Squint

by Chad Morris

  She nodded. “Focus your mind, and will it through your veins to blast it out your hands,” she said. “You can do the same with your legs.”

  “And from my eyes?” I asked.

  “It’s the same idea,” she said, “but it might help to squint.”

  —To be continued—

  “Get out of my way, pirate,” Gavin said.

  I was almost into the lunchroom and was beelining for my table.

  “Pirates don’t move for anyone,” I said.

  “My grandma walks faster than you,” he said.

  “Why don’t you bring your grandma to school and we’ll have a race,” I said.

  Gavin smiled and pushed me a little on the shoulder. It wasn’t like we were friends now. Not even close. He really did mock people and push the limits too far. I’m sure he would make fun of me and mock my comics more. But there was a little piece of our old friendship there. Just a little.

  “Hey,” he said. “You guys weren’t terrible in the assembly.”

  “That was like a week ago,” I said.

  “So?” he said.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I think.”

  I made my way to my table and pulled a new comic sheet out of my portfolio. It had another sketch of Squint and Rock looking out at the dark sea monster. I didn’t have to squint. My eye had healed up well and the doctor had taken some of the stitches out. I could see just fine. Well, my left eye still wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t going to complain.

  “I think I figured out why you’re getting such a bad grade in science,” McKell said, pointing at my comic pages after setting down her tray. “I saw you sketching again in class.”

  My grades hadn’t healed as well as my eye.

  “No way. I’m an expert multitasker,” I said. I pulled out my peanut butter sandwich. I waited to eat at the table these days.

  “Did you see how many hits our video had this morning?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Like 20,000. Not bad.” We had posted her song and it was doing well. Of course, the fact that Yellow tagged it as Danny’s sister doing his challenge hadn’t hurt. “And I think Danny would like that it’s up for everyone to see.”

  McKell froze for a second. “I’m doing better at this not-caring-what-others-think thing, but try not to push it. It’s freaking me out.” She picked up her slice of pizza.

  “So, I have something,” I said, and lifted up an envelope that had already been opened once.

  “What?” McKell asked. I slid it across the table. The top left said “Grunger Comics,” and their address. “Wait. No way.” Her eyes got huge.

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” I said. “I didn’t win.”

  McKell’s shoulders sagged. “Really? I’m sorry. Your comic is great, though,” she said.

  “It’s atomic,” I said. “Right?”

  “That’s right,” she said and nodded big.

  “But take a look,” I said, and motioned for her to open the envelope. She looked confused but pulled it out and started in. After a minute she spoke up. “Wait,” she said. “Is this guy like some famous comic-book guy writing to you?”

  I nodded. “One of the best Grunger has.”

  “And he said,” she started to read from the letter, “‘Sorry you didn’t win, Flint. But this has to be the best work I’ve seen from someone so young. You keep it up and you’ll be working with people like me in no time.’” She got out of her seat and hugged me.

  Maybe light was going to come shooting out of me like it did for Squint. In some ways, those three sentences were almost as good as a win. I was good. Gavin didn’t know what he was talking about. I was on the right track.

  McKell sat back down.

  “Hey,” a voice said. A girl with short blonde hair stood in front of our table.

  McKell looked at her, then me. “Oh, this is Mila. She’s new. I invited her to sit with us,” she said.

  I smiled as Mila laughed. “Flint invited me too,” she said. “I thought I was going to have to choose. I didn’t know you two were friends.” She set her stuff down and we started talking. I was just about to tell Mila that if she ever struggled in science that McKell could tutor her when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked at the incoming text.

  Hey Flinty. How’s ur eye? I heard you had more problems. Do u still comic books? I’ll bring you some.

  Mom.

  My cornea rejection scare had happened more than a week and a half ago. Why had she taken so long to ask? And do I still comics? If she was a good mom, there was no way she would even need to ask that question.

  McKell was talking to Mila—and I needed to get back to them.

  I started to put my phone away.

  But my mom was reaching out to me. A week and a half late wasn’t great, but at least she was trying.

  Besides, she was my mom.

  And for all I knew it was a pajama kind of day for her. Heck, maybe she was having a pajama kind of life.

  For the first time in a very long time, I clicked reply.

  Hey, Mom. I’m okay. And I still love comics. My favorites are The Avengers.

  And I sent it.

  Whenever a book comes out, there are a lot of people to thank. Let’s start with you. Thank you for reading this book. We hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to look us up on social media and let us know what you thought. And if you liked it, feel free to spread the word. Thanks again.

  Thanks to the teachers and librarians across the country who encourage their students to read. A special thanks to all of those who invited us to visit their schools. We loved it and we hoped your students did too. Keep up the compassion in action!

  Thanks to all the bookstores across the nation who host our signings. We appreciate you giving us a venue to meet our readers.

  Thanks to the great Shadow Mountain team. Thanks to Chris Schoebinger, Dave Brown, Heidi Taylor Gordon, and Lisa Mangum for loving the idea of Squint. Thanks to Chris and Heidi for reading several drafts and giving feedback to make it better. Thanks to Derk Koldewyn for his editorial eye. Thanks to Heather Ward for her fantastic cover. We love it! And thanks to Richard Erickson for his art direction, and Rachael Ward for formatting the book.

  Thanks to our agent, Ben Grange, for loving this book and taking care of the business end of our careers so well. You’re a rock star.

  Thanks for all our awesome beta readers: Peggy Eddleman, Krista Isaacson, Shauna Holyoak, Rebecca Gage, Isaac Marble, Camille Smithson, and Amy Sandback.

  Thanks to J. R. Simmons, Cody Cagle, Theresa Isidro, and Kaiya Liwanag for answering our questions about your experiences.

  And thanks to all those who listened to Shelly’s musicals and to Chad’s parodies for years. Who knew we would use that rhyme and musicality to tell stories for kids one day?

  And thanks to our five children for their patience and help while we write. Thanks for going to so many literary events. Thanks for letting us bounce ideas off you. Thanks for creating your own stories. And thanks for loving books.

  1. Flint loves to create comics. McKell loves to rhyme and write songs. What do you love to create? Why?

  2. Flint felt nervous about others seeing his comics. McKell felt terrified to perform in front of others. Do you feel nervous when you show something you created to someone else? Why or why not? Do you think it’s important to share what you create even if you feel nervous?

  3. Flint loves comics and movies. What are some stories that you love?

  4. Flint didn’t feel like he had any friends at the beginning of the book. If someone at your school or in your neighborhood felt that way, what do you think you could do to help?

  5. Flint was being raised by his grandparents. He didn’t realize how hard they worked and sacrificed for him. Do you think we realize how much our parents and others work and sacrifice for us? Why or
why not?

  6. Danny had a rare disease called progeria, yet he had a positive attitude and tried to help others. Do you know anyone with an illness or difficulty who still has a positive attitude? Who? What impresses you about them?

  7. If you were to start your own YouTube channel and give others challenges, what would you challenge them to do?

  8. Even though Danny could edit his mistakes out of his videos, he didn’t. Why is it okay sometimes to let others see our mistakes?

  9. When Danny died, everyone in his family dealt with the sadness differently. Have you ever had anyone die that you were close to? How did you deal with the sadness? Was there anything that other people around you could do that would have helped?

  10. McKell’s mom stayed in her pajamas when she was having a really hard day. Do you ever have really hard days? What did you do to get through your hard days? What could you do to help others during their hard days?

  11. Flint and McKell became friends and helped each other out throughout the story. Who are your friends? How do they help you? How do you help them?

  CHAD MORRIS grew up wanting to become a professional basketball player or a rock star. Neither of those plans quite panned out, so he wrote and performed sketch comedy while going to college. Now he’s a teacher and a writer.

  SHELLY BROWN loves to write books for children. In her spare time, she enjoys the theater and traveling. In addition to her five children, she has six chickens and sixty-four Pez dispensers.

  Their previous book is Mustaches for Maddie.