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Chapter 3

I decide to play Minecraft with Will while we wait for the babysitter—Shelby—to get here. Will loves Minecraft. Before Minecraft he played Super Mario, and before Super Mario he only played with Thomas the Tank Engine. He used to build tracks all over the house. Some of his tracks would reach all the way across the living room rug, then go up one side of the couch, across the top, then back down to the rug again. With his tracks all over the place, we couldn’t watch TV in there or sit on either of the couches. Mom would take pictures of the tracks before she vacuumed so she could remember how to put them back together just the way he left them. If she put them back the wrong way or forgot a piece, Will would freak.

Mom doesn’t say “freak.” She says “meltdown.”

One day I heard Will ask Mom if Thomas the Tank Engine was for babies.

“Thomas isn’t for babies,” she said. “You love Thomas. Are you a baby?”

I didn’t know any boys who still wore Thomas shirts to school. Usually I don’t pay much attention to what other people wear. I knew none of the boys in my class had worn Thomas shirts since around first grade. Maybe even since kindergarten. So, I decided to tell Will myself. I went into his room after Mom tucked him in, and I told him.

“Will,” I said, “Remember what you asked Mom about Thomas?”

He was lying in his bed with his Thomas blanket and Thomas pillowcase and Thomas stickers on the walls. I knew Mom would never tell him the truth. Someone had to.

“It’s true,” I whispered to him. “Thomas is for babies.”

“Thomas is for babies?” he said.

“Yup,” I said.

I kind of expected he might start crying and run and tell Mom. Instead he just turned over and faced the wall. Really quietly he said, “Thomas is for babies. Thomas is for babies.”

“Right,” I said.

The next day he took apart the tracks from all over the couches. He didn’t freak out, not even once. When Dad asked where he wanted to put all his trains and tracks, he said, “Down in the basement. Thomas is for babies.”

Later Dad stopped me outside my room and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Tell me the truth,” Dad said. “Did you tell him that? That Thomas is for babies?”

For a minute I wondered if Dad would be mad at me. Then I remembered what I’d heard Mom say once on the phone to one of her friends. “The problem is,” she said, “that Will wouldn’t even know if he was being made fun of.”

“Dad,” I said, “I was just looking out for him.”

He gave me a little squeeze and said that he’d thought of telling Will that himself but was too afraid of Mom to do it. Then we both laughed and gave each other a high five.

Mom once said it made her a little sad that Will had to say goodbye to Thomas. Now, Will plays Super Mario again, but Minecraft is his favorite. He wears Minecraft shirts and has a Minecraft wallet and a Minecraft poster in his room. One thing about Will—when he gets into something, he gets totally into it.

Last year Hannah and I would play Minecraft and talk about it sometimes at lunch. This year we don’t talk about it anymore. I don’t know for sure whether Hannah gave up playing, but she never mentions it. So, I just play with Will.