Graceful Read online

  Also, he has to get used to how my mom runs things and our routine and everything, and I think it’s hard because he feels like he should be back at work, but my mom wants him to rest more. I don’t want him to go to work yet, either. In fact, I should go check on him. Okay, I’m back. He’s all good. I told him I’d put air in our bike tires, and he said I didn’t have to, but I’m hoping if there is air in the tires he will agree to ride.

  Q: If you have any questions for us, or about this process, please ask below.

  A: Why is the sky blue? Just kidding. Although actually not kidding, I really don’t know.

  End of new patient questionnaire. Thank you for your time.

  You’re welcome, I guess. I’m not really sure why my mother thinks I need to do this, but I’m not in the mood to complain about anything right now, so I’m just going with the flow, dude. That’s something my friend Connor would say.

  CONNOR KELLY’S INVENTOR’S JOURNAL

  Type of product: Hands-Free Umbrella

  Inventor: Roger St. Claire, Connor Kelly (assistant)

  Description of invention-in-progress: Hands-free umbrella to protect the user from rain, snow, or sunlight.

  What problem does it solve: Allows the user to carry items in both hands while still being protected by an umbrella, or to carry items in one hand — a phone, a camera, groceries — and hold a child’s hand with the other.

  Who will want or need this product: Everyone who likes to keep dry without the burden of holding an umbrella with his or her hand!

  Materials: acrylic coating, microfiber, rayon, Lycra, nylon, Scotchgard finish, steel, aluminum, wood, plastic, wire, metal hinges, metal springs, adjustable denim straps, rare earth magnets

  Steps: Experiment with positioning the tops of umbrellas by clipping onto hat, resting on shoulders, attaching to backpack or headband. Underarm straps? Magnetized to jacket?

  Results: After much trial and error (mostly consisting of Connor Kelly trying on various prototypes and then having a garden hose aimed at his head while he juggled tennis balls), the best solution was deemed to be a flexible coil that attaches to the bottom of a regular umbrella stem and is then wound around the wearer’s shoulder and tucked under his or her arm to hold into place, as shown below:

  Final observations: For this inventor’s assistant, getting to be a part of inventing the Hands-Free Umbrella Snake was an amazing experience. I got to see how an invention is first dreamed up by an existing need, and then how many options are considered and attempted before the best solution is found. And the best is often the simplest.

  I’ve been back at school exactly three days, and I have been sent to the principal’s office FOUR TIMES! And none of it was my fault! I underestimated how quickly word of me being in the hospital over the summer had spread. Even though they don’t know what really happened, everybody at school knows I was sick, even the teachers! Kids in Willow Falls almost never go to the hospital (thanks to Angelina’s magic), so whenever I walk down the hall (or sit in class or eat lunch or change for gym), kids point at me like I’m a circus freak. I’m causing a distraction just by existing, at least that was the reason for my first two trips.

  Then on Wednesday afternoon, I was accused of cheating because I finished the math assignment in only two minutes when it should have taken twenty. It really did feel like twenty minutes to me, and when I argued this, the teacher showed me the clock. I wish Angelina had warned me about this wonky time stuff. Last night I almost flooded the house when I turned on the bath water and then, in what seemed like only seconds later, the tub was overflowing.

  My final trip to see the principal (who I’m now getting to know very well) was actually MOM’S fault! We’re only allowed to have phones at school if they’re turned off, but Mom turned mine on this morning without telling me because she didn’t like that she couldn’t reach me from nine till three each day. So of course it rings during the Pledge of Allegiance, which is (according to my teacher) not only rude but also unpatriotic.

  Principal Rees decided it was time for a little chat with my parents, so now I’m sitting in the hall outside his office waiting for Mom to arrive. I look up from doodling in my social studies notebook to see that an older boy has joined me in the hallway. He leans against the opposite wall outside the nurse’s office. His arm is all bandaged up. “Yo,” he says.

  “Yo,” I reply. “Skateboard accident?”

  He shakes his head. “My bunny tried to kill me. Again.”

  I’ve practiced lifting one eyebrow for just this type of occasion. I lift it. “Really? A killer bunny? You don’t hear that very often.”

  He shrugs.

  A series of pictures suddenly flashes across my mind, like watching a movie on super-fast-forward. The mall. A cage. A bunny with orange ears. Rory! A magician. The ceramic bunny Leo made Connor when I was sick. “Kyle!” I blurt out.

  The kid looks up from examining his arm, surprised. “How do you know his name?”

  I smile. “He has a long history of unstable behavior. You may want to lock him in another room when you go to sleep.”

  “Tried that,” the boy says.

  “Grace!” Mom rushes down the hall toward us, out of breath and pale. “Is everything all right?”

  Mom gives the boy a quick glance as he ducks into the nurse’s office.

  “Bunny attack,” I explain.

  “Why are you here?” she asks. My old mom — the one who I had before the vortex turned our lives upside down, the one who I could laugh with and tell anything to, who I could shop with and dance to pop music with — would have at least smiled at the idea of an evil bunny. But the new post-vortex version of my mother doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor anymore.

  I close my notebook and get to my feet. I don’t want to worry her. “It’s no big deal,” I tell her. “Just taking a little longer to adjust to school.”

  She wrings her hands. “You promised you were going to be a normal girl as much as possible, at least while you could.”

  “I know. It’s not always up to me.”

  She frowns. “I’m sorry about calling your phone this morning. This was supposed to be my first day back at work, but then, I don’t know, I couldn’t go.” Her eyes get glossy and she looks down.

  The principal’s door opens and he ushers us inside. I swallow the lump in my throat. Mom loves her part-time job at the local newspaper, and I had hoped returning to work would help her get back to her old self.

  I only half listen as the principal tells my mother that they’re all very pleased I am fully recovered from whatever led to my hospital stay, and that they will help me to adjust any way they can. Guess I’m not in trouble. Mom looks relieved, but the dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep are still as dark. I have accepted my destiny and the responsibilities that will one day go along with it. But for my parents, there’s just too much worry.

  Her voice cracks as she thanks the principal, and something cracks within me. My heart starts beating faster, and I feel that little spark inside me grow warmer. I take a deep breath, and it grows warmer still. That’s interesting. I take another, deeper breath, and now I can feel the energy inside me build. I glance at the little silver clock on the edge of the principal’s desk just in time to see the second hand jerk to a stop.

  I blink and look again. It hasn’t budged. Then I look around me. Mom and Principal Rees look like they’re in a movie that just froze on the screen, the characters stuck in midsentence.

  I jump up from my chair and run out into the hall. The hallway is completely empty except for a girl kneeling on the floor, stopped in the middle of yanking a sweatshirt out of her locker. I watch to see if she’s going to stand. She doesn’t. I stand still for a few minutes, not sure what to do. Then the echo of footsteps pounding the floor reaches me from both directions. One after the other, the members of Team Grace round the corners of the hallways and I breathe a sigh of relief that I’m not in this alone. Leo reaches me first. “Where i