“Yeah! Special time just for us. But other times, we can do stuff with Maggie and Dad and Sandra and Winnie, too.” Like the aquarium, but I’ll mention that another day.
“It’s a plan,” Mom says. Her tone says the “talk” part of our talk is over. “And now I have a favor to ask you. I’d ask one of your sisters, but they’ve gone off on some crazy errand. I didn’t quite catch what it was.”
“Huh,” I say. “Well, they’re crazy all right.”
“Anyway, I need to get dinner on the table. Can you babysit your sister while I finish up in the kitchen?”
Me? I think. Babysit Maggie?
“I think she’d really enjoy some time with her big brother.”
“Oh,” I say. “Um, okay.”
She smiles her special Ty smile, which means Love you, bug.
Then she leaves. It’s just me and Maggie.
I do like her pretty blue eyes.
“Want me to make dolphin sounds?” I ask her. “Or would you rather feel my loose tooth?”
She does her pluh sound.
“Here,” I say, taking her weensie finger and putting it on my front tooth. It only wiggles a little, but Maggie thinks it’s neat. I know because she kicks her chubby legs.
“I’m sorry I called you a Big Fat Meanie Baby,” I tell Maggie. I bite my lip. “And now do you want to hear my dolphin impression?”
She kicks her legs and waves her arms.
“To do it, I have to go underwater. But I’ll be right back up, ’kay?”
I gaze into her eyes so that she’ll know she can trust me. Then I slide underwater and scream. The water muffles it just the right amount, and I know Maggie is impressed, because when I burst back into the air, Maggie is still looking at me. And maybe . . . maybe I can do more things to impress her as I get to know her better, and as she gets to know me. Things like catching two dolphins in a claw machine game, only better.
She likes animals, I can tell because she liked my underwater sea creature noise, so—I know! I should get her a pet! Or, I should get me a pet and share it with her! And we could teach it tricks and love it and be nice to it and name it Chepito!
Hmm. I wonder what kind of pet we’ll get. I’ll have to give that some thought. For now, I go under again, and I learn something awesome. If I hold my lips in a small-sized O instead of scream-sized O, and if I push out a whole series of Baby Maggie’s pluhs, I sound almost exactly like a baby penguin.
The Life of Ty: Penguin Problems Page 6
