Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for the squeal-inducing feedback! You're the best, ladies.
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.
Hope you enjoy!
Right Where You Belong (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"We finished, Ms. Kristin!" DJ announced as he and Angie approached the children's desk at the library, Elizabeth a few steps behind them.
"We finished!" Angie echoed.
Both children proudly produced the paper logs where they had been tracking their minutes for the library's fall reading challenge.
"Wow!" Kristin said, smiling warmly. "It's not even the end of November yet."
"We read lots, right, Angie?" DJ said.
The preschooler nodded. "We read with Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Ang and Grace and … everybody!"
"Everybody?" Kristin repeated, flashing a wink to DJ who grinned.
Angie continued to nod seriously. "And DJ reads to me."
"That's wonderful!" Kristin said. "What a great big brother."
"Angie reads to me, too," DJ was quick to add. "Not just books she memorized, she can read lots of real words. Like this." He held out his paper and pointed to a word. "What's that say, Angie?"
She looked at the word he indicated and smiled brightly. "Book!"
"Yeah, books," DJ confirmed, beaming at her as Elizabeth looked on with a proud smile for them both.
"Wonderful!" Kristin said. "Well, let's get those logs turned in for your prize."
"Yay!" Angie exclaimed with a little excited jump. She looked back at Elizabeth. "We're getting a prize, Grandma!"
Elizabeth smiled. "I know, angel. That's so nice, isn't it?"
"It's like a bonus because it was so fun reading all the minutes and coloring our logs," DJ said.
Elizabeth ran a hand over DJ's hair. "I love that you think that way, honey."
"Here we go," Kristin said, coming around the desk with a small cart. "You both get to pick a book from the prize cart."
"To keep?" DJ asked.
She nodded. "To keep."
DJ and Angie exchanged excited looks.
"Angie, your books are down here on the bottom shelf, and DJ, your reading level is in the middle here," Kristin said, indicating the two shelves. "Take your time and pick one you think you'll like."
"Dere's Elephant an' Piggie, DJ!" Angie squealed as she spotted the familiar books.
"I think we have all those at home, Angie," DJ reminded her.
DJ looked through a few of the books on the second shelf and selected one. As Elizabeth knelt to help Angie look through the books on the cart, a woman with a toddler on her hip approached the desk, drawing DJ's attention.
"I'm so sorry," she said to Ms. Ginny, another of the children's staff who was seated behind the desk. "My daughter ripped this book. I swear I took my eye off her for only a second."
"They're quick, aren't they?" Ginny said sympathetically as she took the book. "Let's see, maybe we can tape it …" She hid a wince as she saw that several of the pages were falling out of the book.
"I don't think tape is going to be enough," the woman said. "I'll pay for it, of course, I feel terrible."
"Oh, that's not necessary," Ginny said. "It was an accident."
"No, no, we insist, don't we, Madeline?" she asked, looking at the little girl in her arms. She turned back to the librarian. "Please?"
Ginny smiled. "I'll take you up to the circulation desk so they can take care of that for you." She glanced over at Kristin who was standing by the prize cart. "I'll be right back, Kristin."
"Okay."
As Ginny and the mother and daughter headed for the front of the library, DJ looked up at Kristin.
"What's going to happen to that book that got ripped, Ms. Kristin?" he asked.
"Well, since it was ripped pretty badly, we'll probably have to recycle it."
"So the library won't have that book anymore?" he asked worriedly.
"Hopefully we can buy a replacement copy," she assured him.
"How long will that take?"
"It depends on the book and when the librarian who places the orders is able to send it in."
"And that takes a long time?"
"If it's an older book it can take a few weeks or even a month or longer. Why? Did you recognize it?"
He nodded. "It's a really good book," he said seriously.
"I'm gonna get dis one," Angie said, finally deciding on a book with a dinosaur on the cover titled We Don't Eat Our Classmates.
"Ohh, that's a great choice," Kristin said, grinning. "It's really funny."
"Which one did you pick, DJ?" Elizabeth asked as she slid the other books Angie had been looking at back on the cart.
"Pea, Bee, and Jay," he told her, showing the cover of the book. "But not like peanut butter and jelly, it's a pea, a bumblebee, and a blue jay. We have it at my school library."
"I love that series!" Kristin said. "Wait till you get to the part about Pea pretending to be a marble."
DJ grinned.
Elizabeth stood and looked at her watch. "Oh my, we need to get going. Mommy and Daddy will be home soon."
"And we can show dem our books!" Angie said excitedly.
DJ nodded, smiling, and turned back to the librarian. "Thank you for the books, Ms. Kristin."
"Thank you, Ms. Kristin!" Angie echoed.
"You're very welcome. Thank you for doing such a great job reading! Come back in December for a new challenge, okay?"
"We will!" Angie said, reaching up for Elizabeth's hand.
"Thank you," Elizabeth said to Kristin as she held out her other hand to DJ. "Ready, sweetheart?"
He nodded, taking her hand. As they walked toward the front doors, Angie talked excitedly about her new book, but DJ's eyes were drawn to the woman at the circulation desk paying for the damaged book, and he left the library with a thoughtful frown on his face.
After dinner, Catherine sat on the living room couch while Steve and Angie were on the floor playing with a lively Pumpkin as Cammie looked on from her bolster bed. Catherine looked over when she heard DJ coming down the stairs.
"Everything okay, honey?" she asked. "Do you need some help with your homework after all?"
He shook his head. "No, I finished it," he said. "It's on my desk for you to check, but I wanted to ask you something first."
"Of course," Catherine said, turning towards him and holding out a hand.
He came over and stood by her, glancing at Steve who moved to the armchair closest to them with Angie who had sensed his mood and waited quietly on Steve's lap.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Catherine asked, wrapping her arm around him.
"Today at the library, a little girl accidentally ripped the pages out of a library book. Her mom paid for it, but Ms. Kristin said it might be a few weeks or a month or even longer before they get a new one."
Catherine nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"It was this book," DJ went on, holding up the book he'd brought downstairs. "You Belong Here."
"That's one of our very favorites," Catherine said.
"Yeah. You read it when I first came to live here and you said we're all right where we belong."
"That's right," she said, smiling softly.
DJ frowned, trying to figure out how to put his thoughts into words. "That's an important feeling," he said. "This book helped me understand what it means. And what if … what if another kid goes to the library for a book to help them understand … but it's not there yet?"
Steve and Catherine shared a soft smile, both realizing what their son had in mind.
"What do you want to do, DJ?" Steve asked quietly.
"Can we give the library this book? In case someone needs it?"
Catherine wrapped him in a hug, blinking back the tears in her eyes. "Absolutely, sweet boy," she said. Sitting back, she looked him in the eyes. "If you're sure."
He nodded resolutely. "I'm sure."
They returned to the library a half hour later and were happy to find Ms. Kristin and Ms. Ginny still at the children's desk.
"It must be our lucky day," Kristin said, smiling at DJ and Angie. "I didn't expect to see you two twice."
"We have a book for you!" Angie said. She looked at her brother and smiled. "Right, DJ?"
"Go ahead, honey," Catherine said, touching his shoulder gently.
DJ glanced back at his parents who smiled encouragingly. He stepped closer to the desk and placed You Belong Here in front of the librarians. "We want to give this book to the library to replace the one that got ripped. It's a really really good book about being where you belong and I want to make sure you have it in case there's a kid who needs it and can't wait weeks or a month."
"Oh, DJ," Ginny said, putting a hand to her chest. "That's very generous."
"It is," Kristin agreed. "But are you sure? It seems like a very important book to you and your family."
"We're sure," DJ said, looking back at his parents and sister. "We all agreed."
Angie nodded. "We 'greed."
"We did," Steve said, "but it was DJ's idea."
"It was just my Gotcha Day," DJ explained. "The first time we read this book it was a little after when I came to live with Mommy and Daddy and Angie, and it always reminds me we belong there together. And you know what else? The first time I ever saw Mommy and Angie, it was at the library." He pointed over to the play area. "We were at the LEGO table at the same time and Angie was little but she helped me make a boat."
Kristin gasped. "I'd forgotten." She looked at Ginny. "You told me that after we found out DJ was being adopted."
Catherine smiled, squeezing DJ's shoulder. "A very special moment, even if none of us realized it at the time."
"We all know where we belong," DJ said, smiling back at his family before looking again at the librarians. "So now I think this book belongs at the library. In case someone else needs it."
Kristin started to object, but stopped at the clear look of sincerity and hope on DJ's face. She smiled softly. "We'll be very grateful to accept your donation."
Angie looked up at Catherine questioningly.
Catherine leaned down toward her with a smile. "That means yes."
"Yay!" Angie cheered.
Kristin nodded. "Yes and thank you." She smiled. "You know, when someone donates a book like this, they have the option of including a dedication."
"What does that mean?" DJ asked.
"It means we'll put a sticker with a special message on the inside cover, so anyone who checks it out will know who donated it and why," Ginny explained.
"A sticker?" Angie asked excitedly.
"Not that kind of sticker," Kristin said with a chuckle. "It looks like this." She took a blank white label with the library's logo out of a drawer and held it up.
"If you tell us what you'd like it to say, we'll have it typed up and put inside the book before it goes on the shelf," Ginny said.
DJ bit his lip, looking back at Catherine and Steve.
Catherine smiled softly. "Give us a minute," she told the two librarians.
"Of course," Kristin said.
The family stepped away from the desk to a pod of chairs where they could sit and think of the right dedication.
A few minutes later they returned. Angie held DJ's hand as Steve and Catherine stood behind them.
"We're ready!" Angie announced.
"Go ahead, buddy," Steve said.
DJ took a deep breath, glancing quickly back at his parents before smiling. " 'Donated by DJ McGarrett and his family …' " he began. " 'So that everyone who reads it will find where they belong.' "
Hope you enjoyed!
Books:
We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins (Disney-Hyperion, 2018)
Pea, Bee, and Jay series by Brian "Smitty" Smith (Harperalley)
You Belong Here by M.H. Clark and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (Compendium, 2016)
Note: You Belong Here first appeared in the story Belong by Mari, Sammy, and Ilna, posted on Ilna's author page
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