The Skeleton Takes a Bow (A Family Skeleton Mystery) (21 page)

A
s life continued to settle down, I was just satisfied that the members of my little family seemed to be happy with one another, and though I knew our unusual living arrangements were bound to cause more problems in the future, I had reason to feel that we were going to be able to work them out.

On Saturday, Madison went to work with Deborah as usual, leaving me to perform my usual assortment of boring errands and household tasks. Sid came down late in the afternoon to help me fold sheets, which gave me a chance to bring up a subject I’d been pondering for several days. Though he was showing no signs of boredom or restlessness yet, I knew it was only a matter of time before he did, and I thought I might have a solution.

“Sid, I’ve been thinking about those times you graded papers for me.”

“Then you’re going to let me keep doing it?” he said eagerly.

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“Even though you said yourself that I did a good job?”

“No, I said that you did a great job, and you did. But I can’t let you do my work. It’s too much like Patty Craft and Robert Irwin taking the SAT for other people.”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. Okay, I see your point. No more grading.”

“Besides, you’re going to be busy.”

“Well, there is the Altador Cup challenge coming up on Neopets.com, but it won’t take up that much of my time.”

“I’m not talking about gaming. I’m talking about you going back to college.”

“Um, Georgia, I think teachers would be a little suspicious of a skeleton in class, or even a bowling bag on top of a desk.”

“I’ve got two words for you: distance learning.”

“Kind of hard to see the blackboard if you get too distant.”

I thumped his skull. “I’m talking about taking classes online. Schools all over the country have added distance learning courses, including McQuaid. You could even get a degree online.”

“Excuse me?”

“You could go back to computer science, if you want to, or if you major in English, I’d feel completely justified in letting you assist me. But if you want to study something else, that’s fine, too.”

“You mean it?” He started to grin, then stopped. “Wait, can we afford tuition?”

“The standard McQuaid adjunct deal includes continuing ed credits, and I bet my parents’ deal is even better, so that’ll cover part of it. We’ll have to fudge your name and stuff but—”

I didn’t bother to go into details right then because Sid was yelling, “I’m going back to school!” He started bouncing up and down, then dancing, then breaking into a move I was dreadfully afraid was twerking. I gave up on conversation and joined in, though I did maintain enough dignity to skip the twerking.

Madison picked that moment to come home and saw the two of us dancing like complete idiots, and without hesitation or asking for an explanation, she started dancing, too. Even Byron joined in by running around and in between us.

That was how I knew we’d be fine. As long as we could dance together, everything else could be managed.