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    Replay
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    Ebook182 pages1 hour

    Replay

    By Sharon Creech

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's inspired novel tells the story of a boy who fantasizes about who he is in order to discover who he will become.

    Now with fresh and gorgeous new cover art, this touching tale has received many starred reviews, and was called a "warm, funny, philosophical novel" by Kirkus.

    With the backdrop of a large family and a theater as its frame, this is a story about twelve-year-old Leo, who has a talent for transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. That's why he's called "fog boy." He's always dreaming, always replaying things in his brain. As an actor in the school play, he is poised and ready for the curtain to open. But in the play that is his life, he is eager to discover what part will be his.

    With the universal theme of finding one's true identity, and set amid a loud, noisy, memorable family, Leo's story is one that all kids will relate to. And there's a full play at the end of the book that kids and teachers can perform!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061972492
    Author

    Sharon Creech

    Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Her books have received awards in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, and Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler. Before beginning her writing career, Sharon Creech taught English for fifteen years in England and Switzerland. She and her husband now live in Maine, “lured there by our grandchildren,” Creech says. www.sharoncreech.com

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    Reviews for Replay

    4/5

    124 ratings54 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Leo is one of four kids trying to find his niche in life so that he stands out to his parents. He has an athletic sister, an athletic brother, and a musical brother, so he tries out for a play at school. When he finds his dad's childhood belongings in the attic, Leo starts tap dancing secretly, as well as reading a biography his father wrote as a thirteen-year-old. The story had a lot of potential but was jumbled up due to all the characters of the siblings and extended relatives not being as minor as they could have been. There was a storyline brought in halfway through and just left loose, which was disappointing. I loved the completeness and emotion of Creech's Walk Two Moons and was expecting this to be similarly powerful, but it fell flat.
    • 4/5
      recommended for: fans of sci-fi and romance books (I’m not really of the latter but I enjoyed it)This is my favorite kind of sci-fi book: well written and thought provoking, and with completely believable people in unusual circumstances. I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book the best, although the portion (I found disturbing) near the two-thirds mark and the rest of the events in the last third were all “plausible.” I did think that most of the plot, at least up until the very end, was predictable, but that didn’t really detract from my enjoyment in reading it. It turned out to be not quite the book I expected when I’d first heard of it, but it was equally interesting.I read it for my book club but it was already on my to-read list.The more I think about it, the more immensely satisfying I find this book, and I can think of much to discuss.
    • 5/5
      I don’t know how I missed this book, other than that it was written in 1986, a time when my eyes were averted.Wow. No matter its shortcomings, this book succeeds in no small part because its premise is so captivating. This is one of those stories that makes you wonder why it hadn’t been written before. And it was, of course, in other guises. Certainly in one’s imagination. Cyteen comes to mind, for one. The Time Traveler's Wife, perhaps. No, that was later ;) Actually, they both were.Briefly: man has a heart attack at 40, dies and awakens, alive, earlier in his own life at 20 year of age.This is a book I couldn’t put down easily, and when I did I was anxious to get back to it. That is the way reading is at its best; books that are a chore and a duty violate the love of reading that so passionately bound me as a child. And as a child I knew how to make myself happy. Note to self: remember always the lessons of one’s experience. And that is the topic of this book as well.So perhaps the less said the better. No, the writing isn’t Proust, but it’s not bad either. Yes, I wish the protagonist were a little better fleshed out, a little more likeable. Maybe early in the book he needn’t have been so callow. Some of its sensibility is already a bit dated. I would love to see this book written again by a greater writer. Again, the topic of the book.All that said, Grimwood has created a an irresistible saga about the meaning of life, the freedom to choose one’s path, and the limits of change and control. And serious as that is, the book is fun! I recommend it to you.
    • 5/5
      So...what would you do with your life if you had it to live all over again? This is the theme that permeates Ken Grimwood's novel involving time travel in a most imaginative way. Jeff Winston dies at the age of 43 only to arrive 25 years earlier in his college dorm room. He has the opportunity to completely change the focus of his adult life, whether by gambling on a sure thing to make some serious money, experimenting with drugs (hey, it IS the 60s), or saving the world... Problem for Jeff is, he is also doomed to repeat the day of his death, so he's only got a set amount of time to change things.

      While obviously a work of fiction, it makes the reader ponder what they would do with this time for a replay in their own life. Such a creative premise, and truly the best "time travel" book I've read - it secured a spot on my favorites shelf, that's for sure!
    • 5/5
      This is what I think they call a cracking good yarn.

      It's sort of like Groundhog Day, except the guy keeps living his whole life over and over.
    • 4/5
      Jeff Winston, the protagonist of the novel, dies at the age of 43 again and again and relives his life starting at the age of 18 (for the first replay at least). There are no paradoxes here as Jeff is not going to meet his past self in the other life. The only thing that has been transferred are the memories from his past life. This happens repeatedly, and he remembers all his replayed lives every time he starts anew.

      The novel is more nearer to being classified as a fantasy rather than a science fiction one as Ken Grimwood never dwells on the science of time travel. Instead, the story focuses itself on the psychological effects one might have to endure if put through Replays of life.

      The whole essence of the book can be summed up by the line said by another Replayer in the book, Pamela who puts it as, "We only make things different, not better."



    • 3/5
      I read this back in high school and liked it a lot. It was interesting to reread over 20 years later. I suppose I could be critical of many things, but ultimately the idea of repeating your life over and over -- seeing people/places long since lost, what you'd do differently, what you'd get sick of, ethical pitfalls -- is appealing. It does get a bit New Agey at times, but Replay also has its darker moments, and it doesn't just settle on winning the reluctant maiden as the key to life ala Groundhog's Day.
    • 4/5
      An excellent piece of speculative fiction. Imagine being able to live 20 years of your life, over and over again, choosing each time to live it differently, to make different choices and different decisions. Grimwood has carried his fantasy premise forward with great logic and a detailed thoroughness that make this a tantalizing novel.
    • 4/5
      What happens when your soul ages through time but you repeat the same 25 year sequence? Are you wiser for knowing who wins the Kentucky Derby each year and that a mid-level military leader named Muammar Gaddafi will overthrow the Libyan government? Would you be able to stay sane through the lives lived and loves lost. Grimwood's novel "Replay" explores the possibilities.This book was originally published in 1986, so many of the contemporary references might have rung truer then. Still, it is a compelling story and a well-done narrative.
    • 5/5
      Very satisfying read that I started to read slower as I got toward the end because I didn't want it to end. Anyway, if you've not discovered this book I hope you will hunt a copy down. As far as I know, it's still in print; it was published in '88. It reminded me of "Groundhog Day" but much better and instead of reliving the past twenty-our hours, this man has to re-live twenty-five years. A lot of drug use and sex but it went with the times this book was written. One of the best time travel books I've ever read, including King's latest.
    • 4/5
      Good story of a man who dies in 1988 and comes back to life in 1963 several times. Each new life gives him the opportunity to use his knowledge of the future either to increase his personal wealth or to change the course of events. I wasn't sure how the author was going to tie things up at the end but he does a good job. Interesting study of human behaviour and the importance of relationships in our lives.
    • 2/5
      This book is quite slow in parts. There also is a good deal of gratuitous sex; some of it fits, but often, it simply feels out of place other Han merely being extra added titillation to sell books.

      The principle couple also argues unrealistically. Perhaps the fights are understandable, but to there is a big fight that is resolved with an unbelievable 'never speaking to you again'. For characters with as much life experience, and as much to lose, it's hard to accept that they would really act this way at this point in their development.

      Additionally, the epilogue is entirely unnecessary. It weakens the ending, and really ought to have been omitted.

      The cycles of lives described are the only science fiction or fantasy element here. Apart from that aspect, this reminds me of a Nicholas Sparks novel, crossed perhaps with the Tao of Pooh. It was an okay one-time read, but is not a book I'd consider re-reading.
    • 5/5
      The late Ken Grimwood was to some degree a workmanlike writer, not a literary stylist by any means, but he struck gold with this one particular book. This is one of my favorite novels of all I've read, and I've been reading novels for almost half a century.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. Who has not thought about making different decisions if we were able to go back in time. The story was so moving especially the sections about Jeff and Pamela. Some of his descriptions were a bit long but all in all wonderful story and food for thought.
    • 3/5
      I really wanted to like this book, I tried and tried to get into it but wasn't able to. It took me so long to finish. I know the name of the book is “Replay”, but they should have named it “Repeat”. The story repeats itself over and over at least a dozen times. Jeff relives his life over and over and over! To me, it was a sci-fi version of the classic film “Groundhogs Day”. I just wasn’t able to get into the book!
    • 4/5
      This book is a literary "Choose Your Own Adventure". You know, the books where you follow along the path until you die, than you start over again. In this case, the reader doesn't choose, its the protagonist, Jeff Winston. We follow Jeff as he relives his life time and time again, his choices, his love and his losses. He mourns for the children that didn't exist. For the simple knowledge of not knowing the future. By replay four (or is it three?) he completely give over to the sex, drug and wild party scene. By Replay five, he makes choices that drastically change the future. Each time, he dies at the same point in time.Its a book that asks the question - what does life mean. If you could go back in time, what would you do. This is a book I couldn't put down. I suspect that some people will find it repetitive, but each replay is new, unique, with different ways of thinking.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books that made me really stop and think about my life. What would I do if I had my life to live over again, what choices would I make if I knew how things played out the first time.This book is brilliant, and I would highly recommend it!
    • 5/5
      I have to say, I was a little skeptical about this book, but I really, really enjoyed it. It's a very thought provoking story. Like others have said, some of my favorite scenes were when Pamela finally begins her replays while Jeff is waiting for her. I also was completely satisfied with the ending. (which I didn't think I would be) This was my book club's choice for January 2011, and if it weren't or that I don't think I would have ever picked this one up. I'm sure I'll be thinking of these characters and the premise for years to come. I've already begun suggesting Replay to my friends!Update:One of the best things I can say about Replay is that it's been almost an entire year since I finished it, but it's still fresh in my mind. When a day or situation is over, I sometimes find myself wondering if orhow I'd change anything the next time around. I still feel for Jeff & Pamela and badly want to know how things eventually played out in each of their lives. It really surprised me how much I loved this book. Mostly because I never would have picked it out for myself.
    • 5/5
      Replaying ReplayWith what I like to call “the oppressive weight of unread literature” hanging over my head, I rarely indulge in re-reads. However, I have a hard time resisting beloved old titles when they go on sale at audible.com. I rationalize that audiobooks are a new take on old favorites. As for Replay, it must be 15 years since I first read it. I remember staying up to 3:00AM to finish the novel, and then bursting into tears once I had. Not a common response. Simply put, I loved it for being nothing more than a great story. Now, the danger of revisiting such cherished favorites is that the re-read rarely equals the remembered experience. I’m happy to report, however, that I loved Replay all over again. It is the story of Jeff Winston, 42, who in the novel’s opening pages has a heart attack and dies. After which, he wakes up at the age of 19 in his college dorm room. He remembers everything from the life and death he just experienced, and it all appears to be starting over. So begins a series of Groundhog Day-like lives and deaths for Jeff Winston. I won’t tell you anymore of what happens, but I think that one of the reasons I always liked this tale is that I felt there was a universality to the responses Jeff had and the actions he took in the face of an utterly inexplicable situation. There were parts I remembered clearly from the first read, but other plot points I’d forgotten entirely. It was a great re-read!I’ve been recommending this cult favorite for years, and I will be pleased to continue doing so. Wow, it occurs to me only at this moment that I am now the age at which Jeff dies. I was in my twenties when I first read the novel. Perhaps I’ll read it again in another 20 years. And, truly, if there is a book to revisit multiple times throughout life—given the storyline—this is the one!
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorite fantasy books. Jeff Winston dies at 43 years old in his study, only to wake up in 1963, in his college dorm room. All of the memories from his life are still intact--allowing for the usual fuzziness for detail that creeps in over the years. We follow Jeff through many permutations of his life. In the first, he focuses on becoming wealthy and powerful. Though successful, this 'life' ends in tragedy.He wakes up back in his study, only to die immediately. (Although he isn't aware of it at first, each "life" begins a bit later in his personal history than the previous iteration did, and each brief return to his original life and his next death also shifts--at a much slower rate, but backwards in time.)I was struck by the poignancy of his many lives. Attempts to court the same woman, with subtly varying results. "Losing" both his wife and his children with each return to his study, since no two lives are exactly alike, so minute shifts in words and actions make changes in people around him and even result in different children.In one of the most poignant pair of "replays", Jeff ends up in a version of his life in which someone has created a film which has an immense positive effect on viewers around the world. In the next life, Jeff tries to see that the film is again produced but he is not successful. The chance for a much-changed future for humanity has slipped away.I think this is a love-or-hate book. And I think for some people it may take some time to settle into the story. I found details of his first iteration during his life on campus a bit dull. Sort of "been there, done that". But I kept reading. I was glad I did. One very good thing: over the course of the book, Grimwood telescopes much of Jeff's early years, skipping virtually unchanged events and details that don't need repeating, while focusing on the aspects where Jeff either tries to make changes in what will happen or inadvertently causes such changes.Great, great book! I'm always recommending it to others.
    • 4/5
      Jeff Winston is an average man, living an average life in 1988 New York. In his early forties, he manages a local radio station and lives quietly with his wife, wondering how his life became so ordinary. But then something spectacularly out of the ordinary occurs to Jeff one day. Sitting at his desk he suffers what he thinks is a heart attack, only to wake up in his college dorm room in 1963.Thus begins Jeff’s first replay as he lives out every day from 1963 until his next ‘death’ in October of 1988. Jeff explores the age old question of what would you do if you could travel back in time, with all the knowledge that you had of the future? During multiple replays he builds spectacular wealth, marries and loses a child, because lost in despair over his situation during the 1960’s counter culture movement and finally tries to find some peace in isolation. Along the course of his replays Jeff meets two others who suffer from the same condition that he does, including the brilliant Pamela. Replay is a fascinating novel by Ken Grimwood. Unique and nuanced it raises haunting questions about life, time and how both are ultimately what you make of them.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting premise, well worked out. A good quick read.
    • 5/5
      While it's commonly classified as science fiction, Replay's only tie to the science fiction genre is the time loop that the main character is caught up in. The book extends beyond the genre and is actually an surprisingly deep and interesting look at life in general - the choices we make throughout our lives, and the consequences and trade-offs that result from them.
    • 4/5
      I was slightly concerned before reading this book that it would be cheezy or dumb. Too much like the movie Groundhog Day. But I was pleasantly surprised.Jeff dies in 1988 when he is in his mid-forties. He wakes up in his college dorm room and he is 18 years old again. He remembers everything about his previous life and takes advantage of that knowledge. He gets rich off gambling and stocks. He knows what is going to happen, so he can't lose. But how many times must he replay his life?
    • 4/5
      Not just a time-travel novel. Also a meditation on life, mortality, lost opportunity . . . Generally speaking, well-done, but somehow . . . the novel doesn't quite live up to its ambitions. Grimwood seems to have a grasp on some of the central problems of modern life, but he doesn't seem to have much insight into how to resolve them. The novel is pretty honest in this regard, but there really seems to be another corner that we might have seen around, which made the book slightly disappointing in the end.Grimwood was apparently working on a sequel when he died, which is a shame. I expect it would have been quite interesting.
    • 3/5
      A person lives his life over and over trying to get it right. A good, fast read.
    • 5/5
      Page one: "Jeff Winston was on the phone with his wife when he died." It is 1:06 p.m. on October 18, 1988. Three pages later and twenty-five years earlier Jeff will wake up in his college dorm room, eighteen years old again, his whole life ahead of him. It's spring, 1963, and Jeff knows exactly what's going to happen, like a book he's already read and doesn't feel much like rereading.Or does he? It doesn't take much to alter the story, even on this first day back. With a little planning, a little capital, and somebody to place the bets for him, Jeff quickly amasses a small fortune based on his foreknowledge of several key sporting events that year. A multimillionaire by twenty-one, Jeff and his partner form an investing firm, Future, Inc., and Jeff lives out his second life a rich man.And on October 18, 1988, at 1:06 p.m., he dies. Again. And comes to himself at college, in the spring of 1963. Again.In what could be a gimmicky and cheap conceit, Jeff lives his life over and over, each time differently, rarely better, sometimes worse. He lives, he learns, he dies; each time he awakens with the memories and knowledge of all his previous lives. But Replay is not gimmicky, and it's not at all cheap. Rather, Replay is a thoughtful study of fate, self-determination, free will, what it means to be a good person living a good life. Jeff lives lives of fabulous wealth, of decadent hedonism, of quiet isolation. He attempts to influence world events, only to discover that certain events will happen. He meets a fellow replayer who is his soulmate, and together they move through their lives, trying to make sense of it and to make a difference.Replay is intelligent, thought-provoking, and beautiful. It is a truly satisfying book that leaves one wanting more.
    • 5/5
      Ken Grimwood’s Replay is a phenomenal novel that is as compelling today as it was when it was first published more than twenty years ago. From it’s opening line – “Jeff Winston was on the phone with his wife when he died” – to its closing epilogue laying the base for yet another adventure, Grimwood weaves an epic time-travel tale that, for one person, answers the classic question, “what would you do if you could do it all over again?”Grimwood’s protagonist, Jeff, opens the book by dying on October 18, 1988. He then awakens in 1963, to find himself eighteen again, in college, with his entire life ahead of him. He takes the obvious strategy of selling his car, betting on sports, investing in fast food and computers, and quickly amassing a multi-million dollar fortune. Unfortunately, his life does not turn out as he plans and on October 18, 1988 he dies, again.What follows is a twisting, fantastic story in which Jeff tries to recreate his first life many times, abandons all hope to a life of decadence and drugs, discovers another person replaying her life, falls in love, tries (and utterly fails) to change the world and discovers that, ultimately, the best thing he can do is to live his normal life.Grimwood has crafted a time-travelling masterpiece that is completely uninterested in time-travel. Instead, the author focuses on his character and the connections they make. Ultimately, it becomes obvious that, in our lives, we bear relatively little importance. Instead, it is the people we meet and the relationships we form that have the greatest influence on our lives.
    • 5/5
      An intriguing premise, and one that reflects a thought everyone must have had at some time or another - what would I do differently if I had my time again? (I never believe anyone who says 'I'd change nothing', by the way.)Reading this book and spending a little time reflecting on it made me realise that the one change I'd make as first choice might not have done me any good, made me a better person, or been of the greatest utility in the world as a whole. Then I got to thinking that I'd have to replay quite a few times to try all the variations, or to put right various things I'd got wrong.Eventually, though, I spotted the flaw in the reasoning. In the novel, the protagonist Jeff Winston changes his life because he remembers the winner of the Kentucky Derby from 25 years before. I can't remember the winner of either the Grand National or the Derby from last year, let alone 25 years ago. The same goes for any other sporting event that people bet on. About the only thing I could win bets on would be the outcome of British general elections - and I'd have to wait until 1992 to get long enough odds to make it worth my while...
    • 4/5
      What if you died and awoke as your younger self, all of your memories intact but your accomplishments erased? What might you do differently in the replay of your life? And what if it kept happening?This is exactly the scenario posited in Replay, in which Jeff Winston dies of a heart attack in 1988 and reawakens as his 18-year-old self in 1963, free of his troubled marriage and his dead-end job, his life a blank slate that he can remake any way he wants. Which he does. Armed with his foreknowledge of the outcomes of major sporting events and corporate successes, Jeff has no problems quickly making a fortune. Preventing societal tragedies, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, proves more elusive. But most challenging of all is building meaningful relationships — with a wife or children — and then dying and starting all over again, those relationships simply negated.The author never poses an explanation for why this is happening to Jeff. He is more interested in the choices Jeff makes in each of his lives and how those choices affect the course his life will take. Jeff’s journey ultimately leads him to a deep understanding of how isolated each of us is as we navigate through our lives, and how funadmentally important our connections with others — no matter how impermanent — become. By allowing his character to relive his life over and over, Grimwood is cycling in on the fundamental meaning of life itself. As the story progresses, Jeff’s “replays” become shorter, forcing him also to face and accept his own mortality. This unique story will fire the reader’s imagination long after the book is closed.

    Book preview

    Replay - Sharon Creech

    DEDICATION

    For

    Amy Berkower

    Joanna Cotler

    Karen Hesse

    and

    Karin Leuthy

    for their

    wise words

    good counsel

    and friendship

    SCENES

    Dedication

    The Cast

    Boy Wonder

    What They Call Him

    The Attic

    Home

    The Genius

    Tapping

    Tryouts

    Practice

    Leaping

    Then and Now

    Pietro and Nunzio

    Improvising

    Papa’s Script

    Obsessed

    The Shoes

    The Relatives

    Papa

    The Bird

    The Abysmal Cast

    Many Papas

    Goals

    Chores

    Discussions

    The Microscope

    Chili Bear

    The Relatives Return

    Crash, Smash, Crumple

    Splat

    Agony

    The Album

    Rosaria

    The Old Crone

    Worries

    Rehearsals

    Jitters

    The Play

    The News

    Finale: What We Did Today

    Mr. Beeber’s Play: Rumpopo’s Porch

    Excerpt from The Boy on the Porch

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    About the Author

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    Credits

    Also By Sharon Creech

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    THE CAST

    LEO’S FAMILY

    AT SCHOOL

    THE RELATIVES

    The Curtain Opens . . .

    BOY WONDER

    From his perch in the maple tree, Leo hears a cry of distress, a high-pitched yelping. He scans the neighborhood, and there, midway down the block, he sees the old woman lying on the sidewalk. Leo leaps from the tree and races down the street.

    Call the rescue squad! he orders a neighbor peering from her window.

    Leo reaches the old woman, takes her pulse. It’s weak, fading. Stand back, he tells the gathering neighbors as he works at reviving the woman.

    The woman’s eyelids flutter. By the time the wail of the rescue squad car is heard, she is breathing normally, color returning to her cheeks.

    You saved her life, the rescue crew tells Leo. You saved her life!

    Hey, sardine! Fog boy! What the heck are you doing? Mom is looking all over for you.

    Leo blinks and looks around.

    Did you hear me, sardine? You’re going to be in big trouble—

    Leo turns. Trouble? Maybe someone needs him. He dashes for home. Maybe he will get there just in time.

    WHAT THEY CALL HIM

    His name is Leonardo, and his friends call him Leo, but his family calls him sardine. This is because once, several years ago, when the relatives were over, shouting and laughing and shaking their fists, Leo got squashed in a corner and cried, and when they asked him why he was crying, he said, I’m just a little sardine, squashed in a tin.

    A sardine? his brother Pietro said. "A sardine?"

    And everyone laughed and took up the chant: Leo’s a sardine! Leo’s a sardine! Leo’s youngest brother, Nunzio, lisps. He calls Leo thardine.

    It is not a good idea to call yourself a sardine in a family like Leo’s, who will not let you forget it.

    When they are not calling him a sardine, they sometimes call him fog boy. Hey, fog boy! his older sister Contento calls. Earth to fog boy— Some of his teachers even call him fog boy. Fog boy! Wake up! Get with the program!

    Once, the drama teacher called him the dreamer, adding that it was not a bad thing to be a dreamer, that all the great writers and artists and musicians were dreamers. Leo wished his teacher would tell his family that.

    THE ATTIC

    It is raining, pouring, the wind beating against the house. Pietro and Nunzio are fighting, Contento is whining, and Leo flees to the attic. The rain pelts the window, seeping in around the edges, dripping in thin streams down the wall. Leo pokes through the dusty boxes, an explorer on the verge of an important discovery.

    Leo unearths a box with his father’s name, GIORGIO, on it. Inside the box, near the top, he finds a small blue leather-bound book with yellowing pages containing his father’s handwriting in small script, brown ink. On the title page: The Autobiography of Giorgio, Age of Thirteen. Leo flips to the middle, where he reads these words, When I am happy, I tap-dance.

    Tap-dance? His father? Leo tries to imagine his father so full of happiness that he tap-danced. This is not an easy thing to imagine, as Papa does not seem very happy lately. Leo closes the book, slips it into his pocket, rummages in the box, pushing aside yearbooks and photographs and letters. Near the bottom, wrapped in tissue paper, he discovers a pair of tap shoes, scuffed, wrinkled, and cracked on the sides.

    On the bare wooden floor in the dusty attic, Leo taps. Tappety, tap, scuffle, tappety, tap. He slides across the floor, whirl, tappety, tap, kick.

    Leo is on national television, tapping up a storm. The studio audience has risen to its feet, and they are applauding wildly. The microphone picks up the host’s voice: Have you ever seen anything like it? Have you ever seen so much talent in such a young performer?

    Leo taps like mad, spins, leaps over a chair.

    "What is going on up there? Stop that noise! Stop it, you hear me? Papa bolts up the stairs. Sounds like stampeding buffalo!"

    It’s just me, Leo says. I was just—

    "What are you doing? Where did you get those shoes? Papa spies the opened box. You’ve been in my things?"

    I was just—

    "Don’t you go through my things. Those are my things, what little of my own that I have in this zoo-house."

    But were these really yours? Leo asks. Did you really tap-dance?

    Papa scowls at the floor. Take them off. Put them back.

    The rain lashes against the window, and the wind rattles the frame as Leo takes off the shoes, rewraps them in the tissue paper, and returns them to the box. His father kicks the box into a corner and stomps downstairs, pulling Leo behind him. Papa doesn’t know that Leo has his little blue book in his pocket, and Leo is not about to tell him.

    As he descends the steps, Leo hears the crowd noise fading, "Bravo! Bravo, Leo!" He pauses on the steps to bow.

    Hey, sardine-o! Pietro shouts. Your turn to clean the bathroom!

    HOME

    Leo, Contento, Pietro, Nunzio, and their mother are in the kitchen, a small room with faded green and white wallpaper. Leo’s mother is flinging papers on the floor. Bills, bills, bills! she says. Her eyes roam the room.

    Nunzio-bunzio, she says, what’s with the fidgeting? Set the table.

    Contento, who is fifteen and the oldest, says, There’s no lettuce. You’re expecting me to make a salad without lettuce?

    Mom peers in the refrigerator. Aye yie yie!

    Thwomp! The noise diverts her attention. Pietro? You dropped the meatballs? And you’re putting them back in the bowl?

    Pietro shrugs. It was the sardine’s fault.

    Was not, Leo says.

    Stupido, stupido! their mother says.

    Nunzio, little Nunzio, echoes his mother. Thupido, thupido!

    Mom slaps a wooden spoon on the counter. Thwack! Might as well cart me away to the asylum right now.

    It is all noise and confusion, and Leo feels invisible and wants to press the stop button and rewind.

    Leo sees Papa coming up the walk, pulling at his tie, yanking it as if it is strangling him.

    Papa’s home, Leo announces.

    Leo’s mother raises her hands toward the ceiling, as if she is beckoning help from above. Aye yie yie! Clean up this mess. You know how your father hates a mess!

    Papa slogs in through the door, pouchy bags under his eyes, a mustard stain on his shirt. He glances at the meatballs on the floor, the sauce splattered on the stove and countertops. A man should have to come home to this? He turns, stomps back outside, slamming the door behind him. Wham!

    His wife calls after him. "And who makes you so lucky, that you get to leave? Do I get to leave? No!"

    You want to leave? Leo asks.

    Mom says, Yes! Look at you, all of you, a band of noisy goats!

    Goats. Sardine. Fog boy.

    Leo sits at the table in the nook at one end of the kitchen and presses a piece of peeling wallpaper against the wall. The lights have dimmed, and he hears music, a rousing march.

    So how was school today? his mother asks.

    Leo says, "I’m

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