Jim & Me Read Online Free Page A

problems. Maybe he wouldn’t be so angry at the world. And then maybe he wouldn’t be so angry at me .
    I looked over my sheet of PROS and CONS and asked myself if one side outweighed the other. There was no clear winner. I was leaning toward the CON side, but I was still ambivalent.
    â€œThe library will be closing in 15 minutes,” the librarian announced over the loudspeaker.
    I put the books away and rode my bike home.
    Â 
    My mother was putting dinner out when I opened the kitchen door. Uncle Wilbur was at the table waiting to eat. He’s really old, even older than Flip.
    â€œWash your hands, Joey,” said Uncle Wilbur.
    â€œWhere were you?” asked my mother.
    â€œAt the library,” I told her.
    â€œDoing homework?”
    â€œNot exactly,” I admitted.
    After I washed up, I told them what I’d learned about Jim Thorpe. Uncle Wilbur said he remembered Thorpe as a football player, but even he was too young to remember the 1912 Olympics.
    â€œI don’t trust that Fuller boy,” Mom said as she put some vegetables on my plate. “What if you two go back in time and he steals your baseball card? You’ll have no way to get home. You’ll be stuck in the past forever. Did you think about that?”
    She was right. And it hadn’t crossed my mind.
    â€œI wouldn’t put it past him,” I said.
    Uncle Wilbur sighed and we looked at him. Oh yeah. If I didn’t have the power to travel through time, I wouldn’t even have an Uncle Wilbur.
    You see, a year ago, my Uncle Wilbur didn’t exist. It’s true! I was always told that he died as a child in an influenza epidemic that killed millions of people back in 1919. But when I went back to that year to meet Shoeless Joe Jackson, I also met Wilbur when he was a boy. I had some flu medicine with me and I gave it to him. When I came back to the present day, Uncle Wilbur was alive. So I guess the medicine saved his life. It was a happy accident.
    â€œWhat do I always tell you to do when you get a lemon?” Uncle Wilbur asked.
    â€œMake lemonade,” I replied.
    â€œRight,” he said. “And what do I always tell you to do when life throws you a curve?”
    â€œHit it,” I replied.
    â€œThat’s right,” Uncle Wilbur said. “Hit it hard .”
    At some moment in time you have to stop thinking about whether or not you should do something and just do it. So I decided I would take Bobby Fuller back in time to meet Jim Thorpe. I would do it for Bobby’s sake, even though he was a world-class jerk. My good deed for the day. For a lifetime, really.
    After dinner, I cleared off the table and helped my mom wash the dishes. Then I looked up BobbyFuller’s phone number in the school directory and called him.
    â€œDid you think about what I asked you?” Bobby said as soon as he recognized my voice.
    â€œYeah,” I replied. “Come on over.”

5
That Old Tingling Sensation
    WHEN BOBBY SHOWED UP AT OUR FRONT DOOR A FEW minutes later, he had a backpack slung over one shoulder.
    â€œLook,” I told him, “this isn’t going to be an overnight thing, okay? We’re going to meet Jim Thorpe and come right back. It will be 15 minutes, tops. In and out. You got that?”
    â€œRelax, Stoshack,” Bobby said. “I like to have my stuff with me in case of an emergency.”
    I poked his backpack. “What’ve you got in there, anyway?”
    â€œHey, get your paws off!” Bobby said. “It’s my meds, okay? Yeah, I’m ADD. I’m screwed up in the head. Are you happy now, Stoshack?”
    Well, I knew he was screwed up in the head, but lots of kids have ADD without being psychos.
    â€œThe backpack will be a dead giveaway thatwe’re from the future,” I told him. “Kids didn’t have backpacks in the old days. We’ll want to blend in, not stand out like a couple of freaks.”
    â€œYou