Page 27 of The Doctor's Surprise Family

Oli didn’t have it. Blake glanced at his watch. His smile turned wry, and I tried not to laugh. He was starting to see what I’d learned the hard way: the more desperately you needed that kid out the door, the more ways they’d find to draw out getting ready. Any schedule with kids involved had to be padded, with plenty of room built in for changes of plans.

We made it to lunch around half past noon, and to the aquarium an hour after that. Oli’s eyes went round one step in the door. He stared up at the arrows stenciled on the walls, and the bright-colored decals arrayed all around them.

“What’s a… bel-loo-ga?”

“It’s a little white whale,” I said.

“Littler than me?”

Blake laughed. “Notthatlittle.”

Oli squinted up at him. “Littler than you?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. No. I don’t think so.”

I checked the info sheet I’d picked up at the door. “It says they can weigh over three thousand pounds.”

Oli looked betrayed. “That isn’t little!”

“Guess not,” said Blake. “But theyarepretty cute. They’ve got these long noses… why don’t we go see?”

Oli skipped ahead of us to go see the whales. He squealed when he saw them and ran up to the glass, then pulled up short as he spotted the sign — DO NOT TOUCH GLASS. He mouthed the words as he read them, then took a step back.

“He’s so smart,” said Blake. “He’s really amazing.”

I glowed at that, though I couldn’t take all the credit. Oli’s smarts were all his, and his sweetness as well. I’d struck it lucky with him, and I knew it.

Blake tensed as the whales came paddling over, then he relaxed as they dipped their big heads. Oli waved and said hi. They smiled, or seemed to, opening their mouths to show their blunt teeth.

“He ties his own shoes,” said Blake, and frowned at his feet. “I was in Velcro well into third grade.”

“I wish he’d slow down sometimes,” I said without thinking. Blake looked surprised.

“What do you mean?”

“I go to work some days and he’ll hit some milestone — like, a few months ago, I worked a double. I left in the morning, and Oli was singing, sitting there singing the alphabet song. I thought to myself,soon he’ll be reading. The next day I walked in and he read FOOD on my bag. Mom had been teaching him, working for weeks, but it felt like I missed a day and everything changed. One day, I could do that trick where you spell out a word, uh-oh, looks like someone needs a B-A-T-H. The next day I wasn’t sure it would still work.”

“All those firsts,” said Blake. “What’s the first word he said?”

I laughed. “It was ‘rat.’”

“How’d that happen?”

“His stuffed Ratatouille. He loved it so much.”

“What’s his favorite food?”

“Hot dogs, hands down.”

“His favorite color? Wait, don’t tell me. It’s red?” Blake nodded at Oli’s red jacket and shoes, and I couldn’t help smiling.

“That’s right. It’s red. But it can’t be just any red. It’s got to be bright red. He loves a good STOP sign, or a field full of poppies. Or cherry tomatoes, butnotactual cherries.”

“The color or the taste?”

“He says they taste purple. He doesn’t like purple food.”

Blake watched as the belugas spun in the water, and Oli tried to copy them, twirling alongside. “He’s just like you, you know.”

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