Free Saturday Boy by David Fleming

his claws to pull the leaves down from the trees and for self-defense. I think the Therazinosaurus is my favorite dinosaur or maybe the Compsognathus. He was only the size of a chicken! What’s your favorite dinosaur, Mom? Mom?”
    But she was asleep so I ended up watching the rest of
Dinoboy
with her leaned up against me. She got heavy after a while and I couldn’t really feel my arm anymore but I was afraid to move it because I didn’t want to wake her and it wasn’t until a rerun of
Ghost Patrol
that she kinda rolled over a little and I was able to get out.
    The rest of the morning went by okay. I went to my room and read comics for a while and then I got dressed and put on my jacket and played outside until I got cold. Mom was just getting off the phone when I came into the kitchen.
    â€œAround 1:30 then? And you’re sure it’s okay?” she asked. “Great! Thanks, Helen!”
    I didn’t like the sound of that. Helen was Budgie’s mom’s name.
    â€œMom?”
    â€œHey, Piggy! Hungry for lunch?”
    She got bread from the drawer and then opened the fridge and found some ham and cheese and mustard and took them out and put them all on the counter. Then she squirted a blob of mustard on a slice of bread and spread it around with a knife.
    â€œCould you do me a favor and smell the ham?” she asked.
    â€œSmell the—why?”
    â€œTo make sure it’s still good. Oh, never mind. I’ll do it.”
    She took a slice and held it to her nose and made a face. Then she sniffed it again, shrugged, and put it down on the bread.
    â€œWho was that on the phone?” I asked.
    â€œBudgie’s mom,” she said. “And listen, before you freak out—I’m going out with your aunt Josie this afternoon. I called Budgie’s mom to see if it would be okay if you went over there to play for a while.”
    My heart tumbled into my stomach. Play with Budgie? Budgie? The Dr. Mayhem to my Zeroman? Was she out of her mind?
    â€œYou want me to play with Budgie?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBut he’s my nemesis!”
    â€œNo, he’s not. You’re too young to have a nemesis.”
    â€œHe’s
mean
to me!”
    â€œI know, Piggy, I’m sorry,” she said. “You two used to get along so well, though. What happened?”
    â€œI don’t know. Now he’s only nice to me when there’s nobody else around and even then he’s not
that
nice. He’s just . . . less mean.”
    It was true. Budgie and I used to be friends. Actually, the summer his family moved to town I was the only friend he had. We did everything together—we made up these awesome superheroes, Strong Guy and Fast Guy, and ran around fighting the Forces of Evil. We read comics and played video games and watched
Dinoboy
together. We made up secret handshakes and were going to build a castle together and keep all the grown-ups out. It was going to be awesome.
    Then when school started he met all these other kids and we didn’t play together as much. Now we don’t play at all. Now he doesn’t like me and I don’t know why. I’ve never even done anything to him. He even said that
Dinoboy
was for nerds.
    â€œI’m sorry, sweetie,” Mom said. “I absolutely
hate
that he’s mean to you but it would just be the two of you. It’s only for a little while, okay? Mommy really needs to get out of the house. Please?”
    â€œCan I come with you?”
    â€œNo, honey, you can’t. I’m sorry.”
    â€œPlease?”
    â€œSorry.”
    â€œPlease!”
    â€œRaising your voice won’t change anything,” Mom said. “Now eat your lunch so we can get ready to go.”
    I took the sandwich and stomped over to the table. If I was a cartoon I’d have a big, black cloud over my head with lightning coming out of it. That’s how mad I was. Mom put away the ham and cheese and