GETTING TO THE END

I was sitting on the couch with a book laid open across my lap, my bare feet tucked under a warm cozy blanket, when my son Alex came into the room.

“What are you up to?” he asked.

“Trying to make it through this book.” I sighed.

Alex sat down next to me. “What’s it about?”

“It about mental illness and ghosts.”

Alex laughed. “Sounds fun!”

I laughed with him. “It is interesting. It’s just that it takes place at a university and I swear the author gets so involved in explaining certain classes that I feel like I’m auditing the courses!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “So why don’t you stop reading it?”

“What?” I shook my head in disbelief. “I couldn’t do that!”

Alex looked confused. “Why not?”

“Because I have to find out how it ends!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders again. “Hey, if it’s not interesting…”

I cut him off. “I didn’t say it wasn’t interesting. I’m just saying the course load this character is taking is pretty intense.”

Alex laughed again. “If I don’t like a book I just stop reading.” He put his feet up on the coffee table. “I remember one time I was on the second to last page of a book and just said nope can’t do it and put it down.”

“Are you kidding me?” I was dumbfounded. “You got that far and you couldn’t push through a few more pages to see how it ended?”

Alex shook his head no. “At that point I didn’t care how it ended.”

“Wow!” I was truly surprised. “I could never do that. I mean, I might skim through some pages hoping for it to get interesting again, but I could never not find out how it ended.”

Alex reached for a pillow and put it behind his head. “The Laundry News by Andrew Clements.”

“What?”

“That was the name of the book.”

I picked up my phone and Googled the book. When it popped up I showed him my phone. “It’s a kid’s book.”

“I know.” he looked over at my phone. “Yup, that was it. I think I was in fourth grade when we had to read it.”

I put my phone down and just looked at him.

After a moment Alex noticed I was staring at him. “What?” he asked.

“I can’t believe you not only remember the name of the book but who the author was from when you were ten years old!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders again and smiled as he got up from the couch. “What can I say. I’ve got a good memory.”

“I’ll say.” I reached down and picked up my book and let out a short sigh. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to get back to class.” I scanned the page to see where I’d left off.

“Have fun!” Alex called over his shoulder as he headed for the kitchen. “Maybe class will be over soon and you can get back to the ghosts.”

I sighed again. “I can only hope.”