Moving to Naomi Avenue - Frank Murphy (ereader iphone txt) 📗

Leon was still jumping up and down until that moment. Then he stopped. His shoulders sank. He didn’t say a word to the gym teacher. He handed the gold medal back.
The gym teacher walked over to Frank. Frank wasn’t looking at his silver medal anymore. He was looking at Leon walking away. Leon looked so sad walking home. The gym teacher handed Frank the gold medal. Frank didn’t even really pay attention. He sort of automatically handed him the silver medal after taking the gold medal. Leon kept walking home. Frank stopped looking at Leon. He looked down at his new gold medal. Then he watched the gym teacher hand his silver medal to Wilma. He looked back to where Leon was walking, but Leon was out of sight. He was gone.

At the end of the day everyone was dismissed at the same time. Frank met Kathleen.
“Did you win the silver?” Kathleen asked.
“Yes. No. I won this,” Frank showed her the gold medal.
“Nice!” she said. “You decided to win after all?”
“Not really,” Frank said.
Frank told Kathleen the whole story while walking home. She just listened the whole time. She only interrupted once. She said, “I didn’t know Leon went to school at home. That’s sorta cool.”
After Frank was done Kathleen felt sorry for Frank. Frank felt sorry for himself too. He had worked so long and so hard to win that silver medal. But Frank had another feeling too. One of the reasons he wanted a silver medal was to let someone else win. That way he wouldn’t feel so bad for beating everyone. The way things worked out, even the kid who won ended up losing. And it was Leon! Frank felt so sorry for Leon too. But he couldn’t go back and change it.
Frank went to bed that night of Field Day much earlier than usual. He was tired. He was still a little sad for himself too. But he was wondering how Leon felt more than anything else. Frank thought about how extremely happy Leon looked when he won. He thought that it must’ve been the greatest moment of Leon’s life. He thought about how quickly all that changed when Leon had to give his gold medal back. Then Frank thought that there must be a lot more about Leon than just him studying and eating bugs. He looked over at his nightstand at the gold medal. Frank knew Leon was so sad. And he got an idea. The idea helped him to relax. Then he fell asleep. No dreams. No nightmares. Just deep sleep.

Chapter 11
The Last Week of School

The last week of school for Frank and Kathleen was filled with a mix of tests and games and fun. But no matter how much fun there was Frank and Kathleen were itching to get out. They loved summer. And they were nervous and excited about moving to their new house on Naomi Avenue.
Frank and Kathleen walked to school on Monday morning. It was June 12th. They hadn’t seen Leon in his yard all weekend. And they didn’t see him in the morning walking out to Lemon Avenue. Frank thought that Leon must still be sad.
“Wonder what it’s like to have your mom be your teacher,” Kathleen said to Frank.
“I know. And to have your house be your school,” Frank said.
“Weird. Weird like Leon,” Kathleen said.
“I don’t want you to say he’s weird anymore. It makes me feel bad and worse. Worse about what happened,” Frank said.
Kathleen paused. She looked at Frank. He was walking with his head down.
Frank was a little nervous to have said what he just said to Kathleen.
“Okay. I won’t anymore,” she said. “But that new kid. The Choo kid. Can I call him weird?” she asked.
“I think so,” Frank said, giggling.
Monday, June 12th at school went by fast. No sight of Leon that evening.
Tuesday, June 13th at school went by fast. No sight of Leon in the morning or the evening.
Wednesday, June 14th. School went by fast up until the last ten minutes. It was Flag Day. During school Frank learned that a President named Woodrow Wilson made Flag Day an official day. He learned about some of the words in the Pledge of Allegiance. He learned that Betsy Ross sewed the first U.S. flag. Frank thought it was cool that her house is still in Philadelphia. He imagined that one day he would see it. He wondered if Betsy Ross had Tastykakes in her time. He thought the U.S. flag was pretty amazing looking. But he still loved the California State flag more.
The last ten minutes of the day Frank was out on the playground like always. Kathleen wasn’t there yet at the fence. But he knew she would be.
Frank was staring at the California State flag again. He studied it. It was flowing in the wind perfectly. He could see the grizzly bear. He could see the red star up in the left corner. He noticed the green patch of grass the bear was standing on. He looked at the little brown piles on the grass. And for the first time he thought they looked like little brown piles of poop. But he knew they really couldn’t be that. He started laughing out loud to himself.
A boy with long dark curly hair walked up to Frank. He poked him in the back. He said something, but Frank didn’t hear him. Then he said it again.
“UFOs?” the boy said.
Frank turned and looked at the boy. It was Alec’s little brother. Frank didn’t know his name. He just knew he was mean. He walked away from the boy.
“Are you an alien? You’re always staring into space,” the boy said. Frank turned away. Then the boy poked his back again.
Frank started walking toward the swings. He was hoping the sound to the end the day would buzz soon. Frank felt uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to do to get the kid to stop.
Frank turned toward the fence…and he saw his sister climbing over the fence. He couldn’t believe it. Nobody but kindergarteners were allowed in the fenced playground at the end of the day. If she got caught she’d be back in Mr. Sonnevik’s office again. Kathleen jumped down onto the pavement. She wasn’t looking at Frank, but she had that look. Two horns, a tail and a pitchfork. She stomped directly toward Alec’s little brother. He was standing in back of Frank. She walked right up to him. Kathleen stood about a half foot taller than the kid’s black curly-haired head. He looked up at her. She leaned and whispered something to him. Frank couldn’t hear it. She kept whispering something. The dismissal buzzing sounded. She kept whispering. The kid nodded his head up and down a few times like he was saying yes. Kathleen whispered a few more things. Frank saw the edges of the kid’s eyes start to fill up with tears, but they didn’t fall. He started blinking and then they fell. They streamed down his cheeks. Kathleen kept whispering. The boy turned and ran away. He was sobbing. Kathleen turned around.
“Let’s go, bro,” she said.
Frank was worried that a teacher would see Kathleen. But they walked around to the gate and walked right out of the playground yard.
They headed down Lemon Avenue.
“Thanks K,” Frank said.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I told you I wouldn’t let anyone bully me or you.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I told him that sometimes you have dreams about people if you think about them before you fall asleep. I told him that I would tell you to think about him before you fall asleep tonight. And then I told him that the stuff in your dreams comes true. Then I asked him if he ever saw The Wizard of Oz. He nodded yes. Then I said you were going to think of him melting like the Wicked Witch of the West.”
“Really?!” Frank said.
“Yes! Pretty excellent, right?” she said.
“Yes may-hem,” Frank said.
Kathleen started laughing. Frank did too.
“That kid won’t be bothering you anymore,” she said.
Frank thought about telling her that it was Alec’s little brother. He thought about how his sister really was like a bodyguard. He wondered how she ever got to be so brave. But he didn’t talk anymore. He just walked home next to his best friend.

Chapter 12
The Last Day of School.

Thursday, June 15th zoomed by. The last day of school, Friday, June 16th zoomed by too. Alec’s little brother never came near Frank on the last two days of school. Summer vacation finally came.
Frank and Kathleen raced each other home. Their book bags were light. They both felt free because they had a whole summer ahead.
Frank led almost the whole way running on the sidewalk of Lemon Avenue. Two houses before he reached across the street from their house he slowed down. Kathleen caught up. Frank didn’t let her win. They tied!
“Two silver medals, bro – one for you, one for me!” Kathleen said.
“Yes!” Frank said.

Chapter 13
Kyle is the Real Batman

The first weekend of summer was not filled with trips to Huntington Beach. It was not filled with bike riding and skidding. And it was not filled with fun. It was filled with putting lots of things in big and small cardboard boxes. The Murphy’s spent Saturday and Sunday preparing the house for the moving workers. The mover men were coming with their big truck on Thursday, June 22nd. In between helping pack things up Frank sometimes looked over to Leon’s yard. It was quiet. No Leon. Frank did see Kyle, Leon’s little brother. He was climbing the tree that Leon is usually digging through for bugs. Frank walked over to the fence. He shouted up to Kyle, “Hey. Where’s your brother been?”
Kyle looked down from the top branches of the tree. It was pretty far up and Frank was impressed by how high Kyle could climb. He was only three years old. Kyle moved a branch and some leaves out of the way so he could see who was talking to him. “Which one?”
“Your brother Leon,” Frank said.
“He is playing at his friend’s house. He sleeps over there sometimes,” Kyle said. “I’m part bat.”
“Okay,” Frank said. Then he wondered if it was his friend Jimmy Choo. “Is it Jimmy Choo’s house?”
“No. Not Gimme Choo,” Kyle said. ‘I have super powers too. The real Batman doesn’t. He’s just human. He has neat gadgets.