Worst-Case Collin Read online

  Text copyright © 2021 by Rebecca Caprara

  Cover illustrations copyright © 2021 by James Weinberg

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Charlesbridge and colophon are registered trademarks of Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

  At the time of publication, all URLs printed in this book were accurate and active.

  Charlesbridge and the author are not responsible for the content or accessibility of any website.

  Published by Charlesbridge

  9 Galen Street

  Watertown, MA 02472

  (617) 926-0329

  www.charlesbridge.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Caprara, Rebecca, author.

  Title: Worst-case Collin / by Rebecca Caprara.

  Description: Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2021. | Summary: “In the two years since his mother was killed in an automobile crash, Collin has been anticipating further disasters, writing down what to do in the event of an avalanche or mentally practicing the Heimlich maneuver just in case—but the real trouble is that his mathematician father is obsessed with a classic math problem and has a hoarding problem that is spiraling out of control, leaving Collin desperate to hide this chaos from his friends and everyone else, even as he struggles with his own grief.”—Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019046483 (print) | LCCN 2019046484 (ebook) | ISBN 9781623541453 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781632899224 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Compulsive hoarding—Juvenile fiction. | Bereavement in children—Juvenile fiction. | Fathers and sons—Juvenile fiction. | Parents—Death—Juvenile fiction. | Mathematicians—Juvenile fiction. | Friendship—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Novels in verse. | Compulsive hoarding—Fiction. | Grief—Fiction. | Death—Fiction. | Fathers and sons—Fiction. | Mathematicians—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | LCGFT: Psychological fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.5.C38 Wo 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.5.C38 (ebook) | DDC 813.6 [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046483

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046484

  Ebook ISBN 9781632899224

  Production supervision by Jennifer Most Delaney

  Ebook design adapted from print design by Kristen Nobles

  a_prh_5.7.0_c0_r0

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Before

  After

  Swimming

  Sidestroke

  T-Minus 119 Days

  Math

  Dad’s Dream

  Magnificent Boy

  Georgia’s Dream

  Worst-Case Scenario #11: Avalanche

  Nicknames

  Discovery

  Collections

  Numbers

  8

  Prime Time

  2

  Moving Forward

  Remembering

  A Better Goodbye

  Going Back

  Layers

  Grossbombs

  The State of My Heart

  Bullies

  Worst-Case Scenario #432: Riptide

  Outside

  Spectacular Deal

  Lost

  T-Minus 108

  High Dive

  Warm Welcome

  Georgia

  Unexpected

  Bloom

  Full

  Growth

  Baffled

  History

  T-Minus 101

  The Blob

  Genius

  Impossible

  Hole in One

  Worst-Case Scenario #441: Rock Climbing

  Sweaty Betty

  Keeping Busy

  Nickname

  Bravery

  Worst-Case Scenario #558: Starvation

  Hunting

  Missing Chapter

  Vacant Lot

  A Memory

  Healing

  Trying

  T-Minus 96

  Home State

  Appearances

  Stinking

  The Hoard Is Born

  Refuge

  Bus

  Hygiene

  Laundry

  Away

  Crossing Over

  Borders

  Breach

  Worst-Case Scenario #320: Piranhas

  Water

  Uniform

  Treasures

  Back to Life

  Collin Versus the Hoard

  Thin Ice

  T-Minus 81

  Worst-Case Scenario #212: Indigestion

  Incandescent

  Splash

  Suits

  Small Victories

  Good Riddance

  Worst-Case Scenario #119: Earthquake

  Doorbell

  Trash Talk

  Doorbell Dread

  Worst-Case Scenario #129: Gila Monster

  Heatstroke

  Smells

  New Smells

  Worst-Case Scenario #l80: Heatstroke

  T-Minus 73

  Gila Breath

  Crazy

  Kissing

  Worst-Case Scenario #178: Halitosis

  Everything

  Everything and Nothing

  T-Minus 68

  Ocotillo

  Movie Night

  Space Invader

  Restored

  How I Feel at Home

  Clear

  Boundaries

  Trim

  Challenge

  Tsunami

  Vocabulary

  Candy Roulette

  Bad Ideas

  Halt

  Churn

  Borderless

  Perfect

  Leaving

  Worst-Case Scenario #226: Jammed Door

  Nest

  3

  Giving

  Space and Time

  Equations

  Unknowns

  Why

  T-Minus 62

  Worst-Case Scenario #741: Typhoon

  Peace Offering

  Traitor

  Show-And-Tell

  My Turn

  Worst-Case Scenario #1003: Zombies

  Fossils

  Strike One

  Secret

  Photographs

  Stay

  So Clever

  Stand Up

  One More Secret

  Clumsy

  Solved

  New Solution

  Payback

  No Fun Phone

  Worst-Case Scenario #477: Runaway Train

  Georgia Versus Gravity

  T-Minus 54

  Rain

  Strike Two

  Ocotillo

  The Best Week

  Reboot

  Ka-Boom!

  Splitting

  Unsolvable

  Help Wanted

  Drift

  The Accident

  Sinking

  Hummingbird

  Email

 
Reaching Out

  Sludge

  Checkmate

  10

  T-Minus 41

  Worst-Case Scenario #194: House Fire

  SOS

  Worrying

  Weightless

  Decisions

  No Warning

  Exposed

  Shock

  Stuck

  Can’t Go

  Fess Up

  Escape Plan

  Construction

  T-Minus 33

  Diversions

  Building

  Yard Sale

  Logistics

  Value

  Last Chance!

  Not a Bird

  Vocabulary

  Searching

  Surprise

  Conversations

  Scorpions

  Take Back

  T-Minus 24

  Lost and Found

  6

  T-Minus 17

  Letter to Mom

  Wake-Up Call

  Left Behind

  Message

  Excuses

  Rats

  T-Minus 13

  Field Day

  Strike Three

  Tug-of-War

  T-Minus 6

  Return

  T-Minus 1

  Night Sky

  Smoke

  Alternate Route

  4

  Colors

  Swirl

  Relief

  Embarrassing

  Reveal

  Thankful

  Amenities

  Messages

  Gone

  Loss

  The Human Heart

  Perennial

  Confession

  One Condition

  Best-Case Scenario #1: Winning the Lottery

  Best-Case Scenario #2: Riemann Hypothesis

  Best-Case Scenario #3: Tacos

  Death by Hugging

  Worry

  Tyson

  Little by Little

  DCS

  Room to Talk

  Swimming

  Unknowns

  Starting Over

  Jaws

  Blossom

  Smile

  Kiss

  Not Dead

  Kalamazoo

  Acknowledgments

  BEFORE

  I used to dream

  about normal stuff like

  making the swim team,

  acing my social studies quiz,

  getting revenge on Liam for pranking me all the time.

  These days

  my main goal

  is to prevent disaster

  from striking again.

  Or, at the very least,

  to be better prepared.

  Which is harder

  than it sounds

  when you’re in middle school

  and calamities of various sorts

  occur daily.

  AFTER

  Now I carry

  a bright orange book

  in my pocket

  at all times.

  It has instructions for:

  outrunning killer bees,

  crawling out of quicksand,

  surviving an earthquake.

  There’s even a part about escaping

  from a car submerged in water.

  My friend Georgia says,

  If any of those things actually happened,

  you’d never have the time or wits

  to check your little orange book.

  She has a good point.

  So I’m memorizing every chapter,

  starting with the one about the sinking car.

  SWIMMING

  I’ve become a good swimmer:

  backstroke,

  freestyle,

  butterfly (which is the most challenging)

  My friend Liam is a decent swimmer, too.

  But he prefers to invent his own wacky strokes.

  Watching him from the pool deck after school

  makes me laugh so hard

  I snort Gatorade through my nose,

  especially when he attempts

  the Slippery Noodle Double Kick.

  My favorite is sidestroke

  because it’s low intensity

  and can be sustained over long distances

  (handy if you become lost at sea, for example).

  Coach Baker says sidestroke,

  along with all of Liam’s inventions,

  aren’t official strokes,

  at least not in competition.

  That’s fine by me.

  I’m not in this for speed.

  Survival is more important

  than winning medals.

  SIDESTROKE

  Pick a cherry,

  put it in your basket.

  One.

  Pick a cherry,

  put it in your basket.

  Two.

  That’s what I repeat

  in my head

  when I practice.

  Making sure to avoid

  the danger zone

  under the diving board.

  Pick a cherry,

  put it in your basket.

  Three.

  I stretch my arms,

  kick my legs.

  Counting each cherry,

  not how many laps I do.

  Which is a lot.

  I’ve been swimming

  every day

  since the accident.

  Except for the days

  when lightning threatens

  to shock the water

  and everyone in it.

  Or the days

  when the water gets shocked

  with chemicals

  because some knucklehead

  pooped in the pool.

  Pick a cherry,

  put it in your basket.

  Four.

  I swim, swim, swim.

  Pick, pick, pick.

  The cherries never

  weigh me

  down.

  They’re not real,

  thankfully.

  T-MINUS 119 DAYS

  X

  X

  X

  Liam makes a calendar—

  a countdown

  until the last day of school.

  Each red X makes him and Georgia giddy

  for the freedom of

  summer vacation.

  Each red X twists my stomach

  into a knot.

  MATH

  The kind of math

  my dad teaches

  is brain-numbingly hard.

  Not like 1 cherry + 1 cherry = 2 cherries.

  Dad’s math has more letters

  than numbers,

  which makes

  zer0

  sense to me.

  Then again

  I’m not the genius—

  he is.

  DAD’S DREAM

  For as long as I can remember

  my father has dreamed

  of solving something

  called the Riemann hypothesis.

  Lots of very smart people consider this

  impossible.

  Which only makes Dad

  more determined

  to figure it out.

  Which I think

  is very cool.

  MAGNIFICENT BOY

  Every time we’d visit Da
d at work,

  the big green quad

  buzzed with people

  studying,

  tossing Frisbees,

  lying in the sun like lizards.

  Mom would pack a picnic lunch.

  Dad would meet us in the shade

  on a checkered blanket.

  Students would wander over

  all starry-eyed.

  Hi, Professor Brey, they’d say,

  tripping over their words.

  Dad would put down his sandwich,

  wipe crumbs from his beard,

  introduce us:

  This is Melody,

  my brilliant wife.

  And this fine young man is Collin,

  my magnificent boy.

  Mom would blush,

  but I would sit up straight,

  suddenly growing

  three

  inches

  taller

  basking in his attention

  like the sunbathers

  soaking up golden rays.

  GEORGIA’S DREAM

  Georgia says she has the same dream

  over and over:

  She goes to school and realizes

  she forgot to get dressed.

  She’s so mortified she runs home.

  Why do you run home? I ask.

  Because I’m buck naked!

  Wouldn’t you?

  To Georgia, home is a safe place.

  My turn! My turn! Liam says.

  Sometimes I dream

  that I go to school.

  And?

  That’s it.

  That’s it?

  Yeah. School’s the worst.

  Except recess. Recess is the best.

  We stare at him.

  What? I thought we were sharing nightmares.

  I don’t share mine.

  * * *

  When traveling in areas prone to avalanche, wear a small radio beacon to transmit your location to rescue crews.

  If you feel snow and ice shifting underfoot, attempt to move uphill, above the crack line.

  If you are swept into the avalanche, try to “swim,” or thrash, to the top of the snow.

  Reach for the sky, keeping one arm above your head.

  This will help rescuers find you and make climbing out of the snowpack easier.

  If you are buried deep, spit into the snow to create a vital pocket of air.

  Note where gravity carries your saliva. Dig in the opposite direction.

  BREATHE!

  NICKNAMES

  Tyson and Keith

  think they’re so hilarious,

  making other kids laugh

  when they call me names:

  Leggy Peggy