Page 68 of Wait for Me

“Do you know that light has seven colors?”

“No.”

“Do you know that blue light has short wavelengths?”

“What?”

“Exactly. Now all that information is important if you want to know more about glaciers.” Marie dug inside her purse and produced a small notebook with a pen attached to it. “Do you know what this is?”

“Paper.”

“And pen.” Marie held the notebook gently in her hand, as if it were the most fragile thing in the world. “Are you a big boy, Jonas?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“I’m going to give you this notebook and the pen—it’s not a pencil—and I need you to take notes when the geologist tells you anything new about glaciers.”

“What is a joe gist?”

“A geologist is someone who studies rocks.”

“Wow. People study rocks? I just throw them and see if they smash!” Jonas eyed the notebook. “Is that a real pen? Daddy won’t let me touch a pen.”

“Because he opens it all up and spills the ink on the carpet,” Logan said from where he was sitting.

“I can only use pencils.” Jonas curled his lips.

“Well, today is a special day,” Marie said. “If you promise to give this notebook back to me with new information about glaciers, I will let you use my pen for the day.”

“I can’t write, Mommy.”

Marie glanced at Logan. “He’s five. I wrote when I was three!”

Logan shrugged. “He’s normal. You’re not.”

“I don’t know about that. Does he know his alphabet?” Marie felt a tug on her sleeve.

Two eyes filled with tears looked up at her. “Will you teach me to write with that pen, Mommy?”

Marie hugged her son. “Of course. We will start today.”

“Today?”

Marie nodded. She handed the notebook and pen to Jonas. “Do you have a pocket?”

Jonas pointed to the pockets on his pants.

“Too small. We can put it in your backpack then.” Marie waved to Mrs. Ping to bring her his backpack.

Mrs. Ping emptied out the crayons and toys from Jonas’s backpack.

“You might want to put the crayons and drawing pads back into the backpack,” Marie told her. “Jonas might want to draw glaciers.”

Jonas’s eyes brightened. “Yes! I love to draw.”

Marie handed Jonas his shoes. “You’re a big boy and you can put on shoes yourself, right?”

“Yes. I also know left and right.” Jonas set out to prove to his mom that he could press the Velcro over his shoes too.

---