The second test was the writing and language test. Basically, you read something that had errors in it. Your job was to find the mistakes and fix them. I had to chuckle a couple of times because the sentence was either so poorly written it was funny, or it looked okay to me. The okay-to-me ones I skipped and came back to. I found that if I read the possible mistakes in the multiple-choice answers, I could figure it out. Luckily for me, none of the choices was ‘it is correct as written.’
The next section was math. They were sneaky because if you made a common error, the answer you would get from the mistake was one of the choices to pick from. It was good that Ms. Jaroslav had hammered that home and told us not to just assume that if our solution matched, it was right. There were several times where I rechecked my work to find I’d almost picked the wrong one.
One technique she taught us was how to work a math question backward. That was what I loved about math. It was logical, and if you followed the rules, you would get it right. There was one problem where I was able to eliminate the other possible answers by working backward.
The final section was the essay. When I first heard this was part of the test, I had decided to skip it because it was optional. Again, Ms. Jaroslav came through for us and showed it wasn’t as scary as we thought. It was similar to the reading portion of the exam in that you were to read a passage and show that you understood it, including the ideas and important details. When you wrote your essay, they wanted you to show the evidence you found in the text.
You had to analyze how the author built his or her argument. Ms. Jaroslav encouraged us to underline the supporting passages so they would be easy to find. We would use excerpts from the text to support our claims.
Finally, you had to write it in such a way that it was in good English and read well. She taught us to outline our thoughts before we wrote. It helped keep our essays structured. Just like a story, it needed a beginning, middle, and end. Once she walked us through a few sample essays, the mystery disappeared, and this section no longer worried me.
When the proctor finally called time, I was mentally exhausted but knew I’d done well. I didn’t expect I would need to retake it.
◊◊◊
When I made it home, my mother informed that tonight was family night. Mom had made reservations at Granny’s, and we would meet Greg and his family there. Peggy and Little David were going with us. When we arrived at the restaurant, Peggy handed me her son. I took him around and introduced him to everyone. When Greg and Angie got there, he joined me with his kids. Mac wanted to see the baby, so I picked her up as I talked to everyone. I was amused to see that my dad wasn’t with us. He just looked on from his seat with a smile on his face as Greg and I worked the crowd.
On Saturday nights, Granny served a prime rib that was to die for. They put a big slab of tender goodness on your plate with Yorkshire pudding, au jus, and horseradish sauce.
I sat between Kyle and Mac, who wanted to tell me all about their day. They asked to try the prime rib, so I cut up little pieces of it to put on their plates. They were having mac and cheese.
I got a little of the horseradish sauce on a piece I gave to Kyle. The look on his face was priceless. What made it even funnier was he didn’t spit it out but ate it because his uncle had given it to him. Angie gave me a dirty look but didn’t say anything. On the next piece, he looked it all over to make sure none of the white stuff was on it.
They then wanted some Yorkshire pudding. I think they ended up eating more of my dinner than they had of the mac and cheese. But that was okay because Granny always gave me more than even I could eat.
After dinner, we returned home to play cards. Granny had handed me a bag as I walked out. It was unbaked cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning. I was happy to see Greg got a similar bag. I wouldn’t have to worry about him stealing mine.
Dad decided it was time he taught us to play poker.
“Texas Hold’em is the game most people are playing now. You’ll find that when you get older, a lot of business is done either on a golf course or playing cards,” he explained.
I didn’t last long. I had an ace-high flush and ran into my mom with four sixes. Mom ended up cleaning everyone out. When I was out of chips, Mom offered to give me some back to continue to play, but there was some mention of odd jobs tied to it. I decided to play with the kids and Peggy instead.
◊◊◊
After Greg and his family left, Duke and I went to my apartment over the garage. There was a knock at the back door, and it opened. When Peggy and Little David appeared at the top of the stairs, I smiled.
“I was wondering, could we do a sleepover?” Peggy asked.
