taught him many things Teddy was different from Nora He was shy That’s just the way he is said Mommy shrugging her shoulders He’ll outgrow it said Daddy He’s silly said Nora She wasn’t shy at all Still Nora was understanding and held Teddy’s hand when they went visiting new people or when they went to the dentist’s office for a checkup When he was with old friends like their neighbor Mrs Wurmbrand who was over eighty years old or Russell who lived on the second floor and was four years old Teddy wasn’t shy at all Sometimes he even made so much noise and talked so much that everyone including Teddy forgot that he was ever the least bit shy
When Teddy was only four years old his mother had made him a Superman cape to wear on Halloween Now even though Teddy was five years old and it wasn’t Halloween he still liked to wear his cape around their apartment Unlike pants which became too short or shoes which became too tight the cape still fit him fine Teddy liked to run through the hallway of the apartment with the red cape flying behind him as he shouted superman superman Then he felt bigger and stronger and smarter than Nora even if he wasn’t When they played pretending games Teddy would often change them So sometimes they played Snow White and Superman or Goldilocks and Super man And even when they were playing
checkers or sitting and listening to their father read a bedtime story Teddy often liked to wear his cape It keeps me warm he said One day Teddy came home from kindergarten holding an envelope that a boy named Bryan had given him It was an invitation to a birthday party to be held on Saturday I don’t want to go said Teddy Oh Teddy of course you’ll go said his mother You don’t want to hurt Bryan’s feelings It will hurt my feelings to go Teddy explained Nora loved parties and she had many invitations There were twenty-five children in her second-grade class at school and already though it was only mid-October
she had been to four parties Teddy there will be cake and ice cream and games and prizes she prom ised I don’t like games said Teddy who loved games at home but not away Especially pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey You don’t have to play anything you don’t want to said Mommy You can be an observer Not if I don’t go observed Teddy I’m staying home When Saturday came Teddy still didn’t want to go to the party Mommy took him to the store to buy a gift They bought a set of dominoes because Mommy said Even if you don’t go to the party it will make Bryan sad not to get a present She wrapped the box with paper that
