All the Answers by Kate Messner Page A

phrased the question wrong, but she was too tired to try again. At least her parents were happy. The polls were closed, so their big arguing season was over.
    Who won the stupid election?
Ava wrote.
    The pencil answered. Ava wasn’t sure when the official results came out, but once they did, Mom wasn’t going to be happy for long.

“Has anybody seen my physics textbook?” Marcus said, rummaging through papers on the kitchen counter.
    â€œCheck the living room,” Gram told him. “I think I saw it in there.”
    â€œI can’t believe we have this yahoo in charge of the country for another four years.” Ava’s mom shoved the newspaper across the kitchen table to make room for a plate of toast.
    â€œFour more years … four more years …” Dad walked past, chanting as if he were at one of those post-election victory parties. Mom rolled up the front page and swatted him on the butt. He laughed and pulled her into a hug, and Ava thought that was probably a good sign they wouldn’t be at the lawyer’s office today either.
    â€œIt’s not there,” Marcus said. “I need that book.”
    â€œTry the stairs,” Mom told him.
    â€œI’ve been thinking about giant fruits and vegetables,” Dad said, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table. “Maybe we could grow a world-famous cucumber or something in that plot out back.”
    â€œSince when are you a gardener?” Mom pulled the orange juice from the fridge. “I couldn’t even get you to help weed the tomatoes last summer.”
    â€œYeah, but if they were
giant
tomatoes, I’d have been all over that.”
    â€œThen we could make a giant pizza!” Emma-My-Name-Is-Electron said.
    Marcus stared at her name tag. “Did you take my physics book?”
    â€œOh! Maybe.” Emma-My-Name-Is-Electron ran upstairs and came down with Marcus’s book. There were about a dozen colored slips of paper sticking out among the pages. “Can you leave the sticky notes in there? Your book has good names.”
    â€œWe’re going to family night at Cedar Bay later, right?” Ava asked, reaching for a banana.
    â€œUgh, it’s Wednesday, isn’t it?” Her mom sighed.
    â€œDo you guys know what the entertainment is tonight?” Ava asked. “If it’s nothing too long, maybe I could bring my saxophone.” She’d been thinking about what the pencil said … what Grandpa wanted. Mom’s forgiveness wasn’t something Ava could give him, especially when she didn’t know what he needed to be forgiven for. She wasn’t about to ask, at least not until her mothergot over being mad about having a yahoo in the White House. And she couldn’t bring a dead saxophonist back to life either. But she could remind Grandpa of the music he’d loved. “I’ve been practicing a song I think Grandpa will like.”
    â€œThat would be great,” Dad said.
    â€œDon’t take it personally if he’s in one of his moods,” Mom added.
    â€œI won’t.” Ava thought about her trip to Cedar Bay with Sophie and the list they’d made. “Do we have any old baseballs around?”
    â€œMaybe.” Dad frowned and looked up at the ceiling. “There might be some in the garage from Marcus’s Little League days. Over in the corner with those old tennis rackets.”
    â€œI’ll check on my way out. Thanks!” Ava threw away her banana peel, grabbed her backpack and saxophone, and headed to the garage. She found half a dozen cobwebby baseballs on a low shelf, brushed off two newish-looking balls and one older one, put them in her backpack, and started down the driveway to meet Sophie.
    â€œ
Mehhh!
” Ethel yelled. Ava jumped about a mile and then ran the rest of the way to the sidewalk, even though the goats were fenced in.
    â€œLook what I found for Mrs. Raymond!” Sophie dropped her