Chapter 52

“Do you have any homework tonight?” I said when he finally ran down.

“Some.”

“How much?”

“I have to read ten pages in my book.”

“Okay,” I said. “That’s what we’ll do as soon as we finish dinner.”

After dinner we settled down in the den and patiently listened to Robbie reading the requisite ten pages. “Very good,” I said when he’d finished.

“Okay,” Mike said, “now you have to take care of that Christmas card you picked out for your granny.”

We set the card on the desk and waited while Robbie laboriously printed “Love, Robbie” on the card for his grandmother.

“Good,” I said. “I’ll address it right now, and we’ll put it in the mailbox tomorrow.”

“When will Granny get it?”

“In two or three days,” I said. “When you see her at Christmas you can ask her about it.”

“Can I take my keyboard and play for her?”

“You bet. Maybe you should go practice right now.”

“Yes, Sir.”