Chapter 1: Ms. Kerr

September 2005

Henry F. Moss Middle School. That was the name of the school that Theodore would be attending for the next two years. The chubby chipmunk stood at the front entrance of the school, staring up at the letters that formed the name of the school above its entrance. With the straps of his backpack slung over his shoulders and a couple of notebooks and a binder tucked under one arm, he lowered his gaze to see several students filing into the school, all chatting away with friends that they had known since elementary school. For now, he had no friends. At least not yet.

He looked over his shoulder to see Dave exiting the school's parking lot with Alvin and Simon in the back. They were headed towards Warren Central High School, the school that both of them would be attending for the next four years, and it was the school that Theodore would attend in two years, provided that he passed the eighth grade.

Sighing heavily, Theodore made his way into the school, getting a few odd glances from his peers during the process. The weird looks that he was receiving from his fellow students was nothing new to him. Anytime he or his brothers attended a new school, they would be subjected to angry looks and curious glances, as if it was a way of informing him and his brothers that they weren't welcome at the school, as if chipmunks attending school was something out of the ordinary, something unheard of. Despite the odd looks that he was getting, the chubby chipmunk in the green sweater succeeded in entering the school unharmed. His sneakers squeaked as he walked.

He figured that the others were afraid of harming him due to his size. Apparently, the bullies feared that if they were to punch him in the wrong spot, they would only end up causing him to die an untimely death. While he was very small for a child his age, he liked the idea of being feared since it meant that he would hopefully get through a school year without being harassed by someone who was not only bigger than him, but also tougher. This thought allowed a smile to creep across his face while his hands tightly squeezed the shoulder straps of his backpack. The only thing that caused the smile to fade were his squeaking shoes It was annoying.

He received his schedule and a map of the school from the main office. He had thirty minutes to himself. There were three places that he could go to: the library, the gym, or the cafeteria. He chose the cafeteria. He was hungry and he hadn't gotten a chance to eat anything due to the fact that he and his brothers had been rushing to get to school on time. He hoped that the cafeteria served good food. Otherwise he'd have to resort to bringing snacks to eat to keep himself from starving during the day.

He scanned his schedule as he went down the hall that led to the cafeteria. All the main courses were printed on the piece of paper. The only elective that he had was P.E. He hated P.E. At least he had reading for first period and language arts for sixth period, his last class of the day. He didn't know why they had reading and language arts as two separate classes. To him, the two classes went hand-in-hand, just like health and P.E.

There were three doors in the cafeteria: one leading into the room that one got their food, two double doors that showed the line proceeding, and one other door where the students exited the room with their food. Outside the room in which the students got their food were several brown tables with circular blue seats that reminded Theodore of bar stools. With his backpack pressing against his shoulders, he made his way to the line and waited silently.

In some corners of the room, attached to the ceiling, were television sets that were set to different stations. The one nearest to Theodore, one that was located just above a window that showed the school kitchen, was showing an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. Despite the show's vast popularity, Theodore and his brothers hated the award-winning show with a deep passion. To say that the show was one of her least favorite shows would be an understatement. They detested the show and couldn't wait for the day that it would finally come to an end. Sadly, that day seemed a long way off. This caused Theodore to wonder when a decent show would come out.

He walked slowly. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, he kept his eyes fixed on the television above him. It was the only thing he could do to keep the time from slowing down. It seemed that the television was helping speed time up. Before he knew it, he was almost in the room so he could get his food, and the episode of SpongeBob SquarePants was only halfway over. He turned his neck to the right so he could continue to watch the program, but the constant tilt of his head was causing his neck to ache.

Casting his gaze down to the floor, he rubbed and rotated his neck to drive away the pain that drove through his neck. He sighed in relief once the pain eventually faded away. He took a few steps forward, finally entering the room that contained a line of food. He smiled and licked his lips as the sweet smell of breakfast met his nostrils. To him, he was in paradise. This was what made him happy. This was his heaven.

He grabbed a plate like all the other students he'd seen do before him and began going down the line, following a Hispanic boy as he scanned his choice of items. The possibilities of what he could get seemed endless. There were some scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage biscuits, small packages of cereal with plastic spoons, waffle sticks with dipping syrup, sausage covered with a corn dog bun on a stick, also with dipping syrup, and finally, a large muffin. He grabbed a nearby muffin and a carton of orange juice and a carton of chocolate milk. He quickly typed in the lunch number he'd had since elementary school and left the room with his belongings, heading towards an empty table. There was no need to pay for his items; he and his brothers got free lunch.

He hated this part of every school year: trying to find a spot to sit and hopefully make a new friend. In the past, he hadn't been as fortunate as Alvin and Simon due mainly to the fact that he was slightly overweight. Still, he liked his rotund belly. He liked to think that it made him cuter, along with his cute chubby cheeks that he somehow still had even though he was twelve. He had suspected that his chubby cheeks would've been gone by the time he reached the age of four, but he supposed that was what made him only cuter than he already was.

Sighing, he decided to sit down at the end of an empty chair. He set his items on the table and began unwrapping his muffin. He jumped when a couple of Hispanic boys started talking to him in Spanish and waving their arms to their right. Confused, the chubby chipmunk said, "I'm sorry, I can't understand you."

"Move your ass, fat boy," a Hispanic boy yelled at the portly chipmunk. "Can you understand that?"

Theodore slowly nodded and gathered his things to move to another table. Clearly, the table he was at was only reserved for the Hispanic kids. As he walked across the room in search of another table, he noticed that other tables had a whole group of diverse kids: black kids, white kids, Hispanic kids, Asian kids, and even a couple of German kids. His feelings were hurt, of course, by the Hispanic boy's rude comment, but he refused to let it show. He refused to cry in public for fear that he would be laughed at and teased about it. Apparently, seventh graders didn't cry. They were tough. He'd only been at his new school for twenty minutes now and already he was wishing that his brothers were with him. He didn't like being alone.

He spotted an empty table, but hesitated in moving toward it. He checked to make sure that it wasn't reserved for any students, then made his way over to it. He sat down at the end and once again prepared to eat his breakfast. As he was unwrapping his muffin, he noticed that a clock on the wall in front of him read that it was fifty minutes past seven o' clock, which only gave him ten minutes to eat breakfast and get to his first class. Luckily, he was a fast eater. He ate quickly, but made sure to enjoy his meal for fear that eating too quickly would result in him having the hiccups throughout the rest of the day.

Five minutes later, after he had thrown away his empty belongings, Theodore scooped up his backpack and followed the other students out of the cafeteria and down the hall with the school bell urging them to get to class on time and letting them know that they only had five minutes to do it. He dug a hand into the pocket of his sweater and pulled out his schedule. Walking down the hall, he unfolded the piece of paper and scanned it once again.

Period Class Teacher Room

1 Reading Kerr 206

2 History Heller 136

3 P.E. Hayes Gym

4 Science Shuffitt 208

5 Math Curry 207

6 Language Carr 209

Arts

He noticed that the seventh graders and the eighth graders were divided into four groups. The seventh graders were either in the groups known as the Palominos or the Appaloosas. The eighth graders were either in the groups known as the Thoroughbreds or the Lippizaners. He was in the group known as Appaloosa, which would explain why he had certain teachers. He also noticed that each group was named after a specific breed of horse. This didn't surprise him. After all, the students who attended this school, as well as the teachers and the players on the sports teams, were known as the Moss Mustangs.

He followed the other students down the hall, passing the library and the main office as he went. After scanning the numbers on the rooms, he knew where he was going. He came to a halt when he reached a fork in the road: two hallways, one on his left and one on his right. He checked his map and took a left upon studying it. He found Ms. Kerr's room on his left. Her room was the second door on his left.

Ms. Kerr was a short fat white woman with flaming red puffy hair and green eyes. She wore no glasses and had no mole, as Theodore had suspected. However, she did wear a white buttoned shirt and black pants with black shoes. With a book in her hands, she sat on top of a black stool facing her pupils. For the longest time, she did not speak. She only peered at her students with a hard look, as if she didn't want to be at school any more than they did. At least they were sympathizing with one another. That was a start.

Theodore sat quietly with his chin resting on his folded arms. He yawned, wishing that he would've gotten more sleep than he had. He hadn't gotten to sleep until ten-thirty at night and had been jerked out of his peaceful slumber by Simon's alarm clock at six-thirty in the morning, much to his annoyance. Like Alvin, he was sometimes hard to get up in the mornings, especially on the first day of school, and this morning had been no exception. At first, he had attempted to go back to sleep, but after being roughly shoved out of bed by Simon, he got up and did his morning routine of getting ready for school in spite of the fact that he longed to be back in bed dreaming about whatever it was he'd been dreaming about before he'd been woken up. His mind was a blank when he tried to recall what he'd been dreaming about. Although he'd gotten over seven hours of sleep, he longed to be back in bed asleep. Once again, he yawned, waiting impatiently for something to happen.

"Good morning, class," Ms. Kerr said. "Welcome to seventh grade reading. Here, we will look at different topics found in books. I expect each and every one of you to do your best. Points from your grade will be counted off if you are tardy, refuse to work, or turn in an assignment past the date it's due. Any questions?"

The room remained silent. Somewhere, someone coughed.

"Good," Ms. Kerr said. She crossed one leg over the other and shifted in her seat. "Any inappropriate remarks and I'll have you removed from my class permanently. Is that clear?"

Theodore, along with the rest of the class, nodded. Already he was beginning not to like his reading teacher. He hated the fact that he'd be stuck with her for the next nine months. Luckily, he'd be away from her during the summer and he wouldn't have to be around her next year, provided that he passed the seventh grade.

His other three classes went by without any problems with the teachers, but he found what they were discussing extremely boring. In each class, they went over a different section of the student handbook, going over the rules of the school and what was allowed and not allowed. Theodore had already read through all the material found in the student handbook. While the teacher went on and on about proper dress while at school and proper use of the school's equipment, he simply doodled in a brand new notebook of his with a well-sharpened pencil.

Halfway through fourth period with Ms. Shuffitt, who was going over proper behavior in the cafeteria, the bell rang, dismissing the class to lunch, much to Theodore's relief. As they left the room, Ms. Shuffitt called after them, "When we come back, we'll review proper behavior on the buses." Her class let out a groan of annoyance.

Once again, Theodore found himself alone in the lunch room. With one hand on his forehead, he poked at the mashed potatoes on his plate with his fork. He scooped up a forkful of the stuff and popped it in his mouth. At least eating made him feel better. He hoped that the rest of his day would go by in a flash. He was already looking forward to when Dave would pick him up and take him home so he could take a nap. Knowing his luck, he would fall asleep on the ride home.

After going over proper behavior on the buses (which Theodore found completely useless since Dave would be taking him to school in the mornings and taking him home in the afternoons), the topic of the importance of attendance, being prepared for class, and proper language in the classrooms and hallways, it was finally time to go home. Theodore quickly gathered his things and followed the other students outside to the front entrance with one hand squeezing the only shoulder strap of his backpack that was slung over his shoulder. He found Dave already waiting for him in the parking lot. He wasted no time in getting in the car and buckling his seat belt.

"How was your first day?" Dave asked him.

"Fine," Theodore replied, keeping his gaze forward. He momentarily looked over his shoulder to see that Dave still needed to pick up Alvin and Simon from their school. He lowered the volume on the radio, then lifted a lever on the side of his seat, lowering the back of it so he could lay down. He knew to do so was pointless since he'd have to raise the seat up again as soon as Alvin and Simon got in the car, but a few moments of peace and quiet couldn't possibly hurt him.

The mood in Alvin was one of surprise as he got in Dave's car with Simon. "Theodore, let me tell you something, man." He leaned forward with a hand on the top of Theodore's seat and peered at his little brother. "High school is a lot different from middle school. They're a lot more strict."

Simon chuckled as he buckled his seat belt. "Well, what did you expect, Alvin? To have more freedom while at school?"

Alvin was completely honest in his answer. "Well . . ., yeah."

Simon chuckled once more and shook his head as he began reading a book that he'd brought along with him from home. It was one of his favorite books. The title of the book said exactly what the book was all about: Stress: How to Cope. He figured that since he was in high school and that he'd have to put up with Alvin all day since they were in the same grade, learning how to cope with stress now rather than later was a wise decision.

While Alvin complained about how dull his day had been, Theodore relaxed against his seat, slumping down in it until he was no longer in a sitting position. He placed one arm behind his head and tilted his head to the side to go to sleep.

It was six-thirty when Theodore finally woke up. Quickly realizing that he'd been sleeping for three and a half hours, he sprang out of bed and ran down the stairs to the kitchen to discover that Dave was still preparing dinner. He sighed in relief. He hadn't missed dinner. After the day he had had, he could use a good meal.

Alvin was found in the living room mindlessly changing the channels on the television. He felt a change in the motion of the couch. He discovered why when he looked to his right to see Theodore sitting beside him with a grin on his face. Turning back to the television, Alvin changed the channel to the Disney Channel, where an episode of That's So Raven was being played. He grinned. "Behold, the downfall of Disney Channel." He laughed.

"I hear they're supposed to be coming out with some new episodes," Theodore noted.

"Isn't she, like, twenty years old now?" Alvin questioned, gesturing towards the black girl on the television known as Raven-Symone.

Theodore shook his head. "She won't turn twenty until this December."

"Still," Alvin went on, "she's a little old to be doing this family-friendly crap."

Theodore nodded in agreement. "I hear you, brother. Is there anything on Disney Channel that you actually like?"

Alvin nodded his head once he thought about his answer. "Yeah. I like The Proud Family, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers,and American Dragon: Jake Long. Speaking of which, do you think that they copied Jake and Rose from Titanic? I mean, Jack and Jake are pretty much the same name with only two little letters changed."

Theodore laughed. "Yeah, it's possible. What about Kim Possible? Do you like it?"

"I do. I hear that all of these shows are supposed to get some episodes aired on here, including a Proud Family TV movie."

"Ooh, we'll have to watch that."

Alvin sighed. "Such a shame that Simon doesn't relish in stuff like this."

"Yeah."

"So, uh, I'm curious. How did your first day of school go?"

Theodore's voice was full of anger as he spoke. "It sucked. I can't stand my reading teacher."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"She's . . ." He struggled to describe her in a friendly manner. "She's a real mean, nasty lady. I'm already looking forward to the eighth grade just so I can get away from her."

"If you need anything, just let me know. I've got your back. You know that, right?"

Theodore smiled. "Yeah." His eyes drifted back to the television screen that showed a commercial about DirecTV.

"Come on, guys, let's go," Dave called after a few minutes. "Dinnertime. Simon, dinnertime."

In response, the three of them heard a loud clattering noise followed shortly by a series of loud swears.

Alvin chuckled and nudged Theodore in the ribs. "He's your brother." He entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Just be glad you don't have to deal with him all day. Would you mind getting me a drink?"

"Yeah, sure," Theodore replied. He went to the fridge while Dave was busy fixing plates of food. He grabbed three cans of Citrus Drop from a twelve-pack of cans, holding two between his fingers in one hand and the third in the other hand. He closed the door with his foot and placed one of the cans in front of Alvin before taking his seat and placing Simon's drink at their older brother's usual spot. He opened his drink and took a sip, allowing the cold beverage to wash away his troubles and worries from the day and making him forget all about Ms. Kerr.

Panting and with a scowl on his face, Simon entered the kitchen through the basement. His usually clean sweater and body was now coated in oil and grease. He fished out his cleaning cloth for his glasses from the pocket of his sweater and attempted to clean off the oil and grease from the lenses. While he did succeed in getting the mess off, he now had smudges on both lenses. He growled in frustration and stuffed the cleaning cloth and his glasses into the pocket of his sweater before trudging up the stairs to take a shower.

The atmosphere around the dinner table was quiet. Since they'd already talked about their day, there wasn't much left to say between the two chipmunks and their father. They simply sat at the table eating their food silently. Tonight's meal consisted of barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans. Theodore found it odd that he'd eaten the same exact thing at school, but the food at the school wasn't nowhere near as good as Dave's cooking.

Of course, Dave had learned how to cook through trial and error. Like many cooks before him, his first cooking experiments didn't turn out as good as he'd first hoped. For Christmas one year, the boys had gotten him a cookbook as a joke. Luckily, their father had a good sense of humor and found the present amusing.

Simon didn't get to eat dinner until long after everyone else had finished. He heated his food up in the microwave, then did the dishes upon finishing his meal. He was the last one to get to bed, but he was used to that. Oftentimes when he would stay up late working on an experiment, he wouldn't get to bed until late in the morning, long after everyone else had already gone to bed.

With the hope that things would get better throughout the school year, Theodore rested a weary head on his pillow. Yawning, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

One of the first assignments that Theodore was given in his reading class was to put together a poster that was about nonfiction, their first topic discussed in the class. Being that the chubby chipmunk was a Christian, he decided to do his on the Bible, making his poster into a parody of the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, complete with a list of money in a panel to the far right of his poster. He stayed up late on the night before the assignment was due, adding a few more touches, such as decorating the poster with crosses and pictures of fish and the Bible in a variety of colors.

In his past experiences with being a Christian in school, he had faced ridicule from students and teachers for reading his Bible while at school. They claimed that for him to do so was illegal. While he was not well schooled in law and government, he did know that practicing his faith in school was not illegal, but it was illegal for teachers to teach the Bible in school, much to his sadness. Still, the ridicule and abuse that he faced from his peers and teachers did little to dampen his spirits and his faith in Christ. He hoped that with his presentation, he would be able to teach his peers at Henry F. Moss Middle School about the sacrifice Jesus had paid for their sins, provided that Ms. Kerr allowed him to do so. He doubted she would, but he hoped that God wanted him to do as Jesus had commanded him: preach the Gospel to every creature.

With his poster between his legs, Theodore gazed out the window on the ride to school. He gently tapped his fingers on the armrest of his car door, tapping in time with the music that buzzed through the speakers. He could barely hear the lyrics, much less the beat of the music, since the volume level on the radio was so low. When he considered this, he realized that his tapping was most likely the product of his happy mood. He looked at the Minit-Mart that the car sped past, longing for something to drink to wash down the donuts he'd eaten during breakfast. He'd been in too big of a hurry to get anything to drink, and he'd eaten the donuts rather quickly.

The only thing he got in the cafeteria was a carton of chocolate milk. The ice-cold milk helped drive away the dryness in his throat. He set the empty carton down on the table in front of him afterward and began hitting it back and forth with his hands, pretending like his hands were two hockey players tossing the empty milk carton, which served as the hockey puck, back and forth.

"You know what? Shut your mouth!"

Theodore looked up to see Ms. Kerr talking to a tall black boy. His expression hardened and he felt his fingers curl, forming his hand into a fist while the other crushed the empty milk carton. Thanks to her, his hockey game had been interrupted and would proceed no further. Sighing, he rose from his seat with the empty milk carton in his hand, having the temptation to throw the empty milk carton at his reading teacher. He resisted the urge. He walked over to a nearby trash can and dumped the empty milk carton inside, then walked back over to his seat and sat down with his backpack and his poster by his side.

When first period came around, he was reluctant to go first, afraid that he would be ridiculed for doing his poster on the Bible. To him, the Bible was basically a history book and therefore, he considered it a nonfiction book. Still, he was eager to present his poster and hopefully lead someone in the classroom to realize Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

Many students, he noticed, did their posters on either national or international affairs while others did theirs on sports, television, music, or films. He noticed that he'd been the only one who had actually done his poster on a nonfiction book. He hoped that this difference would not only be a good change of pace within the classroom, but also earn him an easy "A."

At long last, he was called upon to present his poster. Upon unfolding it, Ms. Kerr quickly changed her mind.

"You know what?" she said harshly. "I can already see where this is going, so you can go ahead and sit down, Theodore, because you're getting a 'F.'"

Theodore stared at her in disbelief, fighting the urge to raise his middle finger at her. He slowly folded up his poster and returned to his seat in a bad mood.

He remained in a bad mood throughout the rest of the day. Luckily, history quickly got his mind off what had happened in Ms. Kerr's room. They were currently studying Egyptians and the Egyptian gods and goddesses. While this did provoke him to discuss the first commandment of the Ten Commandments, he restrained himself from doing so, afraid that Ms. Heller, like Ms. Kerr, would chastise him for the act. Instead, he listened carefully, trying his best to memorize the different names of the Egyptian deities since he had a test over it at the end of the quarter. He scribbled down the names and their abilities in his notebook so he had something to study with during the evenings when he was studying. He knew that Simon, since his brother had gone through the class already, would be able to help him.

At the end of the day, Theodore walked down the hall with the straps of his backpack slung over his shoulders. He had one hand in the pocket of his sweater while the other squeezed a shoulder strap. Upon discovering that he had more than four quarters in his pocket, he decided to get something to drink. He turned back around and began heading back in the direction that he'd come down. He took a right, starting down a new hallway, passing the library along the wall.

He discovered a vending machine at the end of the hallway. He shoved four quarters in the coin slot and quickly selected his drink, feeling like he needed to hurry since Dave was waiting on him. With a clang, a bottle of RC dropped into the slot below Theodore. He slid his hand into the slot and retrieved his drink before turning and walking down the hall again.

Near the end of September, Theodore's reading class began discussing his favorite topic: fiction. While he did quite poorly at writing nonfiction, he did very well at writing fiction. He had enjoyed writing ever since he'd been in third grade, back when he'd first decided he wanted to become a novelist when he grew up. He intended on keeping his dream alive by going to college and getting the highest degree possible in creative writing. Based on how harsh Ms. Kerr could be, he didn't get his hopes up about getting a good grade on a story of his. Still, he attempted to do his best and receive the grade he got without complaining, knowing that doing so wouldn't get him anywhere.

They read several short stories in their literature books before Ms. Kerr granted them the idea to write their own short story. While Theodore was excited about the assignment, he knew that he wouldn't get a good grade on it. He wasn't sure what Ms. Kerr had against him. Perhaps it was because he was a Christian. He thought that this idea was the only possible reason since he couldn't think of any other reason whatsoever for his reading teacher disliking him.

By the time school ended, Theodore already had his short story planned out in his head. His short story was about a very fat skunk by the name of Erik Matthews. The skunk was a lonely, depressed suicidal student at the school that he attended due to the fact that he had no friends and the fact that his mother never spent any time with him. She worked all the time, leaving him to babysit his little sister Marshmallow, a white baby skunk whose appetite for warm milk seemed insatiable.

As soon as he got home, Theodore began writing his short story using Simon's laptop. He planned on saving his story on a flash drive and then printing it out in the library before he had to report to his first class of the day. He felt that the story was longer than a short story, but he hoped that Ms. Kerr wouldn't mind. If he got a bad grade on a story that he felt was very well-written, then he would be very upset with his teacher if she didn't know a good story when she saw one.

Colin Phillips was the raccoon who ended up befriending Erik in his short story. The raccoon succeeded in preventing Erik from committing suicide and even succeeded in convincing the fat skunk to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

The character of Erik Matthews reminded Theodore a lot of himself since the fat skunk loved to eat. The portly skunk spent most of his time in the kitchen binge eating when his little sister was asleep.

By the time dinnertime came around, Theodore was done with his story, though he felt it was a bit too long. Regardless of this, however, he hoped that his reading teacher enjoyed it. He'd only known her for nearly a month, but she was already really starting to get on his last nerve. He was beginning to wonder if he couldn't be transferred to a new reading class with a friendlier teacher.

The two weeks to transfer to classes was already up, so getting transferred to a new reading class was out of the question. He didn't suppose there was any problem with at least trying to get transferred, even if it didn't work.

Theodore quickly learned that Ms. Kerr was a fast reader, because during lunchtime on the day that he turned in his short story, Ms. Kerr came over to where he was sitting and stated, "Theodore, I'm going to see about getting you a counselor here at school who can work with you on some of the issues you're going through. Based on your story, I'd say you desperately need to seek some help." Confused, Theodore watched as his teacher walked away.

When he got home, Theodore went straight up to the bedroom that he shared with Alvin and Simon and thought about his story. Just because he'd written about a suicidal skunk who was lonely and depressed, his teacher had automatically thought that he was the one going through those certain issues. Contrary to what his teacher believed, he was not suicidal or depressed, and he certainly wasn't lonely. He hoped that she would quickly forget about her plans for getting him a counselor. He found out a few days later that she hadn't.

A few days after he had turned in his short story for his reading class, Theodore was driven by Dave to an institution for people like Theodore's main character in his short story-people who were either depressed, lonely, or on the verge of committing suicide. He quickly explained to Dave the situation and his father quickly explained to him in return that he was simply taking Theodore to get a report from a counselor to prove to his reading teacher that he wasn't a threat to himself or anyone else around him.

A few minutes later, both Dave and Theodore found themselves in a small office sitting in front of a young white man with short brown hair, a brown goatee, and gray eyes. With his hands folded on the table, the counselor listened carefully to Dave as the man explained the situation while Theodore sat quietly in the seat beside him with his own hands folded between his legs with his gaze cast down to the floor. Once Dave was finished, the counselor filled out a form that he handed to Dave.

"Thank you," Dave said, folding up the sheet of paper and putting it in his shirt pocket.

"You said that he has two other brothers," the counselor said to Dave.

Dave nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"Do they get to spend a lot of time together?"

Dave shook his head. "No, not really. They pretty much all do their own little activities."

"It just so happens that I'm in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. If you don't mind, Mr. Seville, I'd like to get to know your son a little better. I could pick him up from school, if that's okay with you, and we can, you know, hang out."

Theodore lifted his gaze to meet his father's.

"What do you think, Theodore?" Dave asked. "Would you like that?"

Theodore turned his head to meet the gaze of the counselor in front of him. "Do you attend church?" he inquired. "I don't get to go that often."

"As a matter of fact, I do," the counselor said. "I'm a Christian, actually. I got to Hillvue Heights Church on Lexington Road. You could come with me on Wednesday nights when we have our youth group meetings."

Theodore grinned. "I'd like that."

Rising from his chair, Dave shook the counselor's hand as he himself stood up. "Thank you, counselor."

Shaking Dave's hand, the counselor smiled. "Please," he insisted, "call me Marcus. Marcus Stacker."

With a hand gently placed on his son's back, Dave led Theodore out of the room and down the hall back towards the main entrance.