Caris Christie (Apt. 10D)

Ms. Christie dropped Caris off at the Zip ‘n’ Sip at 10:07 am exactly. He remembered because he was counting down the minutes until he could go home. It’s not that he didn’t like roller skating, he did. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Anna Evita, he did. Well kind of. She talked too much and sang too loud and danced too wildly. He did like how her name rhymed. And it wasn’t because he was missing the Iron Man cartoon on Nickelodeon at 11 am. It wasn’t any of this. It was that on his day off he had hoped to walk around town and ask more people what they knew about Mr. Evans. But Ms. Christie and Anna’s mom both had to work so they left their children to stumble around the roller rink until their knees were as dark and purple as the sky outside. After 52 minutes of dragging himself along the wall around the edge of the rink while Anna skated circles around him, Caris felt dizzy. “Anna,” he called, “let’s take a break.” “Already? Just one more second.” “One,” Caris...

"On my honor, I will do my best. To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight," the boys recite in unison. "Great job, boys," Mr. Malone says. After reciting the Boy Scout pledge, the boys sit in their colorful plastic chairs. Caris’s chair is yellow, his favorite color. He also likes red because those are the colors of Iron Man’s suit. The legs squeak against the linoleum floor of the church basement. Everyone is too excited to learn what their next badge will be. "Okay, before we begin, I would just like to say a couple words," Mr. Malone says, his voice quiet. "We all know Mr. Evans was a great man, a great friend, and most of all, a great Boy Scout. He will no longer be coming to help us, so our next badge will be to honor him with his favorite one: whittling." Caris raises his hand. “Why isn’t Mr. Evans com...

The day started with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Two actually. Caris hated peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but he didn't want to tell his foster mother that. He watched as she spread the brown mush across the bread and covered it with the other slice covered in slimy strawberry jelly. He had run out of time for a real breakfast so she made one for him to eat now and one for lunch. He grabbed his Spiderman lunch box and slipped it into his Spiderman backpack. He waved good-bye to Ms. Christie and ran out the door to catch the school bus. He took the stairs because the elevator made scary noises. When he got to the lobby, he waved to Ms. Coco and Mr. Georgie. He could tell they were upset but he wasn’t sure why. Then he saw the bus pulling away from the stop. They must have felt bad that he had missed it. “Don’t worry, I’ll just walk!” Caris said. But they must not have heard him because they just kept talking. He stepped out of the apartment building and into t...