Heartbeat

In “Treasure of Words,” Mr. Welling encourages his students to use a thesaurus to find more expressive language to replace his list of forbidden words. Annie struggles with the thesaurus because it “stops [her] mind.” At home, Annie finds her grandfather terrified and calling for help, scared of an old photograph that he does not recognize as himself. Annie takes away the photo, but her grandfather is still afraid, and asks her to ask the person in the photograph why he was bothering him. Annie pretends to ask someone this question in the hallway, which calms him down. Annie thinks about how much she does not want to see her grandfather this way.

When Max joins her on a run, he is wearing brand new running shoes, and he proudly says that he must break them in before the race this weekend. Max then asks if Annie will be there, which takes her by surprise. He tells her that she “better be there” (138), and Annie is confused by the fact that it is important to him.

Annie gives her grandfather a collection of 20 drawings she has made of him.