Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) (67 page)

The
red
brake
lights
signaled
that
she
was
gone
before
he
stepped
into
the
house,
the
paper
she’d
handed
him
still
clutched
in
his
fist
.
He
glanced
down
and
began
reading.
What
kind
of
book
report
was
this?

Tavish
strolled
toward
his
cubbyhole
,
but
Luke
stopped
him.
“Where
is
Laird?”

“Waiting
in
the
schoolroom
I
think.”

The
boy
was
right.
Laird
sat
at
the
table,
working
on
some
assignment
or
another,
trying
desperately
to
look
uninterested
in
what
was
about
to
take
place.

“What
is
this?”
Luke
shook
the
paper.
“Interesting
report.”

“Good.
Aunt
Aggie
said
you
have
to
grade
it.”

“What
was
the
criteria
for
writing
the
paper?”

Laird
set
down
his
pencil
and
leaned
back
in
the
chair,
again
with
a
ridiculous
air
of
nonchalance.
“At
first,
she
said
to
write
what
I
liked
about
the
book.
So
I
did.”

“Well,
you
did
a
thorough
job
of
it,”
Luke
conceded.

“I
had
to.
My
original
report
got
an
F
for
being
too
short.”

“Too
short?”
This
was
going
to
be
good.
“How
long
was
it?”

“It
was
one
sentence,
not
a
fragment
even.
I
specifically
named
the
book
and
what
I
liked.”

Luke
sat
down
and
laid
the
paper
between
them.
“T
hen
what?”

“She
said
it
had
to
be
a
full
page
report.
So,
I
expanded
on
what
I
liked
about
the
book—in
short,
its
shortness.”

“Brevity.”

“What?”

Luke
glanced
around
and
then
retrieved
a
dictionary
from
a
nearby
bookshelf.
“Look
it
up.”

“It’s
not
vocabulary,
Luke.
I
did
what
she
said
I
had
to
do—twice.
I
didn’t
deserve
the
F—”

“Look
it
up,
Laird.”

After
a
few
seconds
in
the
dictionary,
Laird
retrieved
the
paper
and
erased
something.
When
Luke
got
it
back,
he
saw
one
sentence
changed
from
“why
I
like
the
shortness
of
this
book”
to
“why
I
like
the
brevity
of
this
book.”
Brevity
was
written
out
in
a
sprawling
manner
to
help
it
fit
into
the
larger
space
needed
by
shortness.

Now
Luke
saw
the
real
problem.
Aggie
wasn’t
concerned
about
the
book
report—it
was
actually
quite
ingenious
considering
the
requirements
given.
No,
she
was
upset
by
the
attitude
that
prompted
it.
Even
now,
a
smugness
hovered
about
Laird’s
features.
He
knew
he’d
written
exactly
what
was
required
and
had
done
a
good
job
of
it.

After
rooting
around
in
the
drawer,
Luke
found
the
red
pencil
Aggie
used
for
grading
and
marked
an
A
on
the
top
of
the
page.
Self-satisfied,
Laird
stood
and
nodded
before
turning
to
leave.
Luke
stopped
him.
“I
am
not
finished
with
you.”