"BSC050 - Dawn's Big Date - Martin, Ann M" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

Do you want to hear something interesting? Every sitter has a slightly different reaction to the kids we sit for. For example, I really didn't like Sarah Hill all that much. But Claud wound up liking her a lot.
It might be because they are both artistic. And maybe because Claud understands how it feels to have a brother or sister who is sort of odd. Claud's sister, Janine, isn't fat, but she is a little odd. She's a genius. And she can be extremely annoying. She's always telling you when you've made a mistake. Janine is not
very popular. (I think maybe Claud does badly in school because she doesn't want to be anything like Janine.)
Anyway, as I said, Claud and Sarah really hit it off.
Claud was giving Sarah a drawing lesson when something awful happened. (I'm glad I wasn't there to see this.) Claudia and Sarah stopped what they were doing because they heard the sound of shouting outside. "Enormous Hill! Oink! Oink! Hey, Enormous Hill!"
When Claud reached the front door, a snowball slammed right into the glass. Luckily it didn't break. The kids were throwing snowballs at Norman. As soon as they saw Claud, they turned and ran. Cowards.
"Are you all right?" asked Claud, brushing snow off Norman's hat as he came in the door. His head was down and his eyes were brimming with tears. He didn't say anything, just walked straight up to the kitchen.
"Hey, remember you're on a diet!" Sarah called, when she heard a cabinet door open.
"Take it easy," Claud told her. "He's just had a pretty crummy experience."
Sarah looked up at her. "It's for his own good. My mother says so. I know he's eating something bad now."
Sure enough, Norman had opened a pack-
age of Oreos. Sarah snatched the bag from him. "Mom told me to take these away from you."
Norman's face grew red with anger. He didn't say a word, though. He just stormed off to his bedroom.
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Sarah ran to answer it. It was Elizabeth, from next door. "Can I go outside for awhile?" Sarah called to Claud. "I'll stay in our yard."
"Sure," Claud answered.
After Sarah left, Claud knocked on Norman's door. "Norman, can I come in?" she asked.
She heard movement inside, but got no answer. "Norman," she tried again. "Are you okay?"
Still no answer.
Claud decided she should probably leave him alone for awhile. She went back to the living room and started to browse through some art magazines. (Mrs. Hill is an agent for illustrators. She has tons of art books and magazines in the house, so Claud was in heaven.) In about a half hour, she heard Norman's door creak open.
Pretending she was still reading, Claud waited to see what he would do. She wasn't surprised that he tiptoed into the kitchen. Like
a hungry mouse, Norman was rustling around in the kitchen once again.
Claud got up and tiptoed to the kitchen doorway. Norman was so intent on wolfing down his cookies that he didn't notice her. "Norman," Claud said after a moment.
Norman nearly jumped off his chair. He began stuffing the cookies back into the bag.
"Relax. It's okay," said Claud, sitting down beside him. "I won't turn you in. I'm Claudia, by the way."
"Hi," he mumbled through a mouthful of cookies. "Where's Dawn?"
Claud explained to him how the BSC worked. He didn't look too pleased. Some kids like the variety of sitters. Others would rather have the same one all the time.
Norman continued eating cookies until Claud felt that she had to say something. "They aren't going to help your diet much."
"It's not my diet," Norman replied.
"What do you mean?" Claud asked, puzzled.
"It's my parents' diet. They talked to the doctor. They decided I should go on it. So it's their diet."
"But they're doing it for you," Claud pointed out.
"No, they're not," Norman disagreed, as he
took another cookie. "They're doing it for them. They don't want to have a fat son."
"Do you want to be heavy?" Claud pressed gently.
Norman shrugged. "I don't like being fat, but I like'to eat. If I feel sad, eating makes me feel happy."
"Do you feel sad a lot?" asked Claud.
"Sometimes," Norman admitted. "I don't feel sad when I'm eating, though."
"Maybe you wouldn't feel sad if you lost some weight," Claud suggested. "You might feel happier if the kids didn't pick on you and call you names."
"I don't care about them. I have other friends," Norman insisted. "I have a friend in school named Teddy. And I have a girlfriend."
"You do?" said Claud, trying hard not to sound surprised.
Norman took a big gulp of milk, then he nodded. "Yeah. Brittany. She's my pen pal. I think I'll write to her now." Stuffing five more cookies into his pockets, Norman headed out of the kitchen to his room.
With a sigh, Claud returned to the living room and her magazines. Only this time, she couldn't concentrate on them. She had to find some way to get through to Norman. Somebody had to. Otherwise he was just going to keep getting fatter and more miserable.
In about another half hour, the phone rang. "Hi, this is Teddy," said a young voice on the other end. "Is Norman there?"
"I'll get him," said Claud, glad there really was a Teddy. "Norman," she called, as she leaned down the hall to his room. "Phone for you. It's Teddy."
Norman's door opened. He came out, holding a green spiral notebook. "Okay, thanks," he said, passing her in the hallway. "I told you I had a friend."
As he headed for the kitchen phone, a piece of paper fluttered from his notebook. Claud picked it up. It appeared to be a draft of a letter to his pen pal. Well, what do you know, thought Claud. There really is a Teddy and there really is a pen pal.
Maybe Claud shouldn't have read Norman's letter, but she did. She was hoping it might help her understand Norman better. "Dear Brittany," it said. "Today was another awesome day for me. I managed to clobber some school bullies, but good. They were picking on this kid at school. He's a totally amazing kid, just slightly heavy. That's why they pick on him. About ten bullies surrounded him. They were the gooniest kids in the whole school Ч and the ugliest. And they were big and mean. Everyone else is afraid of them. I'm not. I grabbed one of them and karate-
chopped him. His friend tried to get me, but I hit him with my flying judo kick. Everyone was cheering. Kids in school were yelling, 'Norman! Norman! Go! Go! Go!' Two guys came at me at once. I clunked their heads together. That made the rest of them run away.
"That was my day. How was yours? Thanks for the picture you sent. You are very pretty. I don't have any pictures of myself. But I'll send you one as soon as my mother's camera is fixed. I keep reminding her to fix it, but she keeps forgetting."
Claud put the letter back in Norman's room. She dropped it on his floor so he wouldn't know she'd read it. On his desk was a sheet of recent wallet-sized pictures of Norman. They looked like his school pictures.