Adam Blake - 3. Chapter 3

We met Monday through Thursday to work on his homework. The first 6 week test was coming up and he was getting nervous. “Jerry, just remember what we have been doing. You’ll do ok.”

I went to see Mr. Cheston. “Six week test period is coming up and Jerry is getting nervous. I’d like to recommend that he takes his test in your office and be allowed as much time as necessary to finish it. If he’s rushed, he’ll fail the test. I know it’s a special request but not all people learn at the same rate. Could you make an exception and allow him to take his test here?”

“I’ll talk to Mr. Alvarez and I’ll let you know.”

I knew I might need some more pressure so I went to the coach’s office. “Coach six week exams are coming up. Jerry is nervous so I spoke to Mr. Cheston to see if he could take the exam in his office. He won’t feel pressed to complete it in a time frame and he’ll do better. Mr. Cheston said he would speak to Mr. Alvarez but a little back up might help.”

He just smiled at me, message delivered.

That evening I told Jerry that he’ll take the test in Mr. Cheston’s office and have all the time he needs. The day of the test, I caught Jerry in the cafeteria, I gave him thumbs up. He nodded his head slightly.

Before I left the school that day, I went to Mr. Alvarez’s office. “Mr. Alvarez, have you graded the test papers yet?”

“I haven’t graded them all Adam but I did grade one, Jerry’s.”

“May I ask how he did?”

“He showed me the paper, 88 which is a solid B. I smiled, “Thank you sir.”

I was happy for Jerry and I knew I’d have a chance to review the test with him to see what he missed.

Monday evening, Jerry came in the house with a big smile on his face. I told mom to make a nice dinner because we’re going to celebrate Jerry’s math test. Jerry walked in with dad, he kissed my mom on the cheek and headed to my room.

Walking in, he grabbed and spun me around. “Well, aren’t we happy.”

“Look Adam, my test paper and I got an 88.”

“Jerry I’m very happy for you. After dinner we can review it and see what we need to focus on so we’ll be prepared for the next test.”

Mom called us for dinner, Jerry and I washed up, together as we have been doing for a while now, and headed to the kitchen.

Mom made spaghetti and meatballs along with a garden salad. The food was great, I wasn't use to the large portions that Jerry ate. Like out of the blue, Jerry’s dad wasn’t too excited about him going to school, I wonder if he fed him enough food. I knew football players ate a lot because they worked it off. I decided to see what he ate for breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria.

“After dinner we reviewed his test. He found one of his errors and corrected it, the other error was caused by a missing value of X. It looked like it was there but you could hardly see it. “Jerry that’s an X.”

“I didn’t see it so I figured it was like a play without one on the team. I really wasn’t satisfied with the result. If that was an X then the problem’s answer would be…. Y = 7.”

He was right. Mom called us for desert and it was chocolate cake with ice cream. “Mom send a piece of the cake home with Jerry for his dad. If his dad doesn’t eat it Jerry will.” I laughed when I said that.

By the end of the semester Jerry had passed algebra with an 86. Bring up a low 68 to 86 was an achievement. The coach was ecstatic and Jerry played football. I made sure that Jerry knew anytime he had a problem he could come and see me. Actually I think Jerry was at our house at least three nights a week, just for my mom’s cooking. I was beginning to think she liked him better than me. I joked with her about that by calling Jerry her senior son.

We weren’t far into the second semester when again the coach cornered me. “Adam, you have done so well with Jerry, I have another request.”

“Does it have to do with math?”

“No, it actually has to do with English.”

“English, Senior English is composition.”

“But I have two players who are terrible at writing and need help.”

“Ok, same rules, my house after school. Have them bring homework and any papers returned to them by Miss Avery.”

That evening, three football players landed at my home. Jerry wanted me to review his homework and the other two were here for English tutoring. I had warned mom so she knew what to expect.

I showed the guys were to wash up for dinner, Jerry led the way. I introduced the new guys to my dad. “Dad, this is Emory Whatts and Dan Shoutter. They are members of Jerry’s football team. They are here for help in writing compositions for English.”

Mom again out did herself with dinner. While dad chatted with Emory and Dan, I reviewed Jerry’s homework. “Very good Jerry, just remember what you did and everything will be ok.”

“I listened to the guys telling my dad about football games they played in. I took sheets of paper and started to take notes. When they were done talking, I took the papers and handed each one a sheet, “Here is the outline for your story. Here are two tablets, use this as an outline and write a story. Don’t worry if it is short or long, just write.”

While they wrote, Jerry and Dad went to the kitchen for coffee. I knew caffeine wasn’t a good idea for Jerry. I looked into the kitchen and Dad had given Jerry a large piece of cake and a glass of milk.

I watched the other two write their story while I did more of my own homework. Dan was finished first, he had three pages. “Dan, how many pages were you suppose to write?”

“She never said , just write a story, any story.”

I read the story, of course it was about football, but it was a good story. “This is a good story Dan, just review it for punctuation and spelling. I predict a grade not less than B-“

I continued on my homework until Emory was finished. Again it was on football but slightly different. I realized that each wrote from the perspective of the position they held on the team. “Good job Emory, just review for grammar and punctuation. I would give this also a B- if I was correcting it.”

“You both did a good job, you wrote about something you both knew. The notes I gave you I took when you told Dad about your football games. Next time, pretend you are talking to someone, take notes and see what you can write. Will meet here again every time you need to submit a composition.”

Dad walked into the family room, “Anyone for cake?”

What a question, they both got up grabbed my dad by the arms and led him to the kitchen. I looked at Mom and she just smiled.

Needless to say I did tell Billy who I was tutoring but told him to keep it quiet or I’d never tell him anything anymore. I really didn’t need to threaten him I did it more for emphasis than anything else. I wanted him to know it was sensitive and should be kept secret.