Free One-Man Band by Barbara Park Page B

that day. She said she would drive me and Sheldon home so we wouldn't have to take the bus.
    I walked to the parking lot very limping.
    Sheldon was still wearing the ice bag on top of his head.
    “My. It must have been
quite
a day in Room One,” said Mother.
    Sheldon did a sigh. “I've had better,” he said.
    After that, both of us got in the back-seat.And we buckled our seat belts.
    Sheldon quick put his window down.
    Mother turned around. “Gee, I don't know, Sheldon,” she said. “That's going to be a lot of wind on you, don't you think?”
    “I like wind,” said Sheldon. “Wind makes my cheeks flap.”
    Mother stared at him a second. “Okey-doke,” she said kind of quiet.
    Then she turned back around. And she started the car. And we drove out of the parking lot.
    Sheldon leaned his head close to the window. And he tilted his head into the rushy air.
    He opened his mouth so the wind flapped his cheeks.
    Both of us started to laugh.
    Only just then, a little bit of troublehappened. ’Cause Mother went around a corner kind of whizzy.
    And Sheldon's head got tilted even further.
    And
WHOOSH
!
    The ice bag blew right out the window!
    Sheldon sat very still after that.
    Finally, he closed the window. And he drummed his fingers on the seat.
    “Today isn't really going that good for me,” he said.
    I nodded.
    Then I patted his arm.
    ’Cause sometimes I understand that boy perfectly well.
    That night, I tossed and turned in my bed. ’Cause my toe did not like things touching it, that's why. Not even the sheet.
    Only here is the worstest part of all.
    Because the next morning—when I took off my covers—MY WHOLE ENTIRE TOENAIL WAS BLACK!
    I did a scream at that terrible sight!
    Mother and Daddy came running.
    “Junie B.! What on
earth
is the matter?” said Mother.
    “MY TOE IS THE MATTER! MY TOE IS THE MATTER!” I hollered back. “LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!”
    I held up my foot for Mother to see.
    “Oh, my,” she said. “The doctor said this might happen. Your toenail has a bad bruise on it.”
    I wrinkled my eyebrows at her.
    “A
bruise
?” I said. “That's all it is? It's just a
bruise
?”
    Mother nodded. “Yes. It's just a bruise, Junie B.,” she said. “But I'm afraid it's going to be a little painful to wear shoes for a while.”

    Daddy sat down next to me.
    “Don't worry, though, honey,” he said. “As soon as it grows out, it will look normal again.”
    He pointed to his bare foot. “Look at mine. I've bruised my big toenail many times over the years. But it's always grown out as good as new. See?”
    I looked at it and made a face.
    Daddy's big toe is not attractive.
    Just then, tears came in my eyes.
    I touched my toe very gentle.
    “Ow! Ow! Ow! It hurts even worser than yesterday,” I said. “And so now what am I supposed to do? ’Cause I don't even want to wear sandals to school again. Onaccount of sandals don't protect toes from getting hurt.”
    Mother thought for a minute.
    Then she went to my closet. And she got out my old red sneakers. And she cut a hole in the top of one of them with my scissors.
    She held it up for me to see.
    “Ta-daaaaa,” she said real singy.
    And ha! What do you know? The hole was right where my sore piggy toe would be!
    Mother helped me put on my red socks. Then she slid the holey sneaker on my foot very careful.
    And surprise, surprise!
    It didn't even hurt, hardly!
    After breakfast, Mother drove me to school again.
    Only at first, when I went to my room, Ifelt kind of shy about my sneaker hole. And so I snuck to my seat and I showed it to my friend Herb in private.
    And guess what?
    Herbert's whole face lighted up.
    “A
window,”
he said. “You've got a
window
in your shoe.”
    I did a giggle at that idea.
    “Hey, yeah,” I said. “A
piggy toe
window.”
    Just then, Sheldon came hurrying into Room One.
    He had a shiny red Band-Aid on his forehead.
    He stood in the front of the room. And he pointed to it with his finger.
    “No one touch this,