Just Grace

by Charise Mericle Harper

  Crinkles meowed and meowed until Augustine Dupre went to the window and opened it. She put her finger up to her mouth and made a "shhhh" sound. Crinkles wasn't at all shy. He walked in and jumped right up onto her lap. Augustine Dupre pointed her shushing finger at the ceiling, and I knew exactly what she meant.

  One of Dad's big rules is No Pets In The Apartment. He wouldn't even let Augustine Dupre put a bird feeder outside her window. He said it attracted all the messy neighborhood beasts. He would not be happy to know that Crinkles was a visitor. Sometimes people can be rule breakers if the rules are not good ones and the person who made the rules is not an official-type rule maker who wears a uniform—Dad is not one of those.

  Augustine Dupre sighed one of her French sighs (my French teacher at school does this too, so I know it is a French thing) and said, "I don't know how we can make poor Mrs. Luther not so sad. In six weeks when her orange cast comes off, I am sure Crinkles will not be scared of her anymore. Then they will love each other again."

  "Is she going to cry every night for six weeks?" I couldn't believe that her sadness could be so big.

  Augustine Dupre patted my arm and shook her head, which is a grown-up way of saying, "Yes, I'm sorry to say it, but I believe this to be true."

  Superhero Mode

  That night before going to bed I looked out my window. I could see Mrs. Luther sitting in one of her big chairs, with all her scary masks looking down at her. I couldn't tell if she was crying. Augustine Dupre was right. I was feeling much less sad about being Just Grace. And even though I am not French, I made a French sigh and thought, I wonder how I can help Mrs. Luther? This is how my superhero empathy thing always gets started ... and once it is going, there is nothing I can do to stop it.

  Breakfast

  When I am feeling like a superhero I like to have French toast for breakfast; otherwise I just eat a bagel or cereal. If Mom were a detective she would say, "How come you're always up to something when we have French toast for breakfast?" But she isn't, so she says, "French toast? That's a nice change. We haven't had French toast since that time your dad broke his toe."

  When I got to school I could totally see what the disgusting Sammy Stringer had had for breakfast. It was all over his yellow shirt.

  "What's the matter? Do you want some?" He pointed to a brown sticky part and made smacking sounds with his lips.

  I gave him my best I-wish-you-would-melt-into-a-puddle-of-goo look and walked away. Mimi and I have been practicing different looks, because you never know when you might need one. You always have to be ready!

  "Just Grace, Just Grace, you are so..." Sammy probably couldn't think of a rhyme because he was quiet for too many seconds and then he said, "...green."

  Green isn't even something silly or clever or funny—it is nothing. So what if I was wearing a green shirt? How Sammy Stringer can be so annoying all the time is a question I will never be able to answer! Sometimes I look at him and I can't help it, but I feel like I hate him and feel a little bit sorry for him both at the same time. I don't like it when the inside parts of you don't match up with what the brain part of you thinks. If there were a medicine to make this go away I would take it, even if it was cherry flavor, which tastes terrible and is not my favorite.

  What We Are Studying in School That is Fun

  1

  Maps and how to draw them—the made-up kind.

  MAP OF MY FRIENDS

  Mimi and I are, of course, best friends, plus we live right next door to each other, so that makes the best friend part even more perfect. Jordan is my best friend in gym class, and she is almost the fastest runner in the whole grade. This is not a good thing if you are "it" and you have to try to catch her. You might think that a real friend would let you catch her sometimes, especially if you are so tired that your eyes might disappear into the back of your head, but Jordan is not that kind of friend. She says, "Try harder." And I do, but then I can't catch her and I say, "Forget it! What is so great about tag anyway?" And then Jordan says, "You're right. I'm tired too." And this is her real friend part, because I know that she is really not tired and she could probably run ten more times around the playground, but I don't say anything and she doesn't say anything and we both sit together and this is good because I am breathing so hard I might almost faint.

  Claire is my friend who moved far away, all the way to the ocean. But we can still be friends even though now she lives in California. California is a very beautiful place filled with lots of wonderful things, so I would for sure like to visit her there. She sent me a card and a picture of her standing next to a tree with real oranges on it in her very own backyard. I did not know that oranges grew that way, so there is a lot to learn in California. I am hoping I can visit her sometime soon and miss school. My teachers could not get grumpy and mad about that since I would still be doing lots of learning, only about new California things, which would for sure be much more fun and exciting than regular school learning.

  Gwen is Mimi's cousin. I just put her on the map because when she visits Mimi and we are together she is my friend too.

  2

  Graphs—sort of like percentages if they were in a picture.

  3

  Percentages—which I already kind of know about from watching Unlikely Heroes. They always say things like, "The chance this could happen again is .006 percent," which is like saying almost probably never in a hundred years.

  What We Are Studying In School That Is Not Fun

  1

  The names of all fifty states and where they are on the map, which is too many to remember even when they are in a song that is supposed to be fun but is not.

  2

  Spelling, spelling, and more spelling.

  3

  The life cycle of frogs, which I do not like because they are slimy and one of Sammy Stringer's favorite creatures.

  4

  The life cycle of a cucumber, which is not exciting for me because I do not like cucumbers or even pickles, which are like tiny cucumbers and maybe even the babies of big cucumbers, but they are still not nice or tasty to eat.

  I told Mimi all about Mrs. Luther and Crinkles. She is my only friend who knows about the empathy superhero thing. She knows about it so much that she said, "What are you going to do about it?" right when I finished telling her the story.

  Sometimes she likes to help out with projects. She says she is happy to just be the helper because if something goes wrong she probably won't get in as much trouble as the leader, which is me.

  I didn't have a big plan to tell her about, so I said, "What do you think we should do?"

  Sometimes Mimi has good ideas too. She said, "I think we should go to my house and watch Unlikely Heroes so we can get some inspirations." Unlikely Heroes is her favorite show too. I knew she'd think of something. Plus, Mimi's mom and dad don't have a rule that says no TV before dinner. Super super great!

  Supergirl

  After school we went to Mimi's house, which is almost like me walking home but then just going next door instead. We practiced some looks, like the I-can't-believe-you-said-that look and the I-think-you-are-disgusting look on each other for a while, and then we watched Unlikely Heroes.

  This is the most amazing show you could ever watch. Every week they show real live normal people who do superhero things. Once there was a man who lifted a whole car off a lady who was trapped underneath, and then there was a baby who didn't even know how to talk yet but dialed 911 emergency when his mom fainted on the floor. These people are just regular everyday people who suddenly get superpower brains or energy. The bad part for them is that instead of getting to keep the powers all the time they only have them for a little while, like maybe five seconds or ten minutes, and then they are back to being just regular normal no-power people.

  The unbelievable best thing is that all the stories are 100 percent really true. Mom says it's a feel-good show, which means that you feel better just watching it. Dad says feel-good shows aren't very popular
and that one day soon it will probably be canceled off the TV. I just can't understand why that would happen, but we tape every episode so if it does we can still watch them forever and ever.

  Of course we had to watch our favorite episode, where a girl makes a rope out of her clothes and helps pull a grown-up man out of a river before he sinks to the bottom and drowns. She is a hero and only wearing her underwear. The extra-amazing thing is that she just by accident wore her Supergirl undershirt and underpants that day. That makes her being a hero even more I-can-hardly-believe-it!

  When it was time for me to go home for supper we still didn't have any good ideas. Mimi even put on her Supergirl T-shirt for inspiration—which is a big word for something that helps make you think of the exact right thing you were hoping to think of—but it wasn't working. I don't have any Supergirl clothes. Not even Supergirl underwear, and I really, really, really want some of those. I could wear them for inspiration thinking and no one would even know. Mom says she is keeping her eye out for them, but that Supergirl underwear isn't that easy to find. I think she is just not trying very hard!

  Ways To Not Get A Good Idea

  1

  Ask your mom or dad.

  2

  Look in a book that has ideas about how to get ideas.

  3

  Sit down and think super hard about getting a good idea.

  I had tried all of those things at other times and none of them had worked even one tiny bit ... especially number three. Sometimes it is better to try to just do normal things instead of thinking really hard about getting an idea. Then after a while, the start of a good idea might just pop into your head right at the moment you aren't even thinking about it. It is not good to be thinking, Is the good idea going to happen in the next two minutes? That doesn't work either.

  Start Of My Big Idea

  We had supper and then when we were clearing the table Mom said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. You got a postcard today. It's on the desk in the hall." How Mom could forget something exciting like a postcard but remember boring things like how many bites of green beans I eat and if I remember to put the toilet lid down is something I hope I'm never going to understand. This is one of the reasons I am not so excited about turning into a grownup. The grown-up world is very filled up with boring rules about eating and cleaning.

  The card was from Auntie Bethany. She always sends a postcard when she goes somewhere fun. I like that she is thinking of me when she is having a big adventure. Postcards are the best!!!! It makes my insides feel good to get one. Mom says postcards are old-fashioned. Some old things can be a good idea. Postcards are one of those things. Right when I was reading the part about Auntie Bethany riding a donkey down the Grand Canyon I got the beginning of a good idea. I should send Mrs. Luther postcards, and they should be from...

  This was the part of the idea that wasn't finished. Who could send the card? I don't know anybody that Mrs. Luther would want to get a card from. It wouldn't be so fun to get a card from me ... I just live right next door and that is not exciting at all. Who does Mrs. Luther love? Who does she love that I even know? The only answer is Crinkles, but Crinkles is not a person, he is a cat. Cats do not go on exciting holidays, and cats do not write postcards. They can't write anything, even if you helped them and taped a marker to their paw, which would not be such a nice thing to do to a cat that you liked.

  Then right when I was thinking about the marker and the tape I got the rest of the idea. It was perfect. Perfect for me and perfect for Mrs. Luther. It was like a great big Band-Aid. It would fix everything until Mrs. Luther got her cast off.

  MR. BAND-AID

  My Big Idea

  I will send Mrs. Luther postcards from Crinkles, only I will write them and pretend that they are from Crinkles. I will not tape a marker to his paw! Mrs. Luther will be so happy to think that Crinkles is thinking of her even if she really knows for real that it is only pretend, it will make her smile her crocodile smile.

  How To Do The Big Idea

  1

  Take a professional-looking photo of Crinkles and get it blown up big to real cat size. Glue the big photo onto a piece of cardboard. Augustine Dupre can help with this part because she is really good at projects and she will probably be able to make Crinkles sit still so I can take his picture and not have it be all blurry.

  2

  Take cardboard Crinkles around to different places in town and take his photo there. If I do a good job it will look like the real Crinkles was there instead of the cardboard pretend Crinkles. This will be super cool and funny, because the real Crinkles would never pose in a shopping cart at the grocery store, which is already one of my good ideas about where to take a photo.

  3

  Glue the photo of cardboard Crinkles onto another piece of cardboard to make a real from-the-store-looking postcard. There is a lot of glue and cardboard in this project, and that makes me worried because it is always hard to get glue to stick in the exact right place you want it to and not have it go all over your fingers or in your hair instead.

  4

  Mail the postcard, which will not be so hard to do, because Mom has lots of stamps.

  I couldn't wait to tell Augustine Dupre all about it. I couldn't wait to hear Mimi say, "Great idea!" I couldn't wait to get started. Too bad it was bedtime.

  Superhero Morning

  It definitely had to be another French toast breakfast. It takes more than 976 and probably less than 2,000 steps to get to school. I try to count them every morning but always get my attention taken away by something else before I finish. This morning I caught up to Mimi at step number 356, which was okay because it is much more important and fun to talk to her than count steps. She loved my idea and said she couldn't wait to be my helper. She said she is glad I am going to use a cardboard cat because she is very allergic to real cats, which is something I had 100 percent forgotten.

  We saw Sammy Stringer and it was too bad but he saw us also. He was riding his bike and delivering newspapers instead of going to school, which is not surprising because our newspaper is always late and Dad usually has to take it on the train with him instead of reading it at breakfast like he likes to do. "Hey, Just Grace, I just delivered your paper." We pretended we didn't hear him. It wasn't fair to call me Just Grace when there weren't even any other Graces around. It was him just being mean and unfair!

  Sometimes if Sammy delivers the paper before I leave for school Dad will make me go out to the driveway and get it. I always put on one of Mom's yellow dishwashing gloves first because Sammy is a nose picker and that is disgusting, and you can never tell—he might have done that thing right before he touched our paper.

  What Happened At School That Was Interesting

  1

  Mimi had five little tiny sandwiches for lunch instead of one normal-size sandwich. Sometimes little things that are exactly the same as big things are more special and cute (except pickles).

  2

  Mrs. Luther had a Band-Aid on her nose, which is something that your eyes have to notice right away. Mimi said she heard that a paperboy had thrown a newspaper at Mrs. Luther's house and that it had hit her in the nose by mistake. And even though it was supposed to be an accident there was no big surprise for me about who the paperboy was. It was Sammy Stringer. Mom said she thought she once saw him try to hit a squirrel with our paper ... but squirrels are fast. Poor slow Mrs. Luther didn't stand a chance, especially with her broken leg.

  SQUIRREL WITH RUNNING SHOES ON

  I ran almost all the way home from school. I usually don't have time to count the steps on the way back. I was disappointed that Augustine Dupre wasn't home, but I saw Crinkles sitting under her window. He let me pet him. Too bad I didn't have my camera right then, because he looked extra nice with the sun shining on his fur. Good photographers like to take pictures with real sunlight and not use the flash part of the camera, which is mostly used for inside photos anyway.

  HOW TO TAKE A PROFESSIONAL PHOTO

&nbs
p; This is something I learned in the photography book I am reading. It is a very hard book with lots of big words so I usually only read the parts under the pictures. Dad said he is very impressed that I am reading a book from his grown-up book collection.

  What Happened At Home That Was Completely Surprising

  I was looking out my kitchen window while I was waiting for Augustine Dupre to get home and I saw Sammy Stringer walk up to Mrs. Luther's door. He pushed the door buzzer and then got invited into her house! I ran up to my room and looked out my window, but I couldn't see them in her living room. What he was doing in her house was not something I could even imagine. It was bizarre, which is what they say on Unlikely Heroes when something is too hard and not really possible to even understand. I didn't want to think about it, because this kind of thinking usually makes my head hurt, so I drew a new Not So Super comic to try to get my wondering energy away from it.