An Open Hand : Sam's Adventure Book 2 - Cover

An Open Hand : Sam's Adventure Book 2

Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum

Chapter 11

Miss Allen was in high dudgeon today, as she lectured us on the history of our reading assignments. We had a test scheduled for Friday, so I took notes. She kept going on about what she kept calling ‘whitewatergate’, though that had barely been covered in either biography, and then the Lewinsky scandal. I guess maybe if you had lived thru it, it seemed bigger than it did in retrospect?

Mr Schroder in Physics looked hung over, and hit us with a pop quiz that very quietly took the whole class to finish. I felt like I was fine, as it didn’t have anything we hadn’t covered, or that I didn’t already know.

Mr Poole was spending time with each of us this week on our articles to date, and improving our writing quality. Tomorrow was my turn, so I spent the class writing out a new recipe. I had enjoyed my quiche, so was working on an easy recipe that involved precooked ingredients, so it would only require scrambling the eggs and assembling to bake. It was mostly just organizing the mise en place for matching and contrasting flavors and textures.

In PE Mr Taft seemed to continue to be upset that I wasn’t joining an after school sport. Today he asked if I would consider a weightlifting competition. I declined. Then I did extra push ups. I also warned Mike about the Physics test. He warned me Geometry had one also.

I pulled out a fresh and hot bucket of fried chicken during lunch, to much acclaim and begging. I set the giant bucket in the center of the table and offered it to anyone who was short on lunch. I got a couple big pieces, but the rest quickly disappeared.

Economics was again fascinating as we did the actual math on how much income people lose by using cash checking and payday loans. Then we pivoted to credit card use, and how long it would take to pay off at minimum payments. The calculation of cost over time, compared to initial debt was boggling, as was the estimate of the average families credit card debt, and the public profit records from the major credit card companies. Miz Kennedy had us calculating the actual price for buying something on sale at 25% off with a credit card compared to saving and paying full price. It was shocking to discover the sale was often the more expensive option.

In Geometry I let Mr North know first thing that I was ready for the final. He was surprised, but very pleased. He explained that the whole class was taking a test today, so I could do it in class. The class moaned good naturedly at the announcement, and I got to work with the rest of them. It went right to the bell, but Adam assured me I did better than the 95% correct he had predicted as I finished.

Photography was the usual homework with a few pictures displayed by Mr Parcels that he felt were “top notch work” as he described it. None of mine were in the review, but I did enjoy thinking about the presented photos, and how I could improve my own photography.

Finally class was over for the day.

Mike, Captain, and Paul met me at the car, then Mick rushed up.

“Hey, are you Sam?” He asked.

“Yeah, you are Mick, right?”

“Yeah, Ted said I needed to join your study group and get my grades up.”

“Well, everybody get in, you can stick your bag in the back if you need the room,” I announced.

Everybody got sorted, I checked for seatbelts, then started the car, and headed home.

I pulled up to the front of the house, “Dude, you live here?” one of the guys asked.

“Yeah, my Dad and I have been fixing it up. It needs a lot of work.”

James pulled in behind me with Carl and Larry. I led them all in, first to the kitchen where I handed out drinks, then pointed to the big dining room table. They got settled around as I got bowls of chips, and pretzels. I set them out, and took the spot at the head of the table they had graciously left open.

“First off, I took the Geometry final today, so I’m moving to Algebra 2 provided I passed. I won’t know where in class you are, but I can definitely help regardless. I’m also taking Physics this year, along with Journalism, Economics, and Photography. If you need help with those or other classes I can try, but this group is primarily Physics and Geometry.”

“I need help with Algebra 1,” Carl announced.

“I have English with Ms Hoover, and could use a hand with that, somebody who could proofread would be great,” mentioned Mick.

“I think we can work on that together during this time.”

We got started, covering Geometry first. Everyone brought their last test so I could see where they weren’t getting it. There were a couple common problems, so I started there. When it seemed like they were getting it, I had them do the problems in the book.

“Looks like you figured out what you were missing. Keep up with your homework at home, or in class, use study group for review and getting questions answered.”

They wanted a break, so I went to the kitchen and started getting small glass bowls out.

“Are we having ice cream?” Captain asked.

“No, I’m working on a new recipe, this is called mise en place, it’s French for getting your shit together. Collect the ingredients together first, then assemble the dish quickly, and bake.”

“Cool, can I help?”

“Sure, open and drain that in the sink, then put it in a bowl,” I said, giving him a small can of chopped black olives.

I deftly sliced two straight pieces of kielbasa into quarters, then chopped it into ¼ inch chunks. I crumbled a 4oz package of goat cheese, and opened a jar of carmelized onion burger topper.

“Wow, that smells good!” Mick offered as he came in to get a new drink.

“It does,” I agreed as I cracked two eggs and scrambled them, added ½ cup cream, then did a second bowl with another two eggs and cream.

I set out the two pre baked pie crusts, spread the carmelized onion on bottom first, then I spread equally between the two pies the crumbled goat cheese, the kielbasa, sprinkled on the olives, then with a second scramble added the two scrambled eggs to each pie. Once filled I considered adding a topping, but decided against it.

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