He had an older brother, Jacob, who was eleven, and a younger sister, Linzy, who was four.
They were both in the kitchen.
“Marvin!” exclaimed Linzy. “Do you want to play Mommy-Daddy?”
“No,” muttered Marvin.
Linzy always wanted to play Mommy-Daddy. The worst part was that Linzy always insisted on being the Daddy. That meant Marvin had to be the Mommy.
“Hiya, Mar,” said Jacob.
Marvin grunted.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jacob.
Marvin shrugged. He couldn’t tell his big brother that the other kids said he picked his nose. It was so childish. Jacob was cool.
“You want to do something?” Marvin asked him.
“Can’t,” said Jacob. “Nate and I are going to ride our bikes down Suicide Hill.”
“Cool,” said Marvin. He opened the refrigerator.
“Do you want to play Doggie?” asked Linzy.
“No.”
Doggie was worse than Mommy-Daddy. Linzy would throw a ball, and Marvin would have to fetch it.
He shut the refrigerator. There was nothing good to eat.
“Where’s Nick and Stuart?” asked Jacob.
Marvin shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “And I don’t care!”
He had better things to do. Lots of things.
“Okay, Linzy,” he said. “Let’s play Mommy-Daddy.”
“Okay,” said Linzy. “But I get to be the Daddy.”
4
It got worse and worse.…
He did poorly in school. He always used to be one of the first persons done. Now there were times when he didn’t even finish.
He didn’t care.
Stuart and Nick had told him that he was still their friend—just not their best friend. But even that wasn’t true.
“Why don’t I see Stuart around anymore?” his m
other asked.
“I hate him!” said Marvin.
“How about Nick?”