Slam went the apartment door, making that awful noise again because Amanda forgot to close it slowly.
Samuel sighed heavily and hung up his backpack before grabbing the phone to call their apartment complex manager, Ms. Crudup. Her voicemail picked up, and Samuel reported, “Hi, it’s Samuel in number 6L again. Our door is still slamming, which is waking up the baby, which is making life tough up here. Would you please ask maintenance to come as soon as possible? Thank you, Ms. Crudup.”
This was just another normal day for Samuel: walking home from school with his younger sister Amanda, door slamming, calling Ms. Crudup to send up maintenance, fixing snacks, and wondering how he’d find time to get his homework done.
Samuel opened the refrigerator door and scanned for blueberry yogurt, which was the only healthy food Amanda would eat as a snack these days. No luck: Mom hadn’t gone shopping, and now Amanda would either refuse to eat anything or demand that he make her a cheese sandwich.
“Amanda,” he called, “I have great news! We’ve got carrots and onion dip for a snack!”
“You know I don’t like anything but blueberry yogurt,” Amanda called back. “I’m not eating anything!” Samuel heard his sister stomp to the bedroom they shared and shut the door. At least that one didn’t slam, he thought with a smirk.
Samuel was peeling carrots for himself when the phone rang. It was his best friend Benjamin. The loud ring prevented Samuel from hearing the unexpected arrival of his uncle, who had come to drop off Samuel’s baby sister Lucy.
“Benjamin, I thought you were supposed to be at soccer practice,” said Samuel.
“Practice was canceled,” Benjamin replied, “because the field was too wet. What’s going on with you?”
“Oh, you know, another day in paradise,” Samuel answered ruefully. “I’ve got kid duty with a third-grader who refuses to eat her snack and a baby who probably won’t take her nap. I know I need to share responsibility for my sisters, but all I can think about is being on the soccer field with you guys. I can’t even remember the last time I got to go to the movies or play ball, even on a weekend! Sometimes I wish I could be two different people so I could—” Samuel stopped suddenly when he saw his uncle. “Uncle Al! I didn’t know you were here!”
Uncle Al had walked into the kitchen and was awkwardly holding Lucy, who had started to cry. “Hey, Sammy,” Al said to Samuel, ruffling his nephew’s hair.
“Benjamin, I’ve got to go,” Samuel told his friend.
After hanging up the phone, Samuel reached out to pick up Lucy and gave her a kiss. Then he turned to his uncle. “Is everything okay? Where’s Mom?”
“She called me around noon because she needed to stay longer at the store and wouldn’t have time to pick up Lucy, so I got to pick her up today,” explained Uncle Al. “I can stick around for a bit and help around here if you’d like,” he added.
“Oh, that’s okay,” said Samuel, even though the thought of getting help with his sisters filled him with longing. “We’ve got it under control—don’t we, Lucy?” He raised the bottle to Lucy’s mouth, and she immediately stopped wailing.
“Samuel,” Uncle Al hesitated, “I don’t want to interfere, but I want you to know that I overheard some of what you were saying on the phone. Was that your friend you were talking to?”
Feeling heat rush to his face, Samuel said, “Yes, that was my friend Benjamin.”
“And Benjamin’s on the soccer team, is that right?”
Samuel replied, “Yes. ..and he goes to karate on Wednesday nights ...and he stays after school for chess club before soccer practice on Fridays.” Samuel started to feel upset when he thought about all the activities that he had to miss every week.
Uncle Al frowned for a moment. “I’m proud of you for helping out so much, but you deserve to be a kid, too! That’s it,” Uncle Al proclaimed, “I’m inviting myself over for dinner. I’ve got a proposal to present to your parents.”
Over the next two hours, Samuel noticed that his uncle seemed to overflow with unaccustomed amounts of energy and purpose. He hummed Lucy to sleep, played ponies with Amanda, and somehow crafted dinner out of what had seemed to Samuel like an empty refrigerator.
When Samuel’s mom and dad got home, they were shocked to find dinner on the table and Uncle Al whizzing from niece to nephew like a bee buzzing from flower to flower. Uncle Al said nothing about his proposal until after dinner, when Samuel and the girls were sent into the living room so the adults could talk.
About an hour later, Mom called Samuel into the kitchen and announced, “Samuel, we have great news. Uncle Al has offered to take care of Amanda and Lucy three days a week after school so that you can participate in some of the activities you’re interested in—like soccer!”
Speechless, Samuel leaped across the room and hugged his smiling uncle. He could scarcely believe it, but things were finally looking up
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