wiped his eyes again and rested his head on the window.
“Enough already. I’m not sure I can stand another week of this.” Gramps eyed us through the rearview mirror. “You two act like you belong in a zoo. Maybe I’ll call and see if they’ll keep you there.”
When we got to school, Austin jumped out of the car without saying goodbye to Gramps. He ran across the schoolyard and disappeared into a mob of kids.
“He forgot his lunch sack.” Gramps held it out to me.
“Too bad.” I slid my arms into my backpack. “I guess he won’t eat today.”
Gramps frowned. “Just because you have red hair is no excuse for that temper, Luke. You act like you don’t even like your brother.”
“I don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because he won’t leave me alone. He’s always hanging around and butting into my business.”
That was how the fight started this morning. I was reading my Nature magazine and he was reading over my shoulder. He reached over and turned a page before I finished. He was trying to show me how much faster he reads. I’d swung my fist up and backwards. I wasn’t trying to hit his face. I wasn’t trying to hit him at all. I just wanted him to stop breathing down my neck.
“Luke.” Gramps shook his head. “Don’t you understand? Austin looks up to you. That’s why he’s always trying to get your attention.”
Yeah, right. Austin was president of my fan club.
“Whatever. I’ve got to get going.” I started to walk away. Then I stopped. Austin was so upset he didn’t eat breakfast. Now he wouldn’t have lunch, either. I might not like him, but I didn’t want him to go hungry. I trudged back to the car.
Gramps smiled. He reached over and handed me the brown bag. I closed the car door and headed into school.
The halls were packed with kids. I had to find Austin and give him his lunch before I went to class. The sixth-grade classes were on the lower level. As I went down the steps, I heard somebody yelling.
“Leave me alone!” It was Austin’s voice.
I raced around the corner and saw him, but I was too far away to help. A kid named Jerry Magee had his arms around Austin’s chest. He was trying to shove Austin into his locker. Austin had his feet braced against the wall. Jerry hit him in the knee and Austin crumpled to the ground.
I rammed into Magee and knocked him sideways. “Leave him alone, you big jerk,” I shouted. “Pick on somebody your own size.”
Jerry pulled himself back to his feet. His eyes bugged out and he was breathing hard. “Mommy’s little baby needs his big brother to protect him.” He jabbed his finger at Austin. “See you later, punk.” He straightened his sweater and stalked off.
“Thanks for nothing.” Austin got up from the floor. “Now he’ll beat me up even worse.”
When Jerry was out of sight, I turned back to my brother. “Why did you take that? You could have knocked him on his butt.”
Austin held up his hands. “For self-defense only, remember?”
I remembered. Our Karate instructor had drilled it into us for a year.
“You can’t just let him beat you up, Austin. How long has this been going on?”
“None of your business.” Austin picked up his backpack and disappeared down the hall.
“Here’s your lunch,” I called after him. He didn’t answer, and he didn’t come back for it.
I stuffed his lunch bag into my backpack and headed up the stairs. The scene with Jerry bothered me. Austin could have taken him down in three seconds. He was good at Karate. He’d have at least a brown belt by now if he’d kept taking lessons. He quit because he didn’t want to hurt anyone. I quit because I didn’t want to get killed.
The intercom crackled as I slid into my seat. The principal read the day’s announcements. The buses would leave for the zoo at nine-thirty and return home at three. We should keep together and meet in the pavilion at noon for lunch. Boy Scouts working on their nature badges were to answer the questions on the worksheets.
“Have a great time at the zoo,” said the principal. The intercom crackled as she signed off.
In science class, the teacher handed back our exams. I was happy to see a big red “A” on my paper. It would probably be the only good grade I got all year.
Austin was a straight-A student. It wasn’t his fault, but I hated it. Austin takes after my grandfather, who teaches physics and astronomy at the college in our town. Gramps knows lots of things. Sometimes he uses big words I can’t understand. He’d be glad I aced this test, because he likes science, too. Maybe he’d give me back the screen time he took away this morning.
After first hour, I took the two lunch sacks and my consent form from my backpack and went outside to line up for the bus. I was already hungry and it wasn’t anywhere near lunchtime. Austin would be hungry, too. Gramps hadn’t given us our allowance, so Austin couldn’t buy his lunch, either. As soon as we arrived, I’d find him and give him his lunch.
Yellow school buses from every school in the county packed the zoo parking lot. Kids poured out of the buses and flowed through the zoo’s entrance gate. I watched for Austin, but it was like trying to find a raisin in a river of M&Ms. I decided to look for him later, when the crowd had thinned. I’d probably find him at the grizzly bear exhibit. Grizzlies were his favorites.
I showed my pass to the lady in the ticket booth and went straight to the Reptile House. I wanted to get there before it was too crowded. I could find Austin later.
My first stop was the snake displays. My favorite is the large glass aquarium where the cobras live. It’s a cozy home for cobras. They can curl up on rocks and crawl into hollow logs, just like they do in the wild. It even rains in their glass home. As usual, the cobras were asleep in the back corner, nestled behind a pile of twigs and leaves.
I stopped to check out the venomous snakes that are found in our state. I wanted Austin to see them, too. Austin got straight A’s at school, but he couldn’t tell a rattler from a garter snake. I’d been able to identify venomous snakes since I was six years old. I’d always known a lot about animals. Without even trying, I remembered everything I read about them. Too bad I couldn’t do the same with math and history. Or Spanish. Or English.
I visited the turtles and the poisonous dart frogs, and then headed for the crocodile pit. On the way I spotted something new. It was a really big glass enclosure, much bigger than the cobra exhibit. It was almost as big as our garage at home. In the middle of the big glass pen was a huge gray lizard. It was the biggest lizard I’d ever seen—at least ten feet long. It narrowed its yellow eyes and flicked its forked yellow tongue at me. It was a Komodo dragon!
A volunteer stood near the enclosure, talking to a group of people. “This is our new exhibit.” She waved her hand toward the big lizard. “It’s a Komodo dragon.”
I’d read about Komodo dragons, so I knew something about them. They can run
