad said, as we ate dinner.“Yes,” I confirmed.“And you’ve already chosen your gift?” he asked.“Yes, sir, I have,” I answered, proudly.“Decisiveness. I like that,” he lauded.I smiled as I chewed the food in mouth. Dad doesn’t give outmany compliments, so when he does, they mean just that much more.“Our school is also supporting the Angel Tree Program andOperation Christmas Child,” I shared, after swallowing my food.Talking with food in your mouth is not allowed at the table.That, and chewing with your mouth open, are like asking to besmacked upside the head!“I know what the Angel Tree Program is,” dad commented, “wesupport them at work. But what’s Operation Christmas Child?”“May I please be excused to get the flyer?” I requested.“You mean there was a paper you were supposed to give me?”mom asked, with her eyebrow raised.SAMPLE

“Well, yeah, but Xochitl’s practice threw me off!” I said, tryingto shift the blame.“You’re excused,” dad said, setting me free from mom’s momstare.You know which one I’m talking about, right? The one thatseems like she’s peering into your soul. The one that makes you thinkthat she automatically knows every bad thing you’ve ever done. Andknows every lie you’ve ever told. The one that doesn’t just work onyou, but it works on your friends, too! The one that, even whenyou’re at your friend’s house, and they’re getting the mom stare fromtheir mom, you feel sorry for everything bad you’ve ever done? Thatmom stare!I quickly made my way upstairs, took the flyers from my folder,and returned to the kitchen. I handed mom the Angel Tree Programflyer, with the attached angel stapled to it. Then I handed dad theOperation Christmas Child flyer.“Shoe boxes, huh?” he thought, out loud, while reading theflyer. “And we can just pick one up from the school. Nine dollarsshipping. That’s not so bad. All around the world! T.J., do you mind ifI take this flyer and share it with my boss at work?”“Nope. Go ahead,” I answered. “Our school always keeps extraflyers in the front office.“How much do you think we should give to the Angel TreeProgram?” mom asked dad.SAMPLE

“Maybe I should take that one, too,” he suggested. “Maybe Ican get my job to make a business donation. That way they can helpmore kids. I remember us getting Angel Tree gifts when I was little.”Omg! That stands for ‘oh my goodness’ for those of you whodon’t know. I can’t believe what’s happening! I was willing to doextra chores so that I could do something for the Angel Tree Programand Operation Christmas Child. Now it seems like dad might be ableto get his job to do more than I ever could. Isn’t that awesome! Thisafternoon may have started off a bit rough, but this evening is startingoff great! I can’t wait to tell Marcus all about it!◆ ◆ ◆After we finished eating dinner, it was shower time. Thankfully,it’s Xochitl’s turn to go first, which means I have time to tell Marcuseverything that happened at dinner and show him the gift I bought! Iheaded straight to my room and grabbed my walkie talkie.“Captain America. This is Batman. Come in, Captain America,”I called.At first there was no answer, so I went to my window to see ifMarcus was in his room. The light was off, so I tried again.“Captain America. This is Batman. Come in, Captain America,”I tried again, and again, no response.I was about to try for a third time when I saw the light inMarcus’ room turn on.SAMPLE

“This is Captain America. What is it? Over.” Marcus asked.“Come out to the tree house. Over,” I said.“What for? It’s cold outside. Over,” he asked.“I have something I want to show you. Over,” I relayed.“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? Over.” Marcus offered.“Please!” I begged.There was a short pause before he responded.“Okay, okay. Just let me get a sweater on. Over,” he responded.“Be right out! Over!” I said, joyfully.I decided that grabbing a sweater wasn’t such a bad idea, soMarcus was already on the platform when I got there.“What was so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”Marcus asked, with his hands tucked underneath his arms.“You know how our school is supporting the Angel TreeProgram and Operation Christmas Child?” I asked.“Yeah. So?” he asked.He must really be cold, because I don’t think I’ve ever heardhim say that before, so I’ll just ignore it.“Well, my dad just said that he’s going to share the OperationChristmas Child flyer with his boss and he’s also going to see if hisjob will make a business donation to the Angel Tree Program,” Iexplained, gleefully. “Isn’t that great!”“I’ll admit, that is pretty cool. What about the bag?” he asked,pointing at the bag I was holding in my hand.SAMPLE

“It’s the gift I got for my Secret Santa partner. After reading theinterview paper, I knew exactly what to get!” I answered.“Well, let’s see it then?” he said, blowing hot air into his hands,putting them back into his pockets when they were warm enough.I opened the bag so he could see what was inside. He leanedforward and peered inside.“It’s perfect! Right?” I asked.Marcus then leaned back, into an upright position and stared atme. He didn’t say a word. He just stood there, staring at me. The coldmay be to blame, but I can’t figure out why Marcus isn’t as excited asI am!SAMPLE

11 YOU’RE ALREADY DONE?“Say something already!” I ordered.“It’s cold,” he stated, coldly. “Can I go inside now?”I didn’t know what to say. I mean I thought it was the perfectgift. Why didn’t Marcus think so? I know! Maybe it’s because hehasn’t seen my interview paper, yet!“Here,” I said, reaching into my back pocket, “take a look atthis and then tell me what you think.”SAMPLE

He didn’t look to enthused, but he took his right hand out of hispocket and reached for the paper. He unfolded the paper, with onehand, and looked it over. Then he folded it back up and handed it tome. And he did all this in complete silence. I had come out here fullof excitement and now I feel like I’ve done something worthy ofpunishment.“Well?” I said, sheepishly.“I think it will be well received,” he commented. “Can I goinside now?”“Sure,” I answered, timidly. “See you tomorrow.”The walk back to my window felt like a walk of shame. Icouldn’t figure out why, but it did! I mean, I’m not sure what I haddone, but Marcus wasn’t excited at all! He almost acted like I hadbeen wasting his time. He’s never acted like that with me before. Ihope everything’s okay. That’s it! Maybe something had happenedbefore he came out and he just took it out on me! Oh, well. I won’t letit bother me. He is my best friend, after all.“There you are!” Xochitl yelled, as I climbed back into myroom. “Mom! T.J. was in his treehouse! Did you even say he could gooutside?”“Get out of my room!” I ordered.“You’re in trouble! You were supposed to get in the showerwhen I was done!” she taunted.“Get out!” I repeated.SAMPLE

“T.J.!” mom called, from somewhere in the house. “Shower.Now.”Xochitl stuck her tongue out at me while wagging her head.“Out!” I yelled.“Xochitl! Leave your brother alone!” mom instructed.She turned around and shook her butt at me before giggling andhurrying to her own room. Ugh! Even when she’s leaving, she can beannoying!◆ ◆ ◆When I woke up in the morning, I realized that I hadn’t boughta gift bag or any wrapping paper to wrap my partner’s gift.Thankfully, I still have lot’s of time to get something, so I’m notworried.“Please be sure that you let me know every time you go out ontothe tree house,” mom told me, the next morning as I was brushing myteeth.She came out of nowhere and almost made me choke on mytoothpaste! I nodded my head and grunted in agreement. I don’t knowhow she does that! She just sneaks up on me and I don’t even hearher. It’s like she’s a ninja!“You’re not in trouble for last night. I just want to make surethat you and Marcus are safe,” she explained.SAMPLE

I nodded my head to show that I understood and spit out mytoothpaste. When I turned around to apologize for not telling herabout last night, she wasn’t there. I didn’t even hear her leave. Howdoes she do that!I know that she’s always saying that when I was born sheinherited mom wisdom and secret skills and stuff, but I’m not sureninja skills were a part of that package. Spidey mom senses whenthere’s something wrong, maybe. Special mom kisses to make thepain go away, maybe. Santa Claus’ personal email, maybe. But ninjaskills? That may be a bit of a stretch. What do you think? Does yourmom ever sneak up on you without you knowing? Does she everdisappear without you hearing? Does your mom have secret ninjaskills? It may be hard for me to fully believe, but I think my momdoes!When I got to my room, my Future Funmaker shirt was hangingfrom my doorknob. I almost forgot that I was on Future Funmakerduty today. Thank you, mom! If she hadn’t washed my shirt, I wouldhave to wear a loaner shirt, and those things smell! Funmaker Johnsays that he washes them, but he either doesn’t know how to washclothes, or all the smells from the equipment room attack those poor,newly washed shirts!After changing my shirt, I finished getting ready for school likeI normally did and waited on the living room sofa for mom toannounce it was time to go. I sat wondering what could have madeSAMPLE

Marcus act the way he did last night. I may have a great imaginationwhen it comes to creating scenarios for the T.J. League to overcome.And writing comics comes pretty easily to me as well. But for somereason, I just can’t think of what could have happened to him. He’susually so polite and kind. But last night he wasn’t.“Mom-o-zine ready to go,” mom announced. “Next stop,school!”“Don’t leave without me!” Xochitl yelled, from the top of thestairs. “I’m tying my shoe!”“You know the rules,” mom said. “If you’re not in the car by thetime it leaves, you’re getting left behind!”Then mom did something that she’s really good at. And when Isay, ‘really good,’ I mean really good. She doesn’t do it very often,but when she does, it always sends chills down my spine. Wonderingwhat it is? She did an evil witch’s cackle. You know what I’m talkingabout right? The kind they use at Halloween in those witch toys.Except mom’s is even more creepy than those. Just thinking about itmakes me shudder!“No! I’m coming!” Xochitl pleaded.“I’m out the door!” mom called out, as she walked through theopened door, with me close behind.“Mooom!” Xochitl cried out.And when I say ‘cried,’ I mean cried. As in, she was cry-ing. Ithink she should know by now that mom can’t leave her behindSAMPLE

because she’s the one that has to lock the door. I mean, come on,Xochitl! You’re in second grade for goodness sake! You’re alwaysboasting about how smart you are, but you still fall for things likethis? Sad. Just sad. Wait! Now, I’m going to have to listen to hersniffle the entire way to school. Ugh!◆ ◆ ◆When we got to school, I got my breakfast and headed to ournormal table. The rest of the T.J. League was already there andtalking amongst themselves.“Hey guys,” I said, as I sat down.“Hey, T.J.,” they greeted, in unison.“Sorry, about last night,” I apologized, to Marcus.“No worries,” he responded.“Was everything okay?” I asked.“Yeah, why?” he asked.“Oh, no reason,” I answered.“Then why ask?” he questioned.“I just thought you would be excited,” I said.“Excited about what?” Justin asked.“Oh, I showed Marcus the gift that I got for my Secret Santapartner,” I said, casually, then took a bite of my sweet bread.“I thought you guys weren’t telling anyone who your partnerwas!” Justin said, hotly.SAMPLE

“We aren’t,” Sammy said.“Then why is T.J. allowed to tell Marcus?” he asked.“He didn’t tell me anything,” Marcus said, in a ‘dude chill out’voice.“But he just said!” Justin said, raising his voice.“He said what?” Paul asked.“He just said that he showed Marcus the gift he got for hisSecret Santa partner!” Justin proclaimed.“Exactly,” Erick said.“‘Exactly’?” Justin said, changing the volume and tone of hisvoice.“Exactly,” Erick repeated.“I’m confused,” Justin stated.“Let me explain,” Sammy said, in her ‘I’ll handle this,’ voice.Everyone nodded and Erick did a sweeping motion with hashand, as if gesturing ‘go for it’.“Okay, Justin, it’s like this,” Sammy said, taking Justin by theshoulders and making direct eye contact with him. “T.J. said heshowed Marcus the gift he bought for his partner. He never said thathe told Marcus who his Secret Santa partner is. Get it?”“Oh!” Justin exclaimed. “I get it, now! He just showedMarcus!”“Yes, Justin. Good job!” Sammy praised, patting Justin on theshoulders as she released her grip on them.SAMPLE

“Wait,” Justin immediately followed up.Everyone groaned. Have I mentioned how difficult it can be toconvince Justin of something?“No, seriously,” Justin said, in a ‘just hear me out’ voice. “Itotally understand that T.J. didn’t tell Marcus who his partner is. Butthere’s something else.”“Wha?” I asked, with sweet bread in my mouth.“You’re already done?” he asked.SAMPLE

12 YOU’RE JUST OVERREACTING“Wha thoo you mean?” I asked back.“You already bought your Secret Santa gift?” he asked, in a ‘areyou kidding me’ voice.“Yeah. Why?” I asked, after taking a drink of chocolate milk.“How in the world did you already buy a gift?” Justin asked.“We had to go to the mall after Xochitl’s ballet practice becauseshe needed new leggings,” I explained.SAMPLE

“But that doesn’t explain how you already bought a gift,” Paulpointed out.“We were at the mall,” I said. “What’s not to understand.”“But it hasn’t even been twenty four hours since we’ve gottenour interview papers,” Erick chimed in.“Yeah. So?” I asked.“So, that’s not a long time,” he commented.“What’s wrong with that?” I inquired.“That just doesn’t seem like a long time to put much thoughtinto a gift,” Sammy said.“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked,defensively.“It just seems like you may have rushed the whole thing,” sheanswered.“I read the interview sheet. I looked it over. Well. And it gaveme a couple of good ideas,” I pleaded my case.“And?” Justin said“And one of the stores in the mall just happened to have one ofthe gifts that I was considering,” I said, standing up to throw my trashway.“Where are you going?” Justin asked.“I was thinking of throwing my trash away,” I said, stopping inmy tracks and turning around to face him. “But wait. I’m not sureSAMPLE

I’ve thought about it long enough. How long would you suggest Iconsider it before I’m able to decide if it’s a good idea or not?”“T.J.,” Marcus said, calmly.“What?” I asked. “I was so excited as I was picking out my gift.I couldn’t wait to see the expression on my partner’s face. I was soexcited that I tried to share my experience with you. And now I feellike I’m getting put on trial for doing something wrong when I didn’tdo anything wrong!”“We’re not putting you on trial,” Erick said.“Then why are you all ganging up on me?” I asked, still holdingmy trash in my hands.“We’re not ganging up on you, T.J.,” Paul said.“Well, it sure feels like it!” I said, feeling tears start to collect inthe corners of my eyes.Sometimes when I get angry, it makes me cry. Let me repeatthat. Sometimes when I get angry. It’s like my emotions go intooverdrive or something. And for some strange reason, if I’m not ableto calm down, it makes me cry. I mean, it doesn’t always lead to fullout crying and all. Sometimes the tears just stay in the corner of myeyes. It depends on the situation, really. But once those tears startfalling, boy is it hard to make them stop! Which can be reallyembarrassing! When it happens at home, that’s one thing. But when ithappens at school! Let’s just say that when it does happen, having thepower of invisibility would come in handy!SAMPLE

“I’m sorry, T.J.,” Marcus said, standing up from his seat, towalk over to me. “You’re right. You didn’t do anything wrong. Theguys were just sharing their opinions,” he said, turning around to lookat all of them.They each nodded their head in agreement, looking at me andthen at each other and then at me again. Their quick response didn’tconvince me, but the looks on their faces matched their actions andseemed to say, ‘we’re sorry for making you feel bad’.“The gift you got your partner is great,” Marcus said, taking mytrash for me.I dabbed the tears from the corners of my eyes and put mybackpack over my right shoulder.He might not have had the response I was looking for last night,but at least he still has my back. If he hadn’t stopped the guys, Iwould have been doing more than just dabbing at tears!“So, since you’ve already bought your gift, you can tell us whoyour partner is. Right?” Justin asked.“Justin!” everyone said, in unison, the way Mrs. Frizzle’s classsays ‘Carlos’ when he tells a bad joke.For some reason, their response made me laugh. And just likethat, everything was back to normal. We may not always see eye toeye on everything, but I’ve got the best group of friends!◆ ◆ ◆SAMPLE

After breakfast, no one questioned me about buying my gift soquickly anymore. Justin’s even stopped bugging everyone to tell himwho their partner is. Again.“Hey guys?” Sammy said, after the final recess, as we wereputting all the playground equipment in the equipment room.“Yeah?” we responded.“Did you notice that Leah was wearing the same shirt that shehad on yesterday?” she asked.“What?” Erick asked back.“Yeah,” Sammy started. “She was sitting at the Buddy Benchyesterday, so I invited her to join us in a game of four square, andtoday, she was sitting at the Buddy Bench again, wearing the sameshirt.”“Well, I was running two on two basketball, so I was nowherenear the buddy bench,” Erick commented.“And I was running soccer,” Paul said. “So, I didn’t get achance to look.”“Well, I was running Heroes and Villains, so I spent all my timeon the field,” I shared.“I’ve been running dodge ball,” Justin told us, “so I’ve had myback to the Buddy Bench all recess.”“I did see her sitting at the Buddy Bench,” Marcus answered.“But I didn’t notice what shirt she was wearing.”“I’m telling you guys. It was the same shirt!” Sammy implored.SAMPLE

“You sure it wasn’t just the same color?” Paul asked.“I’m pretty sure,” Sammy answered.“How do you know?” Erick asked.“Because not only was it the same color, but it had the sameunicorn on the front!” Sammy declared.“I guess that would be hard to miss,” Marcus said.“Maybe she just has two identical shirts,” Justin commented,offering a solution.“But why would she wear them two days in a row?” Sammyasked.“I don’t know?” he answered.“Maybe she’s doing some new social media challenge,” Paulsuggested.“The ‘wear the same shirt two days in a row challenge’?”Sammy asked, in a ‘are you kidding me’ voice.“Maybe you have to wear the same shirt as long as you canbefore your mom makes you change it,” Erick said.“Really?” Sammy asked.“Hey! People have done some pretty dumb challenges in thepast!” I pointed out.“True,” Marcus agreed.“I don’t think that’s what this is,” Sammy argued.“Well, I think you’re just overreacting,” Justin remarked.SAMPLE

13 MAYBE SHE’S RIGHT“Great! Now I’m getting put on trial!” Sammy exclaimed.“No, you’re not,” Marcus said, in the same voice he had usedwith me at breakfast. “We’re just sharing our differences of opinion.”“Well, it sure feels like it!” Sammy said, slamming theequipment door.I totally felt her frustration.“Sorry.”“Sorry, Sammy.”SAMPLE

“I’m sorry.”“Me, too.”“Is everything okay?” Funmaker John asked.“Everything’s okay,” Erick said. “Sammy just didn’t realizehow strong she’s become!”“Whoa!” Funmaker John said, holding his arms up. “Well, justtry and turn down the volume on your muscles next time andremember we’re on the same team!”We all laughed and headed back to class.◆ ◆ ◆When we got back to class, Mrs. Whiston was answering someof the questions that she had gotten through the ClassroomCommunication app and through her email.“So, remember, the gift bag, tissue paper and wrapping paper donot count towards the fifteen dollar limit on your gift,” she explained.Whew! I’m glad I didn’t miss that one. I almost asked her thatearlier, and it would have been a bit embarrassing to raise my handand ask a question that she had already answered.“And finally,” she continued, “if your family is unable toparticipate at this time, don’t worry. Just let me know, and I’ll makesure that your partner still gets a gift. You can even tell me what youthink a good gift would be, and I’ll let you sign your name!”SAMPLE

If I haven’t shared this in my previous adventures, let me makesure that I say it in this one. I am so glad that I got Mrs. Whiston asmy teacher way back in kindergarten. And I’m so glad that our schoolmakes us keep the same teacher for all our years of elementaryschool. Even though she gives us some difficult projects sometimes.And even though she holds us responsible for our actions, even whenwe wish she would just let us slide, since we’re kids. And eventhough sometimes she makes us cringe when she tries to do the latestdance move or says things to try and be cool. You can throw all ofthat out the window, because no matter what any of us may say whenwe’re angry at her, she has the best heart.After answering all the questions about Secret Santa, she pairedus up again, except this time she used her ‘invisible’ bag of shticks. Iknow what you’re asking yourself. What do I mean by ‘invisible’?That’s what Mrs. Whiston says. And no, I did not misspeak when Isaid, ‘shticks’. She says that, too. It’s basically a camouflage pencilcase with popsicle sticks inside. I think she pretends it’s invisiblebecause the bag is camouflage. Cringe? Eh. We’ve gotten used to it.Oh, and as for the shticks, each popsicle stick had a number writtenon it. One number for every person in our class. Mrs. Whiston haslots of different ways to call on people. This is just another one of herways.“Now, we’ve done self-portraits in the past, but I want to switchthings up a bit,” Mrs. Whiston announced.SAMPLE

Great! I wonder what ‘switch things up’ means this time!“This time I want you to draw your partner,” she said.That didn’t sound to hard.“But not just from their shoulders up,” she continued. “I wantyou to draw their whole body. And I want you to draw them whereverthey say they want to spend winter break.”Okay. That’s going to be a bit harder. Not that much harder,really. Actually, it’s going to be more time consuming than hard. I getenough practice drawing when I work on my comics.“I want you to use the next fifteen minutes to work on yourportrait,” she said. “And if you need extra time, you can finish it forhomework.”“What do we have to use for our drawing?” Leo asked.“I have some drawing paper in the back,” Mrs. Whistonanswered.“No,” Leo said. “I mean, do we use crayons? Color pencils?”“Markers? Watercolors?” Mrs. Whiston continued for him. “It’sup to you. If you just want to do a nice pencil sketch, that’s fine, too!”“Do we have to do it in any particular style?” Jefferson asked.“What do you mean?” Mrs. Whiston asked.“Do we have to do it like one of the artists we’ve learned fromour Amplify the Artist projects?” he clarified.“You may, if you’d like,” she answered, “but it’s not arequirement. You can make your portrait however you like. BeSAMPLE

creative!”Yes! That means I can draw him like I draw my comics!Actually, I’m not exactly sure how that’s going to work, since he’snot a superhero, but I’m sure that I can think of something.“Any other questions?” Mrs. Whiston asked. “No? Okay. Goahead and get started!”I grabbed one of my sketching pencils from my pencil box andheaded to Leo’s desk, since he was grabbing some drawing paperfrom the back of the class. I figure that I can do my base sketching inclass and then add color and more detail later when I get home.Now, you probably don’t know this, but Leo has a twin. It’skind of weird but also kind of cool. Usually, when I think of someonehaving a twin, I think of them being an identical twin. Or at least twoboys or two girls. But Leo’s twin is neither identical nor a boy. Leo’stwin is a girl. I know, right! When I first found out, it blew my mind.I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Leo’s twin sister is Leah. Asin Lee-uh, not Lay-uh like the princess from Star Wars. Wait. Nowthat I think about it, she’s the same Leah that Sammy was asking usabout earlier. Strange the way some things work, huh?“I just want to apologize in advance,” Leo said, as he put ablank drawing page in front of me.“For what?” I asked.“I was not born to be an artist,” he commented.SAMPLE

“No worries. We’re all good at something, but we don’t have tobe good at everything,” I reassured him.“Thanks, T.J.,” he said, with a smile as he sat down in his seat.“Plus, I like drawing, so maybe I can give you some pointers,” Isuggested.“Really?” Leo asked, excitedly.“Sure!” I answered, matching his excitement at the thought.Leo suggested that I draw him first so that he could see how Idid it and then maybe he would try to copy my process. I asked himwhat he wanted to do during winter break, and he said he would liketo be somewhere tropical. That made it simple for me. After drawinghim, all I would have to do was add a beach and palms trees in thebackground.I asked him to stand up so that I could get a good look at him. Idon’t know about you, but I like to lightly sketch the frame ofsomeone’s body first and then add the details, little by little, in aslightly darker sketch. Then, once I’m happy with what I see, I’lleither darken the lines with my pencil or add color. It depends onwhat I want my final product to look like.As I looked at Leo, I realized that I was going to have to use myimagination a bit. He said he wanted to be in a tropical place, but he’scurrently wearing cargo sweats, a long sleeve shirt and hiking boots.He looks more like he’s about to go hiking or out to the snow.Changing his pants to shorts should be easy. I can change his longSAMPLE

sleeve into a tank top, easily. Changing his shoes to flip flops isprobably going to be the most difficult, but I think I’ll let him keephis shoes on when I draw his feet.“Do you want to be building a sandcastle or surfing?” I askedhim.“You can do that?” he asked.“Sure!” I answered. “It’s not going to be professional, but Ifigured it would be better than just having you stand there, on abeach!”“If you can draw me surfing, that would be cool!” he said,pretending to surf on his chair.“Make good choices,” Mrs. Whiston said, from her desk.“Sorry, ma’am,” Leo responded.He and I laughed after he got down from his chair. I think this‘switch it up’ is going to be more fun than I originally thought.After getting his face just right, I drew his tank top, which waspretty easy to do. I wanted to draw him in cargo shorts. You know, thekind that the Crocodile Hunter wears? Like that! It was a good thinghe was wearing cargo sweats. All I had to do was stop drawing themat the knee level.Then I noticed something. It was something that was on Leo’ssweats. And it was right above where his left knee would be. I’mpretty sure it’s a stain. I may be imagining things, but I rememberNoah spilling some of his teriyaki chicken on Leo, yesterday, at lunchSAMPLE

time. I remember it because Noah kept apologizing over and over andover again. Leo told him that it was okay, but he just wouldn’t listen.He had taken his napkin to try and clean it off, and when that didn’twork, he started taking other people’s napkins. One of the supervisionaides had to come and calm him down since he was kind of creating ascene.I looked up at Leo’s shirt and tried to remember if that was thesame shirt he wore yesterday. No matter how hard I tried, I justcouldn’t remember.“Everything okay? T.J.?” he asked, in a sing song voice whilewaving his hand in front of my face.“Huh? What?” I stuttered, as I snapped out of my unexpectedgaze. “Oh, yeah. I was just trying to think of what I should draw onyour shirt. A deserted island, a shark or sea turtle?”“A shark!” Leo exclaimed.I know. I know. I just said that I didn’t promote lying earlier, butI didn’t want to embarrass him. I mean, what if he is wearing thesame clothes from yesterday? That could totally change the mood.We’re having so much fun right now and I don’t want to ruin it!Hmmm. First, Sammy said that she thought that Leah, Leo’stwin sister, was wearing the same shirt from yesterday. And now itlooks like Leo is wearing the same sweats from yesterday. I know thatwe didn’t fully believe Sammy, but maybe she’s right.SAMPLE

14 MAYBE SHE’S WRONGI kept drawing Leo as if nothing was wrong, but I can’t help butwonder if Sammy is on to something. What that something is, I haveno idea, but it gives me a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.After I finished my sketch of him, I helped Leo with hisdrawing of me. When he asked me where I wanted to be for winterbreak, I told him that I wanted to be in the Bat Cave. Then I thought itover when I realized that it would probably be too difficult to draw, soI told him that I wanted to go back to my Nána’s farm. That should beSAMPLE

a little bit easier. All he has to do is draw a house, a barn and somehay.You’re probably thinking that I forgot about the animals. And ifyou are, then you’re probably forgetting something! Leo said he isn’tthat great of an artist! You don’t have to draw animals to know thatit’s a farm. As long as there’s a barn and some hay, people should getit. If he wants to, he can add some corn rows, but he doesn’t have to.◆ ◆ ◆“These taconadas are good!” Justin exclaimed, as we ate lunch.“They’re the same as they always are,” Erick pointed out.“Nuh uh,” Justin responded. “I don’t know why, but these areeven better than usual.”“The wrapper is different,” Paul noticed.“Maybe the district has changed distributors,” Sammy offered.We all stopped eating and stared at her.“Oh, come on,” she said. “You guys have to know that thedistrict has contracts with certain food distributors that provide uswith the food for our breakfasts and lunches.”No one moved, so she explained in her ‘speaking to a toddler’voice.“District person in charge of food has friends that she buys foodfrom. Sometimes district person meets a new friend that has betterSAMPLE

food or better prices. Maybe these new taconadas are from a newfriend!”We stayed frozen.“Come on, Marcus. You at least should have understood thatexplanation!” Sammy said, gesturing towards him.“I did,” he said. “I’m just trying to decide whether or not I’moffended at the style of explanation you decided to use.”“Oh, my goodness. Whatever!” she responded.“T.J., are you feeling okay?” Paul asked.“Huh?” I answered.“You’ve been staring off into space since before Sammy’s foodexplanation,” he commented.“I’ve just been thinking,” I said.“About what?” Marcus asked.“You know the art project that Mrs. Whiston gave us?” I askedSammy.“Yeah. What about it?” she asked.“I think you might be right about Leah,” I answered.“Time out. Flag on the play!” Justin called out, forming a ‘T’with his hands, followed by some strange hand movements. “Illegalchanging of topics without proper notice or transition sentence.”“Yeah,” Paul said. “What art project?”“Not that!” Justin responded.“Then what?” Marcus asked.SAMPLE

“I know about the art project. I’m in the same class, remember?”Justin pointed out. “I was wondering how in the world the art projectwe were working on has anything to do with what Sammy told usearlier about Leah?”“I will admit,” Sammy said. “You have definitely whetted myappetite.”“Time out. Flag on the play!” Justin repeated, hand signs andall. “Illegal use of unknown words, leading to pain in the brain.”“Well that doesn’t take much, does it?” Sammy whispered,under her breath.“What was that?” Justin asked.“Whetted my appetite? Piqued my curiosity?” Sammy tried, butseemed to be getting nowhere. “Gotten my interest? Grabbed myattention!”“Oh!” Justin exclaimed. “Well, why didn’t you just say that inthe first place!”Sammy just placed her hand over her face and shook her head indisbelief.“If it’s okay with you guys, I’m going to continue myexplanation,” I interrupted, sarcastically.“Oh, yeah,” Justin approved.“After recess, Sammy said that she thought Leah had worn thesame shirt two days in a row, right?” I started.“Right,” Sammy confirmed.SAMPLE

“Well, Mrs. Whiston paired us up for an art project, where wehad to draw our partner,” I continued. “And not just their face, buttheir whole body.”“And?” Erick asked.“And, Mrs. Whiston just happened to pair me up with Leo,” Isaid.“That’s Leah’s brother,” Paul pointed out.“Right,” I verified. “Well, as I was drawing Leo surfing–.”“Surfing?” Erick interrupted.“We were supposed to draw our partner wherever they wantedto spend winter break,” I clarified. “And while I was drawing hispants, well shorts, but that’s not important. What’s important, is thatwhile I was looking at his pants, I noticed a stain above his knee.”“And that’s important because?” Sammy asked, obviouslydissatisfied with the level of interest I was providing her.“Do you guys remember what happened at lunch yesterday?” Iasked.“You mean me going undefeated in handball?” Justin asked.“No. Not during lunch recess!” I answered. “I mean duringlunch.”“What happened during lunch?” Justin asked.“Remember when Noah spilled his teriyaki chicken on Leo?” Iasked.SAMPLE

“Oh, yeah!” Paul answered. “He made that huge fuss overtrying to clean Leo’s pants!”“Right!” I said, excitedly.“You’re going somewhere with this, right?” Sammy asked, stillnot satisfied.“Yes,” I answered. “The stain on Leo’s pants was Noah’steriyaki chicken mishap! Which means he had to have worn the samepants two days in a row!”“Just like Leah!” Sammy exclaimed, finally seeming satisfied.“I told you guys!”“Okay, okay. So, they wore the same clothes two days in a row,”Justin admitted. “What exactly does that mean?”“I don’t know,” Sammy and I said, in unison.“Actually, it could be three days in a row,” Marcus added to theconversation.“What?” Erick asked.“Today could be the third day in a row. Or even the fourth,” hecommented.“What do you mean?” Justin asked.“We don’t know what they wore over the weekend,” Marcussaid. “So, for all we know, today could be the third or fourth daythey’ve worn the same clothes.”“Whoa!”“That’s right!”SAMPLE

“I hadn’t thought of that.”“But what does it mean?”“I think it means that something’s wrong,” Sammy shared.“But what?” Justin asked.“I don’t know, exactly,” Sammy answered.“Maybe we should tell someone,” Marcus offered.“But what would we tell them?” I asked.“Everything we know,” Marcus answered.“And what do we know?” I asked.“That Leah and Leo have been wearing the same clothes for thepast two days. Maybe even the past four days!” Marcus said.“I agree with Marcus,” Paul commented.“But I don’t think that’s enough,” Sammy argued.“How is that not enough?” Justin asked. “You were the one whocame to us worried about Leah.”“I know I did,” Sammy agreed, “but I just don’t think we haveenough information to share yet.”“Of course, we do!” Erick chimed in.“I agree with Sammy,” I said.“How!” Erick asked.“If we try and tell someone, they’ll probably just tell us that it’smost likely nothing and not to worry about it,” I explained.“But they might take us seriously and help us figure out what’swrong!” Justin contended.SAMPLE

“Yeah!”“Not necessarily!”“How can you say that!”“Guys!”Everyone started talking over each other, which just led toyelling, which led to Mrs. Lender asking us to calm down before wewere put on clean up duty. After everyone calmed down, I suggestedthat we not tell anyone, yet. And before anyone could start arguingagain, I put my hand up, as if to say ‘wait, there’s more.’ Then I said,that if Leah and Leo wore the same clothes tomorrow, we woulddefinitely tell someone. Everyone agreed to wait. Some more easilythan others.For the rest of the day, I couldn’t fully concentrate on anything Iwas supposed to be working on. All that was on my mind, was tryingto figure out what wearing the same clothes two, three or even fourdays in a row could mean. It could mean something, but it could alsomean nothing. Ugh! My brain is starting to hurt!◆ ◆ ◆“Hey guys!” Justin whisper shouted, out of breath, as we waitedin line for school to start.“Have you been running?” Sammy asked.“That doesn’t matter,” he said, between breaths.“What does matter?” I asked.SAMPLE

“Leah and Leo are wearing different clothes today,” he shared.“Are you sure?” Erick asked.“No. I’m not sure. I just decided to run from the front of theschool and across the entire blacktop because I wanted to get myheartrate up!” Justin answered, sarcastically.“So, they’re not wearing the same clothes from yesterday?”Erick asked.“Nope,” Justin answered.“Well, what does that mean?” Paul asked.“I don’t know!” Justin answered.“I was asking Sammy!” Paul exclaimed.“Well, sorry,” Justin shouted back.The guys started talking over each other again, causingcomplete chaos. I know that as the leader of the T.J. League, I shouldprobably be mediating all of this, but I’m trying to figure out whatthis might mean. Again, it could mean something. Somethingimportant. Then again, it could mean nothing. But then again, Sammyisn’t wrong that often. But then again, she’s not perfect. Maybe she’sright. Maybe she’s wrong.SAMPLE

15 What To Do“If you took your artwork home to finish it, please make sure toput it in the Homework Bin so it can be graded,” Mrs. Whistoninstructed, as we put our backpacks on the backpack rack. “And makesure that your name is written on it somewhere.”I had taken mine home, so I made sure to drop it off on my wayin. I’m pretty pleased with the way it came out. It’s a piece of workthat I’ll probably add to my ‘Favorites’ portfolio. It’s kind of likeSAMPLE

folder you have on your computer or phone. A folder of pictures youlike more than the others. Well, I have a physical folder that I keep allmy favorite artwork in. And like I said, it’s a piece that I willprobably add to my portfolio. I haven’t decided yet. I really like it,but I’m also considering putting it in a frame and giving it to Leo forChristmas. You know, seeing as how I got his sister for my SecretSanta partner.Today’s daily prompt is asking us what our favorite part of theholiday season is. I know that most people will probably answer thatreceiving gifts is their favorite part, and normally, so would I, but myparents do Christmas a little bit differently in my house. What do Imean? Let me explain In my house, we are each allowed to get onegift from each other. My mom puts all our names in a hat and we eachdraw one. If we pull out our own name, we put it back and takeanother. Of course, mom makes us show her what name we’ve pulledout to make sure that we’re not lying because we wanted to getsomeone else. I’m not saying that I’ve done it before, but I am sayingthat if she didn’t check, I probably would have put Xochitl’s nameback last year.Of course, whatever presents we get from our family members,like aunts and uncles and stuff, she lets us accept. She says that shecan’t control what we get from Nána, or Tía Socorro and stuff, butshe doesn’t want Christmas to be all about receiving. She said thatshe prefers it to be about giving. And to make sure that it is, she hasSAMPLE

us choose three people to get a gift for. Preferably someone in need. Itcould be a friend, a teacher or someone else. But we can’t tell thepeople we choose that we’re going to buy something for them. It hasto be a surprise, that way they can’t try and get us something inreturn. Again, the whole focus is to give, not to receive.◆ ◆ ◆After this morning’s events, my mind was put at ease regardingLeah and Leo wearing the same clothes two days in a row. I know. Iknow. It could have been four. But maybe it was only two days.Maybe their mom just didn’t get a chance to do laundry. Maybe therewas a family emergency and they came home extra late, so they wokeup extra late and just decided to stay in the same clothes. Maybe…maybe… I don’t know! Maybe it was nothing after all!“So, are we just supposed to pretend that nothing happened?”Justin asked, as we set up the playground equipment.“They changed their clothes,” I said.“I know, but what if they hadn’t,” Erick asked.“But they did,” Sammy pointed out.“I just can’t help but think that something’s wrong,” Marcussaid.“Maybe their mom just didn’t get a chance to do the laundry,” Isuggested.“Then why didn’t their dad?” Justin asked.SAMPLE

“Their dad doesn’t live with them,” Sammy answered.“Oh. I didn’t know that,” Justin admitted, shamefully.“Why doesn’t their dad live with them?” Erick asked.“Not that it’s important to our conversation, but he died whenwe they were little,” Sammy shared.“Oh. Sorry,” Erick apologized, in the same shameful voice thatJustin had just used.“But that still doesn’t mean that something’s not wrong,” Paulpointed out.“Guys, we could argue about this all day,” I said, “but it’s notgoing to get us anywhere.”“I just can’t believe it,” Erick said.“Believe what?” Sammy asked.“I just can’t believe that it was you and T.J. that first made a bigthing about this, and now you two are the ones telling us to leave italone!” he answered.“Guys, we had a deal,” I reminded them.“Yeah,” Sammy backed me up. “If they had worn the sameclothes again today, we would have told someone.”“But they could have,” Justin argued.“But they didn’t,” I rebutted.“But still–,” Paul started.“But nothing,” Sammy said, in her ‘and that’s final!’ voice.SAMPLE

No one said anything after that. I know that I’ve mentionedplenty of times how smart Sammy is, but if I haven’t mentioned itlately, out of all of us, she’s also the toughest!No one mentioned Leah and Leo for the rest of the day. Theymay not have agreed with Sammy and me, but they were probably tooafraid to say anything. At least to one of us.“Great news!” dad exclaimed, as I met him at the door.“What?” I asked.“I shared your Operation Christmas Child flyer with my boss,and they said that they’re going to look into it!”“That’s awesome!” I shouted.“I know!” dad agreed, dropping his workbag to pick me up andspin me around.“And there’s more!” he added, as he stopped spinning.“What?” I asked.“You get to go to work with me tomorrow,” he answered.“Why?” I wondered.“My job is having a ‘take your child to work’ day,” heexplained.“Daddy!” Xochitl yelled with glee, from the top of the stairs.“Baby!” dad called back, putting me down so he could pick herup.Man! She’s always ruining things!SAMPLE

◆ ◆ ◆“Won’t he miss school?” mom asked, at dinner.“I already messaged Mrs. Whiston and sent an email to theschool,” dad answered.“And?” I asked. The only person that can shut down dad andMrs. Whiston, is mom.“Mrs. Whiston was excited and said that since it’s going to be aminimum day, that T.J. won’t be missing much. Seems Thursdays arewhen they go to the library and the computer lab,” dad explained.“But won’t T.J. miss out on his computer lab work?” momcontinued to question.“Mrs. Whiston said that he can do it on his tablet,” he answered.“I can!” I agreed. “Mrs. Whiston showed us how to downloadthe app and how to sign in and everything!”Mom didn’t ask dad any questions. But she also didn’t respondto what I had just said. Is she going to let me go or not!“So?” dad asked, looking at mom, then at me, then at momagain.Again, she sat, silently.“If T.J. gets to miss a day at school, then I get to miss a day,”Xochitl proclaimed.“It doesn’t work that way,” mom declared.Come on! You responded to Xochitl! Can you please respond todad now! Dad gave mom a ‘so?’ look with raised shoulders. OnceSAMPLE

again, she said nothing. Ugh! The suspense is killing me!“It’ll be your job to make sure he logs in and gets his workdone,” mom told dad.“No problem,” he responded, with a smile.“And you, are to be on your best behavior,” she instructed me.“Yes, ma’am,” I agreed.“Mom will do fine,” she corrected.“Yes, mom,” I responded.“Of course, ‘yes, my queen’, ‘yes, your majesty’, and ‘yes,kisser of boo boos’ will also suffice,” she said, with an air ofsupremacy, curtsey included.No one said anything for a moment, but we couldn’t containourselves. We all laughed so hard, dad started coughing, Xochitlalmost fell out of her chair and I almost peed my pants. Almost!◆ ◆ ◆“This is my office,” dad said, as he opened a door to a smallroom. And when I say ‘small’, I mean smaller than my bedroom. Allthat was inside of it was a computer on a computer desk, a file cabinetwith a printer on top and a board on the wall that was half cork boardhalf white board,.“What exactly do you do in here?” I asked.“Well, T.J.,” dad answered, “this is where I meet with peoplewho want to volunteer with our program.”SAMPLE

“And how do they do that?” I wondered.“Well, volunteers can help with food preparation anddistribution, janitorial services, they can help with receiving–,” dadstarted.“Receiving?” I asked.“Yeah. Like when we receive deliveries. Volunteers can help usunload the cargo and organize the shipments,” dad clarified.“Wow,” I whispered.“Believe it or not, there’s more,” dad said.“Like what?” I inquired.“For example,” dad said, “this past weekend, our washingmachine broke down. Instead of having to pay a company to comeout and fix it, which could have cost hundreds, one of our long-timevolunteers, who owns his own maintenance business, came inMonday and fixed it. For free!”“That’s so cool!” I exclaimed.“Right! And it was a good thing he did!” dad said.“Why?” I asked.“Because we have a wash schedule,” he answered.“What’s that?” I asked.“Well, it’s like this. The women and children who stay in thisshelter have certain needs that we try to meet. One of the mostimportant needs, besides providing a room and food, is the ability tohave clean clothes. And in order to make sure that everyone has equalSAMPLE

access to the washer and dryer, we created a schedule for everyone tofollow.”“Oh,” I said, a bit less confused.“And since our washer wasn’t working, some of our familiesdidn’t get the opportunity to wash their clothes,” dad continued.“When Mr. Frank fixed our machine, families were able to wash theirclothes again. Of course, we have amazing volunteers who stayedpast normal hours, so that families that couldn’t wash their clothesthis past weekend, would have clean clothes!”“Those people are awesome!” I commented.“I’m always boasting that we have the best volunteers!” dadsaid, raising his hand for a high five, which I happily obliged.I spent the rest of the day shadowing dad as he worked withvolunteers and staff to make sure that the women and children’sshelter was running smoothly. I helped where I could, like carryingsmaller, lighter boxes into the warehouse. Or helping sweep leavesthat had fallen from a tree. Or putting on gloves so that I could helpseparate and prepare the snack that kids would get to eat when theycame home from school. ‘Home’. That word definitely meantsomething a little different to the people living here than it probablydoes to me.I have to say that my level of respect for my dad grew greaterand greater as I saw how his job helped people. And not just anypeople. People in need. People who were missing things that ISAMPLE

sometimes take for granted. Things we all probably take for grantedat one time or another.I asked my dad if I could play with some of the kids on the playstructure they had, since I hadn’t taken a break all day. Well, exceptwhen we ate lunch. But I would normally have had recess at school,and since I’ve been helping dad all day, I haven’t had the chance toplay. Not that I’m complaining! It’s been a great experience!“Go ahead,” he answered. “If you need me, I’ll be in myoffice.”I ran to the play structure, where a little boy and his sister werebeing watched by their mother.“Is it okay if I play with you?” I asked them.They looked at their mom, who nodded her head in approval.“Thank you!” I exclaimed.We played tag, I spy with my little eye and even cloud watched.You know, when you say what a cloud looks like. Like ‘that cloudlooks like a bunny’ or ‘that cloud looks like a dragon’. That game.After a while, their mom said it was time to go inside. I gaveeach of them a high five and thanked them for letting me play withthem. As I walked back to dad’s office, a familiar voice made me stopin my tracks. And before I could turn around, it was followed byanother familiar voice.“I bet you that I can swing higher than you!” the first familiarvoice said.SAMPLE

“Not in a million years!” the second voice argued.“We’ll see!”I turned around to see something that I never thought I’d see. Imean, when dad invited me to go to work with him, it never evencrossed my mind that I would see people I knew living in his shelter.Well, not his shelter, but the shelter he works at. You know what Imean!I took off my glasses and wiped my eyes to make sure I wasn’tseeing things. Maybe I was just imagining it. After putting them backon, I realized that the people I was seeing, were real. It wasn’t mymind playing tricks on me. It was really them. Just a hundred feet orso in front of me, were Leah and Leo.I didn’t mean to stare, but I was in a state of shock! How could Inot know that they were living here? Wait! Why are they living here?I mean, what happened that made them have to live here? Didn’t theyhave any family they could stay with? And if not, they could staywith us! Leah could stay in Xochitl’s room and Leo could stay in myroom. I would even be willing to sleep on the floor!When I finally got a hold of myself, I ran to my dad’s office. Ihad to ask him. I wanted to know how I could help them. And notonly them, but everyone who’s staying here. There’s got to besomething I can do. But what? What to do? What to do?SAMPLE

16 Tell Us Already!“Hey, dad,” I called, as I got closer to his office.“T.J.!” he responded, getting up from his desk.“Do you know those kids over there?” I asked, pointing towardsthe play structure.Dad stepped out of his office to get a better look.“Oh, yeah! That’s Leah and Leo,” dad answered. “Why?”“Why are they living here?” I asked.SAMPLE

“The same reason everyone else is living here,” he answered.“Really? What’s that?” I asked.“Because they’re in need of some help,” he answered, notexactly helping.“No! I mean why are they living here,” I tried again.“Oh, you mean the exact reason?” dad asked.“Yeah!” I answered.“Sorry, T.J., but we’re not allowed to share that kind ofinformation,” he apologized. “We have to respect people’s right toprivacy, you know?”“Oh. Sure,” I responded, not exactly getting the response I washoping for.“Oh, wait a second. Do you know Leah and Leo?” dad askedme.“Yeah, they go to my school,” I answered.“Ohhh! Now I understand,” dad said, ushering me back into hisoffice and closing the door.He motioned for me to sit in the wooden chair in front of hisdesk and then took his computer chair from behind his desk andplaced it in front of me.“Is everything okay?” I asked.“Yes, and no,” dad answered, taking a deep breath. “Living in ashelter can be embarrassing for most people and we do everything wecan to keep that part of their lives private. We even have individualSAMPLE

addresses for each family here, so they don’t have to be embarrassedwhen they apply for a job or enroll their kids in school. And if it wereto get around school that Leah and Leo live in a shelter, it could doquite a bit of harm.”“Don’t worry dad, I won’t say anything,” I promised.“There’s a good boy,” dad commented, shuffling my hair.When I asked dad if there was anything that I could do to helpthem, someone knocked on the door, interrupting our conversation.“Come in,” dad responded.Unfortunately, that someone needed dad’s help, so we never gotto finish our conversation. I guess we can just talk more about it later.◆ ◆ ◆As much as I was looking forward to talking with dad on theway home, it never happened. An emergency came up and dad had tostay late. That meant that mom had to pick me up, and I wasn’t sure ifI should talk to her about it or not. I had told dad that I would keepLeah and Leo’s secret, so I decided not to mention it. Which wasprobably for the best, seeing as how Xochitl, the world’s biggestblabbermouth, is sitting just an arm’s reach away from me. If shefound out about Leah and Leo, the whole school would know about itbefore the first bell rang tomorrow morning!Of course, mom asked me how my day went, and I told her allabout how I was able to help dad and the other people who workedSAMPLE

and volunteered at the shelter. I also told her how I got the chance toplay with a brother and sister on the play structure. She asked mewhat my favorite part of the day was, and I told her being made anhonorary volunteer so that I could help prepare the food for the kids’after school snack. Just knowing that I was doing something thatwould bring them joy, made me feel good inside.When we got home, mom reminded me that I still had to do mycomputer lab work on my tablet. I was going to ask if I could do itlater, because I was tired, but I already knew what the answer wouldbe. Mom has a ‘homework comes first’ policy. She even has a mom-ism for it: do what you have to do now so you can do what you wantto do later. I can even hear her voice in my head as I say it to you!After finishing my homework, I walkied Marcus and told him tomeet me at the treehouse. Then I used my tablet to send out a T.J.League all call. Since we all have a tablet or cell phone, all I have todo is send a one-word text message to our group chat. And what wordis that? The same word I always use to call an emergency meeting:Leaguers!It took a little while for everyone to join the video chat, butwhen we were all finally on, I started our meeting.“I hereby call this emergency meeting to order,” I said.“What is it, T.J.?” Justin asked.“I need your guy’s help with something,” I answered.SAMPLE

“Does it have to do with why you were absent today?” Erickasked.“Yes,” I replied.“Oh, my goodness! Is everything okay?” Paul questioned.“Yes, and no,” I answered.“What’s wrong?” Marcus asked.“Let me explain what happened today, first,” I instructed.I told the guys how I got to go to work with my dad today, andsince most of the them don’t know what my dad does, I told them.Then I explained how I got to help out at the shelter and howawesome it was. I even suggested that we all volunteer once a month,as the T.J. League. Everyone agreed it was a good idea.“But what does that have to do with the emergency meeting?”Justin interrupted.“I guess I’ll just get straight to the point,” I answered.I know I told dad that I wouldn’t reveal Leah’s and Leo’s secret,so I have to be careful with the words I use. I took a deep breath tocalm my nerves, then explained why I had called them all here.“I can’t go too much into detail, but while I was there, I sawsome people from our school,” I said.“You mean they were also volunteering there?” Paul asked.“Not really,” I answered.“Not really? What does that mean?” Sammy asked. “They wereeither volunteering or they weren’t. There’s no in between.”SAMPLE

Leave it to Sammy to keep things straight.“You’re right,” I agreed.“So, what were they doing?” Erick asked.The next words that came out of my mouth were slow andchosen before I had even called this emergency meeting.“They’re living there,” I said.“They’re living at the shelter!” Marcus asked.“Yes,” I answered, my eyes closed.I know that I didn’t exactly break my promise to dad, but it surefeels like it! Once the words came out of my mouth, it felt likesomeone had taken my insides and twisted them, like they weretrying to wring out a wet washcloth.“Who is it!” Justin asked.“He’s not going to tell you!” Erick told him.“How do you know?” Justin asked.“He wouldn’t even tell you who his Secret Santa partner was,remember?” Erick answered.“Ugh! All these secrets! Why won’t he just tell us who it is?”Justin yelled, through the screen.“Justin! You better take it down a notch! You’re gonna run upmy light bill!” we heard his mother shout, from somewhere in hishouse.“Why can’t he just tell us who it is?” Justin whispered, angrily.SAMPLE

“I don’t think that question is appropriate,” Sammy answered,for me.And thank goodness she did, because I’m beginning to feel sosick to my stomach that I’m going to sit down and give Marcus mytablet.“Why not?” Justin asked.“If you were living in a shelter, would you want people to knowthat you were living there?” Sammy asked, in a ‘if you say anythingbut ‘no’ I’m going to jump through my screen and clobber you’voice.“Well, I guess not,” Justin answered.“Exactly!” Sammy exclaimed.“But wait,” Marcus said, “if you knew you couldn’t tell us, whydid you call this meeting?”“Yeah!”“Seriously!”“Come on!”“Tell us, already!”SAMPLE

17 Is This Enough?Marcus turned around and handed me the tablet. I was reallystarting to wish I hadn’t called this meeting at all. But then Iremembered why I did. It wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about the way Ifelt. It was about what I wanted to do. I wanted to help, not only Leahand Leo, but all the people staying in the shelter. And somehow, afterI remembered that, I got this sudden spike of energy. The kind thatpeople in the movies get when all seems lost. Or the kind thatSAMPLE

wrestlers get when you think they’re down for the count, but they’renot ready to give up. Or the kind mom gets when she isn’t feelingwell, but it’s almost dinner time, so she gets up and cooks us dinneranyway.“Okay guys,” I said, confidently, “it’s like this.”◆ ◆ ◆“Good morning, T.J. Good morning, Mr. Espinosa,” PrincipalMartinez greeted us, as we entered his office. “Please, take a seat. Imust admit, I’ve been looking forward to this meeting.”“Thank you for meeting with us,” dad said.“Any time,” Principal Martinez responded. “So, what’s this bigidea you have?”“What do you say, boss?” dad asked me.I took my notebook out from my backpack and placed it on thetable between us. After turning to the right page, I turned it around, soPrincipal Martinez could have a look.As he looked over my notes and sketches, I explained to him theday I had spent at my dad’s job. I explained how it takes a team ofstaff and dedicated volunteers, coming together, to make sure that allthe families staying there had everything they needed. Then I toldhim how even though our school was supporting the Angel TreeProgram and Operation Christmas Child, I thought we could still domore. Specifically, for shelters, like dad’s.SAMPLE

When Principal Martinez asked me what I had in mind, Iexplained what the T.J. League and I had come up with. We wanted tohost a food and clothing drive at the school. Principal Martinezreminded me that we just had a food drive for Thanksgiving, and thatit might be a bit much to ask families to do another one, but I wasn’tabout to give up. There was too much at stake.I told Principal Martinez that our food drive for Thanksgivingwas only a food drive. This would be a food and clothing drive.Specifically, sweaters, jackets, and winter coats. I told him how lotsof people would be getting new ones soon, and probably had some intheir closet that no longer fitted, or had some that they didn’t reallyuse anymore anyways. I told him that, with help from the T.J. League,and dad, of course, we would go to local grocery stores and ask forfood donations. That way the families wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.Dad said that he would also reach out to his volunteer familiesso that they could get the word out to make sure that the food andclothing drive would be a success. He told Principal Martinez that hehad already told his boss about it, and that she had approved hisshelter’s participation, especially since it meant that some of thedonations collected would be shared with the families at the shelter.He even told Principal Martinez something he hadn’t told mebefore. Dad told him that he had already prepared a flyer and sharedit with our whole family. Mom and dad’s side! Do you know howmany people that is? I told dad ‘thank you’ and gave him a huge hug.SAMPLE

“Well, it looks like all the necessary parts are already in place. Itseems like all you need me to do is approve a drop-off location,” hecommented, scratching his chin. “I would want to get our PTAinvolved, of course.”“Of course,” I responded.“And I’ll have to get the word out to my superiors,” PrincipalMartinez continued.“I understand,” dad agreed.“We might even be able to get the Recess RevitalizationFoundation involved,” he thought, out loud.“That would be great!” I commented.“So, is that a yes?” dad asked.“I have to make a few phone calls, first,” Principal Martinezsaid, “but I don’t see why not!”I gave dad another hug for helping me and thanked PrincipalMartinez more than I’ve ever thanked him for anything before. I can’tbelieve it. It’s going to happen. I have to tell the guys!After giving dad a hug and kiss goodbye, I ran to the blacktopso that I could tell everyone in the T.J. League that Principal Martinezwas going to let us have a food and clothing drive. Everyone was soexcited that we did our secret handshake as a sort of victory dance.Sammy, being the most organized out of all of us, had alreadycreated a flyer using a free app on her tablet. She showed it to us andsaid that she would share it with all of us and that she would alsoSAMPLE

email it to Principal Martinez. She also told us that we had to sharethe flyer with everyone. Even on social media. She said that shewould make sure that her dad would post it in his comic book store sothat customers could donate food and clothes, too!◆ ◆ ◆Starting the following Wednesday – we had to give the officetime to print flyers and send them home – our school startedcollecting food and clothes from families. I had told PrincipalMartinez that the T.J. League would lead the collection, so Sammycame up with a daily schedule to make sure that one of us was at thedrop off location, before and after school. She also created a schedulefor us to visit local grocery stores for food donations and every otherkind of store to post our flyers.For one whole week, we were so focused on this drive, that wedidn’t even play T.J. League. Not even once! Of course, we stillhonored our Future Funmaker duties, because we had committed tothat first. But during our lunch recess, we helped to organize the food,drinks and clothes. Lots of people donated really nice clothes,although we did receive some not so gently used clothing. Luckily,Principal Martinez told us that one of the high school track teamscollects used clothing as a fundraiser. He said that he would be happyto take the unused clothing to the high school track coach, so that itSAMPLE

could be used for another worthy cause. We all agreed that was agreat solution.◆ ◆ ◆“Can you believe that today is already the last day of the drive?”Justin asked.“I know! It went by so fast!” Erick commented.“We’ve collected twice as much food as the food drive fromThanksgiving,” Sammy pointed out.“At least twice as much,” Marcus argued.“And to think,” Paul added, “people could still bring more afterschool!”“Yeah!”“That’s right!”“Let’s go!”“Are you okay?”“What?” Justin asked.“Look at T.J.,” Erick said, “He’s the one who started all this,and he doesn’t even look excited.”“Yeah,” Paul agreed. “Is everything okay T.J.?”“Yeah. Of course!” I lied.Marcus gave me the ‘best friends don’t lie to each other’ look.He usually only did that when we were alone. This was the first timehe used it when other people were around.SAMPLE

“Come on, T.J.,” Sammy urged. “You can tell us anything.We’re your friends.”“Yeah, T.J.,” Paul joined in. “You can trust us.”“And no matter what, we’re still friends” Marcus encouraged,putting his hand on my shoulder.“Don’t be mad at me,” I began , “but I was starting to wondersomething.”“Wonder what?” Justin asked.“I mean, we have collected a lot of food and clothes,” I lauded,“but do you think the drive was too short?”“What do you mean?” Sammy asked.“I mean, maybe we should have run it until Friday,” I explained.“Or, maybe even next Wednesday! One week is just starting to feelkind of short.”“Oh!” Marcus said. “I understand what you’re getting at.”“You do?” I asked.“Yeah, T.J.,” Paul agreed, “we understand.”“So, do you guys think we should have run it longer?” I asked.“I think one week was just fine,” Sammy answered, shockingeveryone.“How could you say that!” Justin asked.“Just hear me out,” Sammy ordered. “People are alwaysbringing in late donations. So even though the drive officially endsSAMPLE

today, people will still be bringing in donations tomorrow andFriday.”“They will?” I asked.“I’m positive,” Sammy answered, confidently. “Not only that,but we still have to take down all the flyers that we put up at thestores, remember.”“What’s that have to do with anything?” Erick asked.“Wow! You guys really do have short memories, don’t you?”Sammy asked. “I’ll have to show you an app that can help with that.”“Get to the point!” Justin commanded.“Oh, my goodness!” Sammy sighed, throwing her hands up infrustration. “Guys! Did you really forget that we left boxes at thestores that let us put up our flyers?”“So that they could collect donations for us!” Marcusremembered.“Thank you, Marcus,” Sammy praised. “At least one of youremembered!”“Well, I couldn’t go to the stores, remember?” Justin remindedher, with much attitude.“But we talked about it when we went over the schedule Icreated, remember?” Sammy shot back.“No,” was Justin’s shy answer.“Well, we did,” Sammy said. “Leave boxes at the stores that is.”SAMPLE

“So, when we collect them, we’ll have even more!” Paulexclaimed.“You got it!” Sammy said.“T.J.” Marcus said. “Why don’t you look happy, yet?”“I was just wondering something else,” I answered.“Wondering what?” Justin asked.“I’m glad that we could help the shelters this month and all—” Ipaused.“But?” Erick asked.“But what about next month?” I asked. “And the month afterthat? And the month after that? And the month after that? I mean, isthis really enough?”SAMPLE

18 IT’S OUR PLEASURE “T.J, you do realize that without you, your dad’s shelterwouldn’t be getting any of the donations we’ve received,” Marcussaid.“Marcus is right,” Justin agreed.“I couldn’t have done it without all of you guys,” I pointed out.“No, T.J.,” Sammy corrected. “We couldn’t have done it withoutour fearless leader.”“She’s right, you know,” Erick said.SAMPLE

“You were the one who saw a need and wanted to fill it,”Marcus said.“You were the one who called the emergency meeting,” Sammycontinued.“If it weren’t for you, T.J., this past week and half of our liveswould have been totally different,” Paul added.“You were the one who inspired us to do more,” Justin finished.“How about we finish this food and clothing drive off strong?Then, if you want, we can meet during winter break and see what elsewe can do?” Marcus suggested. “Does that sound good, T.J.?”“Yeah, Marcus. That sounds good,” I answered, beginning tofeel a little bit better.◆ ◆ ◆We used another one of Sammy’s schedules to work togetherand collect donations from all of the stores where we had put up ourflyers. It felt so good, leaving each store with more food and clothesfor the shelters. It was a good thing that Sammy had us split up,because there is no way it would all have fit in dad’s trunk. By thetime we got to the last store, we had so many donations that we had toput the box from the last store in the front seat!All of the food donations were organized into four equalportions, with the help of PTA volunteers, the Student Council,volunteers from the Recess Revitalization Foundation, and the T.J.SAMPLE

League, of course. The clothes had been organized by sizes,depending on the need for each shelter. And all the clothes that wehad decided wouldn’t be right to share, were separated for PrincipalMartinez to donate to the high school track team’s fundraiser.Thankfully, dad’s shelter let him borrow one of their box trucksto collect all of the donations from our school. And since some of thedonations would be going to his shelter, his boss even let him delivereverything during his normal work hours. And with less effort thanbefore, mom agreed to let me miss another day of school to help dadwith the deliveries.“You’ve earned it, mi amor,” mom said, with teary eyes and akiss goodbye.I climbed into the truck, with dad’s help. Hey! That truck is big!Plus, the door was too heavy for me open. Have you really forgottenhow small I am compared to my peers?It’s weird. Just a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t wait to ask dadwhat we could do to help the people at his shelter, and now I’m sonervous that I can’t even speak.“I’m very proud of you, T.J.,” dad said, breaking the silence.“What?” I asked.“I’m very proud of you,” he repeated.“Why?” I asked.“Why? For all of this!” he said. “You wanted to help people anddid everything you could to make it happen!”SAMPLE

“But it’s not really that much,” I said.“Wow! You don’t really know how much you’ve done, do you?Maybe after all these deliveries, you’ll have a better idea,” hecommented, shuffling my hair.Over the next few hours, dad and I visited three shelters. Ateach shelter, staff, volunteers and families were waiting for ourarrival. I don’t think I’ve heard so many ‘thank you’s in my entirelife. Of course, we couldn’t just drop off the donations and go. Eachshelter had prepared some sort of celebration for us.The first shelter we visited had important people, dressed infancy clothes, waiting for us. We were introduced to each one andasked to take a picture with them. They told me things, like howsetting a positive example for young people was such an importantthing, or how they wished more young people would be as ambitiousas I was. Things like that.The second shelter had a cookie and punch reception waiting forus. I didn’t even get to help take down any of the donations from thetruck. We were immediately whisked away to a room where families,staff and volunteers were waiting for us. They had decorated the roomin our honor and even presented us with a special certificate ofthanks, in a fancy, expensive looking frame.The third shelter had organized a press conference, with localreporters and everything. We had to wait to take the donations downbecause they wanted to take pictures and get video of us handing theSAMPLE

boxes to staff and families staying at the shelter. The ones who didn’tmind of course. Then, one by one, they all interviewed us. Dad keptredirecting his questions to me, calling me the mastermind behind theproject. There were a few questions he couldn’t dodge of course. Like‘how does it feel to have a son that believes giving back isimportant?’ or ‘would you say that this is your proudest moment as afather?’. You know, questions like that.When we finally got to dad’s shelter, I felt like I had run amarathon. As we got closer, dad told me not to expect anything likethe last shelter. He said that most of the families at his shelter wereeither in school or at work. I was okay with that. The attention Ireceived at the last shelter was enough for a lifetime.When we pulled up to the receiving dock, there were a pair ofpeople I wasn’t expecting to see. I thought that they would be atschool. Wait a second! Why aren’t they at school?“Hey, T.J.,” Leo said, shyly.“Hey,” I answered, just as shyly. “What are you doing here?”“It’s okay, T.J.,” Leah assured me, “your dad told us.”“Told you what?” I feigned ignorance.“He told us that he brought you to work a couple of weeks ago,”she continued.“And that you saw us playing on the play structure,” Leocontinued.“And we’re okay with it,” Leah finished.SAMPLE

“You are?” I asked.“Yeah,” Leo answered. “We were kind of freaked out at first–.”“But every day that went on, we worried less and less,” Leahexplained.“And after a whole week went by,” Leo went on.“We realized that our secret was safe with you,” Leah shared.It was starting to weird me out. Leah and Leo kept beginningand finishing each other’s sentences. Just like twins on television andin the movies do.“But how did you know I would be here today?” I asked.“We didn’t at first,” Leah answered.“I don’t get it,” I admitted.“Our mom told us that we had to make a thank you card forsome donations that we were going to get,” Leo told me.“And when we asked her who to address them to, she told usthat they were coming from our school,” Leah explained.“And it didn’t take long to realize that the donations would becoming from the food and clothing drive that the T.J. League wasleading,” Leo said.“Still doesn’t explain how you knew I was going to be heretoday,” I said, crossing my arms.“When we found out that the delivery would be today–,” Leahstarted.“Wait, how did you find that out?” I asked.SAMPLE

“It wasn’t that hard,” Leo stated. “Mom reminded us that wehad to turn in our thank you cards by yesterday.”“Because the donations would be delivered today,” Leah said.“Still not understanding,” I said in a ‘get to the point’ kind ofvoice.“We just asked your dad,” Leo said, pointing at my dad, whohad been standing behind me this whole time.“But why aren’t you in school?” I asked.“We figured that this was the only way we would be able tothank you in person without having anyone asking questions,” Leahanswered.“Yeah,” Leo agreed, “and not just for the donations.”“I am confusion,” I admitted.“For keeping our secret,” Leo explained.“It’s hard enough telling people that we can’t have friends over,or that our birthday party will be at the park,” Leah shared.“Or telling people that they can hand deliver an invitationbecause we don’t want to give people our address, or that we’redelivering gifts to needy children if people catch us coming out of theAngel Tree Program office building,” Leo finished.“Wow. I never thought about any of that,” I confessed. “Guessthere’s a lot of things that I take for granted. Really makes me feellike I should have done more.”“Don’t! You just helped four shelters!” Leah commented.SAMPLE

“Seriously! We should be thanking you with a parade!” Leosaid, marching around me while imitating a drum major.“But I–,” I started, but was interrupted by dad’s ‘you’re doing itwrong’ cough.After the first shelter we visited, dad had a little talk with me inthe truck. When people kept thanking me, I had kept telling them‘don’t thank me’ or that ‘it was nothing’. Apparently, those were thewrong answers.“I kind of noticed something back there,” dad had said.“What?” I asked.“You didn’t say ‘thank you’ once,” he said.“I didn’t?” I asked.“Nope,” he answered.“Sorry,” I apologized.“I know it can feel awkward when lots of people are thankingyou,” dad admitted.“You can say that again!” I replied.“I know it can feel awkward when lots of people are thankingyou,” dad repeated, followed by a chuckle and a hand on myshoulder.I probably should have seen that coming.I told dad that it just didn’t feel right saying thank you. It feltlike I was taking credit for everyone else’s hard work. Dad said heunderstood what I was saying and told me that there was a better waySAMPLE

to respond to people’s praise. And I think that the fake cough he justused was his way of reminding me.“Are you okay, Mr. Espinosa?” Leah and Leo asked, in unison.“Yes. Just had a tickle in my throat,” dad answered. “T.J., wereyou about to reply to Leo and Leah’s praise?”“It’s our pleasure,” I responded, putting my arm around dad’swaist.SAMPLE

19 Operation Superhero SupportAfter we finished unloading the donations, Leah and Leopresented me with a box of ‘Thank You!’ cards from everyone in theshelter. Then Leo and Leah invited me to their room for something alittle extra. Actually, it looked more like an apartment. If you didn’tknow any better, that’s probably what you would think it is. Now thatI think about it, it probably used to be an apartment complex that gotturned into a shelter.SAMPLE

When we got inside, they presented me with a manila envelopefilled with thank you cards that they had made for each member ofthe T.J. League. I thanked them, on behalf of the T.J. League, andgave them each a hug. For some reason, it was much easier to receivecompliments from friends than it was from complete strangers. I thenwent to my dad’s office so that I could add it to the box of thank younotes, with Leah and Leo close behind me.“Ready to go home?” dad asked me.“Awww. Already?” I asked.“Actually,” Leo said.“Yes, Leo?” dad asked.“We were wondering if T.J. could play with us on theplayground,” Leah answered.“Please!” they pleaded together.“It is minimum day,” I reminded him, standing next to Leo andLeah, making the same puppy dog face they were making.He squinted his eyes, as if thinking, before answering with a bigsmile.“Sure.”Leah, Leo and I ran as fast as we could to the playground.“I bet you that I can swing higher than you!” Leah challenged.“Not in a million years!” Leo accepted.“We’ll see!” I chimed in.◆ ◆ ◆SAMPLE

When we got to school the next day, I called another emergencymeeting, except this time, Leah and Leo were with me. After sometime playing with Leah an Leo on the playground, I had realized thatif I delivered their thank you notes to the T.J. League, someone wouldfigure out that they lived at a shelter. Someone named Sammy. Yeah.It would most definitely be Sammy. When I told Leah and Leo, theylooked at each other and told me they hadn’t considered that. I toldthem that I could just give the cards back, but then they surprised me.They told me they were tired of being ashamed, and that telling theguys in the T.J. League could be a start to getting over it. I told themthat if they wanted to keep it a secret, that the guys were great atkeeping secrets. If you don’t believe me, go back and read myadventure against The Nighttime Nemesis. No one in school haslearned about my nighttime issues or about Erick’s non-hip-hop danceskills. Or any of the other stuff we shared with each other for thatmatter.“What are Leah and Leo doing at our emergency meeting?”Justin asked.“Actually, they’re the reason I called this meeting,” I explained.“What?”“I’m confused.”“I don’t get it.”“Would you mind elaborating?”SAMPLE

“Take it away guys,” I said, pretending to hand them amicrophone.“We wanted to give you guys these,” Leah said, taking theirthank you cards from the manila envelope and handing them out.“What are these?” Paul asked.“Thank you, cards,” Leo answered.“For what?” Erick asked.“For helping T.J. with the donation drive,” Leah answered.“But what does that have to do with you?” Marcus asked.“Wait! Are they the people you wanted to help?” Sammy asked.See! I told you Sammy would be the one to figure it out!“Yes, Sammy,” I answered, giving Leah and Leo an ‘I’m sorry’look.“It’s okay, T.J.,” Leah said. “You kept our secret and we didn’teven ask you to.”“Yeah. And because of him, we’re ready to tell you guys,” Leoagreed, motioning to the rest of the T.J. League.“T.J. told us that you guys are experts at keeping secrets,” Leahcommented.“Well, most of us,” Paul said.“Hey! I don’t tell other people what you tell me!” Justindefended. “I only tell you guys what other people tell me!”Everyone crossed their arms and gave Justin an ‘are youserious?’ look.SAMPLE

◆ ◆ ◆“Our next community member is Tomas Espinosa,” the ViceMayor announced. “You have three minutes, speaker”“Thank you,” I responded. “Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor,members of the council, distinguished guests. This past December,while attending my dad’s job’s Take Your Child to Work Day, Ilearned a very valuable lesson. You see, my dad works at a women’sand children’s shelter, where he’s the Volunteer Coordinator. As Ishadowed my dad throughout the day, I had the opportunity to workalongside dedicated staff and volunteers, to help enhance the lives ofthe families staying at the shelter. I even got the chance to play withtwo young siblings on the play structure. But that’s not why I’m here.“I’m here because of something that happened as I left the playarea. Just as I was about to reach my dad’s office, I heard two familiarvoices behind me. They were the voices of my classmates. A twinbrother and sister. Luckily, they didn’t see me, or they might havebeen embarrassed. When I asked my dad why they were stayingthere, he explained how important it is to provide privacy for familiesin shelters. I understood, but got a strange feeling in my stomach. Afeeling that urged me to do something to help my friends and thepeople at my dad’s shelter.“After consulting with the T.J. League, that’s the name of thesuperhero group my friends and I created, we came up with an idea tohave our school host a food and clothing drive to support my dad’sSAMPLE

shelter. With the help of my dad, my principal, our PTA, studentcouncil, Recess Revitalization Foundation, and dedicated communitymembers, we were able to collect enough donations to support fourdifferent shelters.”“Congratulations,” the Mayor complimented.“Thank you, ma’am,” I responded. “But even after I helped mydad deliver all of the donations, that feeling in my stomach was stillthere, as if telling me that there was still more work to be done. Andthat’s what has brought me here tonight. After speaking with myprincipal and the Board of Education of my school district, I standbefore you now with a request. With the support of our schooldistrict, the T.J. League–,” I motioned for the guys to join me at thepodium, “the T.J. League knows, that with the added support of thisillustrious City Council, we could reach a greater audience to supportour local shelters.”“What exactly do you young people have in mind?” the ViceMayor asked.“Instead of only remembering to give during the winterholidays, we would like to set up monthly food and clothingdonations from our school sites, as well as from local businesses, tosupport our local shelters, because once a year is not enough,” Istated, firmly.“Here, here!” one of the council members exclaimed.“And how do you envision we do this?” the Mayor asked.SAMPLE

“Well, during our school donation drive, we visited all of orlocal grocery stores and businesses and asked if we could put up aflyer in their stores. We also asked if we could leave a donation boxfor people to put their donations in. The grocery stores said it wouldbe easier for the store to make a gift card donation, that we could useto purchase food items, which we were okay with. Other businesses,like barber shops, flower shops and even secondhand stores, let us setup a donation box with our flyer taped to it.“We would like to provide more permanent boxes, with a logoand pick up date printed on them. Say, the third Friday of each month.That way people could make continuous donations that could bepicked up by my friends and me. And we would add those donationsto whatever our school sites are able to collect, of course.”“Of course,” a council member commented.“That’s three minutes,” the timekeeper announced.“Let’s let him finish,” the mayor ordered.“Thank you, ma’am,” I reacted.“And how will you keep all of this organized?” she asked.“Well, our PTA has contacted the other PTA’s in our district, andthey have all agreed to take turns organizing the donations. And mydad’s boss has agreed to let him use their truck to make thedeliveries,” I explained.“It seems that you and your friends have put quite a bit ofthought and organization into this,” the Vice Mayor pointed out.SAMPLE

“Yes, sir,” I replied, putting my hand on Sammy’s shoulder.If I haven’t mentioned this before, let me say it now and say itproud: I’m so glad Sammy is on my team.“So, if we are able to come alongside your team,” the Mayorstarted, “have you thought of a name to call this operation of yours?”“We have ma’am,” I answered. “We would like to call it‘Operation Superhero Support’. Because not all superheroes wearcapes.”“That sounds like a great name!” one of the council memberscommented.◆ ◆ ◆“I’m here with the T.J. League at what should be the first ofmany donations,” a reporter from channel seven spoke into thecamera. “Over the past month, Erick, Justin, Marcus, Paul, Sammyand T.J. have led the effort to collect food and clothing donations tobe shared with local shelters. Erick, could you tell us what inspiredyou and your friends to start Operation Superhero Support?”“It happened after we did a food and clothing drive for a shelterour friends are staying at,” Erick answered. “T.J. gathered us togetherand insisted that there must be more we could do.”“What about you, Justin? What part did you play in thismagnificent operation?” the interview continued.SAMPLE

“I was part of the team that went store to store and business tobusiness to ask if we could leave our donation box at their site,”Justin explained. “It may not seem like much, but it took an entireweek to do!”“That’s great! Marcus, you must have had a hand in this greatidea,” the channel seven news reporter commented.“It was a team effort, actually,” Marcus admitted. “T.J. and Ispent a lot of time together sharing ideas to make sure that thisoperation was a success. But helping T.J. come up with the name forour idea was probably the most fun part!”“I can only imagine,” the reporter commented. “What about youPaul? How did you help put all of this together?”“Well, I didn’t really know how I would be able to help at first.Then the guys reminded me that I like to draw and that we needed alogo. So, with their help, I created logo ideas for the boxes, flyers andwebsite we created,” Paul shared.“Now, that’s what I call using your talents to help others.Sammy, as the only girl in the League, I’m sure that your contributionwould make other young girls proud. Could you share with us whatthat was?” the interview continued.“Of course! I really enjoy organizing things, so I helped createall the schedules we would need,” Sammy explained. “One forvisiting stores and organizations to pass out boxes. One for collectingdonations. One for rotating PTA volunteers. One for making sure weSAMPLE

had time to complete our homework assignments and projects. And ofcourse, one for rotating shelter donations to ensure equity.”“Girls, let that be an inspiration! And now we have T.J. Theleader of the T.J. League. What you and your friends have done togive back to the community has inspired so many people. Is thereanything you would like to add to what your friends have alreadysaid?”I looked at the guys with my ‘are you thinking what I’mthinking?’ face. They all gave me a ‘let’s do this’ face in response. Iput my right hand in front of me, followed by Erick, Justin, MarcusPaul and Sammy.“We protect and serve all living things!”“The T.J. League reigns supreme!”SAMPLE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR"Mr. Angel" Ramirez"Mr. Angel" has been writing stories since hiselementary school days, and after MUCHencouragement from students, friends, andfamily, has decided to publish some of them forothers to enjoy. When he isn't writing, he can befound leading the Blueprint Youth Ministry atCalvary Chapel Into The Light, spending timewith his niece and nephews, or enjoying hisfavorite food: cookies!SAMPLE

BOOKS BY THIS AUTHORT.J.'S Adventures - Operation Full ControlThe T.J. League 'protects and serves all living things' and does it nearlyevery recess. That is until he came to the school. Now things have changedand no one is having fun. Well, except for Erick. Something must be done.Can the T.J. League get things back to the way they were? Join us and findout! Parental Guidance: Visits Topic of Strained FrienshipsT.J.'S Adventures - The Vociferous VillainThe T.J. League is enjoying being Future Funmakers and have successfullyaccomplished every mission that T.J.'s mind has been able to come up with,but their newest mission is from a new source: Principal Martinez. At first,the mission seems like it will be the easiest the League has ever accepted,but 'what kind of mission would it be if it didn't have a certain level ofdifficulty?' Parental Guidance: Visits Topic of Physical AbuseT.J.'S Adventures - The Nighttime NemesisT.J.'s scary bedtime story has been read by the entire fifth grade and theoutcome is probably not what Mr. Anderson or Mrs. Whiston were thinkingof when they assigned this free write. Bad dreams. Angry parents. Stuff likethat. And now something new has come to light. What ever will T.J. doSAMPLE

now? Parental Guidance: Visits Topic of Bed WettingT.J.'S Adventures - Objective: Protect & ServeIt's been raining for days now, making recess a bit different for the T.J.League, Funmaker John and the rest of the students at T.J.'s school. Andguess what? Today starts off just the same. But now the electricity is out,the Internet is down and the T.J. League is stuck in the MPR with all thefirst graders. There's no way things can't get any worse. Parental Guidance: Visits Topic of a School LockdownSAMPLE