Authors: Jack Gantos
Jack Adrift (16 page)
Not long into dinner Dad looked at all of us. “It's just hard for me to admit failure,” he said. “I wanted this Navy stint to work out but it was a mistake. Like I said before, I don't take orders too well anymore.”
“You don't have to tell me that,” she said. “I can't even get you to listen to good sense.”
He gave her a
don't start that again
look.
don't start that again
look.
“What I mean,” she said, “is that you don't have to admit to failure. You just have to tell the truth all the time and then failure is never an issue.”
“I don't like to lose at anything,” he said.
That reminded me of a Will Rogers quote. “Hey,” I said, “Will Rogers said to live your life so that whenever you lose, you're ahead.”
Dad gave me a puzzled look. “You know,” he said, “for a guy who would rather buy the Brooklyn Bridge than sell it, you really have no ground to stand on when it comes to telling other people how to live their lives.”
I wasn't sure if he was just teasing me, or if he was miffed. But Mom came to my defense. “He was only trying to be helpful,” she said to Dad.
He looked at me. “With help like that, who needs enemies?”
“Did Will Rogers say that?” I asked.
“No, I did,” he replied, and tapped himself on the chest.
I changed the subject. “Julian said his dad is sending them all away before school ends.”
“That's because Julian's dad would rather be in an empty house trailer eating TV dinners and drinking cheap beer, with his dirty shoes propped up on the coffee table, than be with his family,” Dad said.
“Tell the truth,” Mom said. “Don't you envy him?”
“Nope,” Dad replied. “I don't. I'd rather hang around here and have my blood sucked out by you human mosquitoes than sit around by myself until I go insane.”
“I thought
we
drove you insane,” I said, taking advantage of his good mood to ask him an honest question.
we
drove you insane,” I said, taking advantage of his good mood to ask him an honest question.
“You're too late for that. It's pretty clear to me that I went insane years ago. How else can I explain how I married your mother and had you three wild things?”
“Let's go for a walk along the beach tonight,” Mom suggested, and pushed back in her chair.
“What about the mosquitoes?” Betsy asked.
“If you walk along the surf,” Mom explained, “the breeze keeps them away.”
“Can we stop for ice cream?” Pete hollered.
“Sure,” Mom said.
They all stood up and headed for the door.
I stayed in my chair. “Why don't you all go, and I'll just put my feet up and enjoy the peace and quiet?” I suggested.
Dad smiled at me. “You are sounding more like me every day,” he said, back-stepping toward me. He reached out and curled his hand around my head and pulled me close to his side. “Keep up the good work and someday you might grow up and realize your old man was a genius.”
“You bet,” I said.
“Now, let's get this party started,” he said, snapping his fingers and doing a little shuffle dance. “Last one to the beach will be sacrificed to the mosquitoes!”
We all lurched for the door and ran out and across the sandy yard, across the warm tar road, and up over the dunes until we could spot the bright path of the rising moon shine over the sea like a silver lining rolling toward the shore. I walked into the surf as the light shimmered around me. For once we didn't have to search for a silver lining. It had found us.
Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade
Jack's New Power: Stories from a Caribbean Year
Desire Lines
Jack's Black Book
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Jack on the Tracks: Four Seasons of Fifth Grade
Joey Pigza Loses Control
Hole in My Life
What Would Joey Do?
Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade without a Clue
Jack's New Power: Stories from a Caribbean Year
Desire Lines
Jack's Black Book
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Jack on the Tracks: Four Seasons of Fifth Grade
Joey Pigza Loses Control
Hole in My Life
What Would Joey Do?
Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade without a Clue
Copyright © 2003 by Jack Gantos
All rights reserved
Â
Â
Designed by Nancy Goldenberg
Â
Â
ISBN 978-0-374-39987-0
eISBN 9780374706135
First eBook Edition : April 2011
Â
Â
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gantos, Jack.
Jack Adrift : fourth grade without a clue / Jack Gantos.â1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: When his father rejoins the Navy and moves the family to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, nine-year-old Jack becomes confused by a crush on his teacher, contradictory advice from his parents, and a very strange neighbor.
[I. Teacher-student relationshipsâFiction. 2. Family lifeâNorth CarolinaâFiction. 3. SchoolsâFiction. 4. Moving, HouseholdâFiction. 5. North CarolinaâFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.G15334Jaak 2003
[Fic]âdc21
Other books
Blue-Eyed Devil by Robert B. Parker
The Unforgiving Minute by Sarah Granger
Vanished by Joseph Finder
elemental 01 - whirlwind by ladd, larissa
The Ex by Alafair Burke
The Mosaic of Shadows by Tom Harper
Hilda the wicked witch by Paul Kater
Corps Security: The Series by Harper Sloan
When Magic Dares (Darkly Fae Book 2) by Tera Lynn Childs
Star Watch by Mark Wayne McGinnis