"Throughout humankind  man has celebrated the culmination of a long, harrowing journey  by planting a flag, to say you climbed that mountain  achieved the unachievable, made it through another school year." "It's summer." " And you bought a tiki torch." " Yep." "This is gonna transform our backyard into an island paradise." "Well, if we're going for paradise we're gonna wanna fish that dead possum out of the pool." "We made it, Mike." "Only four days til the end of school." "After all the forms and field trips and homework and Ms. Rinsky..." "We deserve this tiki torch." "It is time to get our summer on." " Whoo!" " Not so fast." "Summer's not officially on until my graduation on Friday when you watch me accept my special award." "Presented by the principal in front of everyone." "Oh, honey." "Well, you certainly earned it." "Boy, did she earn it." "Sue had set her sights on the perfect attendance award  and nothing was gonna make her miss a day of school." "Here." "I did it." "I put myself and countless others at risk, but it was worth it." "We're very proud." "Hi, Ms. Jacobs." "I wanted to talk to you about..." " Are you a new student?" " No." "I'm Sue." "Sue Heck." "I bring the lunch money report in to you every morning from the main office." "I say, "Hi, Ms. Jacobs." "Everything's here" and I give you a little wave." "Really?" "Hmm." "Anyway, I wanna talk to you about my perfect attendance award." "Oh, hon, I'm sorry, but no one's getting that perfect attendance award this year." " Nobody earned it." " Yes, somebody earned it." "I earned it." "My attendance was perfect." "Oh, I see the problem." "You were absent on October 13th." "You're not gonna get anything but you should still congratulate yourself." "I spent my whole life congratulating myself." "I want other people to congratulate me." "Sorry." "Next." " No one else is here." " I know." "Nice meeting you." "Paradise, huh?" "Wow, Brick, can you believe it?" "Only a couple more days til you're a fourth grader." "Yeah, I'm not sure that's gonna happen." "What?" "Apparently I missed some sort of journal assignment and if I don't turn it in I'm not necessarily moving up to fourth grade." "Damn it, Brick." "How does this keep happening?" "You're the smartest kid every year we wonder whether you're gonna make it to next grade." "I know it's frustrating." "I kept thinking I was gonna do it but then I just didn't." "I blame myself partly." "I blame yourself all-of-ly." "You're gonna go find out what's required and you get it done." "We are not spending another year with Ms. Rinsky." "I hope you know you have sent me to the dumbest school in the world." "Seemed like a good fit." "So I didn't do my community service." "Like helping poor people or whatever." "If I don't get 30 hours done by Friday, they say I'll flunk Civics and we'll have to pay for some class in the summer." "You're just telling us now?" "Why didn't you do the assignment?" "Because it shouldn't be an assignment." "They're forcing me to help people against my will." "Doesn't that seem like communism or something?" "Did I use that right?" "As much as I'd love to join in on your war on community service you're doing it." "Ugh!" " Mom." " Oh, come on." "The school thinks I was absent October 13th." "They said I didn't earn the perfect attendance award." "We have to find documentation, we have to prove I was there." "Here you go." "Oh." "Eh." "Don't bother." "We're a long way from summer." " You know the old saying, - "Never buy a tiki torch before its time"?" "That isn't really a saying, but trust me, don't do it." "Oh, um, Ms. Rinsky, quick question." "About the assignment I'm scheduled to hand in on Friday?" " You didn't do it." " Oh, no, I did it." "I just want to double check that I did it correctly." "So." "Just to confirm." " On the monthly journal..." " Daily." "Yes, daily, that's what I meant." "Journal that I did I assume by daily you meant I was supposed to write in it every day?" "That's right." "Every day." "Because that's exactly what I did." "Now remind your mommy that it's due on Friday." "And when I say Friday, I mean Friday." "No need." "We are totally on top of it." "We're doomed." " Doomed." " Don't you say that." "We got three days to tiki torch and you are getting it done." "But I can only remember the days I wasn't in the middle of a book." "What did I do September 8th?" "That was the first day of school, and after school we..." "Oh." "I don't know." "Maybe it would be easier if we start with holidays." "Thanksgiving." "There was turkey, someone was over..." "Wait, did we go to Janet's?" "No." "Yes?" "Wow." "I should be able to remember this." "What was wrong with me?" "I mean, I used to have a great memory, but lately..." "I know I came in here for something." "Hello?" "Wait, sorry, who did I just call?" " Mike, this is really important." " Hang on a sec." "Okay, what?" "Thanks." "Now I don't remember." "What were we talking about again?" " How you don't remember anything." " Right." "I've been looking at pamphlets for a whole hour." "That should count as one of my hours, 29 more to go." "Whoo." "Stop screwing around and pick something." "Tons of good options here." " Helping out at a nursing home?" " No." " Planting trees." " No." "Nothing sad, nothing hard, nothing gross." "How about washing...?" "Unless that ends in hot chicks, that's a definite no." "I could help people who can't play video games." "If they don't have any thumbs or something." " Oh." "They have that right here." " Really?" "No, not really, you idiot." "You got 20 waking hours to do 30 hours of community service." "I'm picking for you." "Here." "Meals That Heal and Time With Tots." "Done." "Or I could just stay in my room and come up with an awesome song that will make the world happy." "The world's been through enough." "Make the call." "Mm." "Blech." "What are you doing up?" "What are you doing up?" "I can't sleep." "Not allowed to sleep." "Hey, isn't that Mom's frosting?" "I need it a lot more than she does right now." "So how are you doing?" "I'm up to December." "And I'm realizing from the things that I'm remembering that we spend an awful lot of time watching TV." "Wait a minute." "You did October?" "Do you have any idea what happened on October 13th?" "Let me check." ""Went to library." "Someone checked out The Pelican Brief and never returned it." "I wonder if it was me." "Axl called Sue a big tomato because of her dorky red shirt."" "Oh, my God." "You remembered I was wearing red?" "Like I said, on days without books, my recall is very good." "If I was in red, I went to the orthodontist." "Because I'm a gum-bleeder and red hides the gum blood." "So I must've been late to school and they marked me as absent." "All I need is a note from the orthodontist and I'm in." "Oh, hon." "This just says that you went to the orthodontist." "That doesn't mean that you came to school after." "But I did." "After I get my braces tightened my teeth always hurt so I remember going to the nurse to get an ibuprofen." "Well, I guess if you could get the nurse to vouch for it..." "Do you remember on February 16th you took Arlo and me to get ice cream but you forgot your wallet?" "Who was that who lent you the money?" "I don't know, Brick." "I don't remember any of it." "I'm standing here with a ball of twine in my hand and I don't even know why." "Rinsky's not gonna read every page." "You just need to start making stuff up." "Well, I don't wanna lie." "Think the kids are stupid now wait until you're in a class with kids a year younger than you." " Today, I went skydiving." " Yeah." "Hey, Nurse Fahler." "Hi, are you a new student?" "No, I'm Sue." "Sue Heck?" "I need to prove I was here October 13th." "I was in red because my gums bleed and Allison..." "Oh, I love Allison Scott." "She's a spark plug, isn't she?" "Yeah, she is." "So anyway..." " You know it's her birthday next week?" " We're not that close." "So anyway, she had really bad cramps you asked if I could get her purse from the band room." "Well, I remember Allison getting the purse but for the life of me, I can't remember how." "I just told you how." "I brought it from the band room." "Band teacher." " Axl?" " How great is this?" "Got the Time With Tots kids putting the meals for the shut-ins." "I'm racking up double hours here." "Hey, Tito." "Keep your head in the game, you forgot orange in that one." "All right." "I'm shutting this sweatshop down." "But I can't pack these boxes myself." "And what about the tots?" "I'm their role model." "Well, then life dealt them a bad hand again." "Now start reading to these boys and then when you're done, you can pack boxes yourself alone." "Ugh." "God." "This is so unfair." "Ugh." "You kids are lucky you don't have dads." "Mr. Stevenson." "I'm sorry." "And you are?" "Sue." "Sue Heck." " And what do you play?" " I don't play anything." "I'm the future perfect attendance award recipient." "But only if you can prove I was here on October 13th." "I went to the orthodontist and so I went to the nurse and then Allison Scott came in..." " Oh, Allison Scott." "Great girl." "Yeah, she's awesome." "So she left band practice so I had to come in and get her purse." "Now that you say it I do remember someone disrupting our practice." "We were getting ready for our concert..." "That's right." "And you were taping it." "You were taping your rehearsal." "Mr. Stevenson, please tell me you have that tape." "Stop, I have evidence." "I have a tape." "Excuse me, I'm here to get Allison Scott's purse." "Ugh." "Sorry, just squeezing by." "Excuse me." "Oh..." "Oh." "Oh." "Excuse me." "Sorry." "Pardon me." "You guys sound really good." "See?" "I was here." "October 13th, 2010." "Sue Heck was in the house." "Uh..." "Congratulations?" "Okay, what are we up to?" "April." "April, okay, good." "Here." "I'll do the first, you do the second, you do the third." "Okay, April, April, April." "April in Paris." " April showers." " Good." ""It rained today, splashed in puddles." "What fun."" " I wouldn't say "what fun."" " Well, you're saying it now." "Hey, wasn't Easter in April?" "Oh, good, yes, Easter." "Okay, what did we do for Easter?" "Oh, nice job, Mom." "You forgot to do Easter." " You owe me jelly beans and a ham." " Shoot." "And wasn't there some birthday in April too?" "Uh..." "Yeah, Jesus." "That's Christmas." "And the birthday was mine." "Oh." "Damn." "Happy Birthday." "I'll write about how we took Dad to a Pacers game to celebrate." "Thanks, buddy." "I would've enjoyed that." ""Today I wrote a letter to President Nixon?"" "Brick, she's not gonna read them." "We just have to get it done." "If you don't like it, erase Nixon and put in another president." "I'm so excited about tomorrow, I can't sleep." "Okay, for graduation, which makes me look prettier?" "God, I'm so tired, I can't even insult you." "Hey, is that a community service if I don't insult Sue?" "I'm tired." "I'm going to bed." "Uh-uh." "No, you cannot go to bed." "This is your fault." "I bought a tiki torch." "I was this close." "If anyone needs sleep, it's me." "I got about an ounce of memory left in my head." "You did this." "You did this to me." "And you know what?" "I'm gonna make you pay." "All right, Mom needs a break." "Little cooling down time." "Mike, he did." "He did it, Mike." "This is his fault." " Just a little break." " You'll feel better in the morning." "I didn't, it was the last leg of our race to summer  I didn't know if Mike or I had the energy to pull it off." "Okay, we gotta keep moving." "Where's our next drop-off?" "Uh... 3105 Brook." " Brook Avenue or Brook Street?" " I don't know, it just says Brook." "You gotta get these addresses right." "We don't have time to be driving down every Brook in town." " Why are you slowing down?" " I'm not slowing down." "Aw, damn it." "We're out of gas." "Great." "Now the light comes on." " Hurry up, we're almost there." " I'm up to May 24th." "Okay, just say your great aunt's..." "That was yesterday, Mom." "I can remember yesterday." "Good, because I can't." " Hello?" " Frankie?" "We got six meals to deliver, we ran out of gas." " I need you to pick us up." " Can't." "We gotta get to Rinsky's, she's only gonna be there until 3 we can't be late for graduation, you gotta figure it out." " Call me after Rinsky." " It will be summer someday, right, Mike?" "You had to buy the tiki torch." "Well, this is awesome." "Way to go, Dad." "Don't you start." "You knew you had community service." "Why didn't you say something three months ago?" "Whenever I tell you anything, you bite my head off." " You think I do everything wrong." " Why would I think that?" "Thanks to you I'm driving around 50 chicken parmesans on the day of Sue's graduation." "You never say anything nice to me." "You always act like I screw up." "All I know is that I got two jobs while I go to school I never miss a sports practice, I took that weird wizard girl to prom." "I do plenty of good stuff." "You really think that?" "That I don't say anything nice to you?" "I don't know." "Sometimes." "Yeah, well..." "You kids are the best thing that ever happened to me." "Really?" "You must have a really sucky life." "Yes, I do." "Oh, Ms. Rinsky, thank God you're still here." "Oh, darn, I forgot your teacher's gift at home on the thing." "I'll send it over the summer." "Anyway, here's Brick's journal." "He didn't bring it in, we're rushing to his sister's graduation." "It's been a great year." "Thanks." "Not so fast, mommy." "Let me just have a look-see and make sure that everything's all here." "Have a seat." "So you hosted a boy from Japan." " That must have been fun." " Yeah, it was a great year." "Lots of memories." "So I..." "Interesting how his handwriting progressed throughout the year then declined, then progressed again." "Yeah, he writes different, you know, depending on the day." "You know Brick." "What would you say was your favorite part of April?" "Disneyland on the 8th?" "Paris on the 9th?" "And this morning's entry:" ""In the car, trying to finish my journal I've been writing the last two days because I didn't do my assignment like I was supposed to."" "I don't think you need to read the rest..." ""Because Mom says Ms. Rinsky's too lazy to read the whole thing."" "Please." "Please let us move up." "We didn't go to France, but we're good people." "We're so close to the end." "I have a tiki torch." "Calm down, mommy." "Brick is going to the fourth grade." " He is?" " I like Brick." "He makes me laugh." "I wouldn't mind having him for another year." "But you?" "Not for a million bucks." "Oh, thank you." "Thank you so much." "One more thing." "Brick is your youngest, right?" "Oh, yeah." "You are in the clear." "Okay, you take the one on Oak Street, I'll take the one on Elm." "Ah." " Hello?" " Mike?" "Finished with Rinsky." "Brick is going to fourth." " Where are you guys?" " Elm Street." "I'm almost done with deliveries." "Then go home and shower." "No shower, you smell fine." "I'm on my way to you now." "I'll call Nancy Donahue and tell her to save us some seats." "Oh, crap." "I can't find my phone." "Damn it, I must've left it in Rinsky's room." "I'm gonna go back and she hates me." "But I don't want it locked up for the summer, now we're late." "Frankie, look in your hand." "Okay, I found it." " I'm on Elm Street, where are you?" " I'm at the last house." "Okay, done." "I'm done." " Where are you?" " Oh, I see you." "Hurry up, come on." "Get in, get in." " Let's go." " We're here, Axl, come on." "Graduation from junior high is an important milestone." "As your parents sit out there I know your hearts are filled with mixed emotions." "Whoo-hoo." "We made it." "We did it." "We're here." "It seems just yesterday, they were in kindergarten and then last week, you turned in the forms to register them for high school." "Forms?" "Oh, crap." " You didn't happen to..." " Seriously." "You gotta see somebody." "achievement to honor." "There is one student who has never missed a single day of school." "One student who, simply by showing up has demonstrated incredible determination and commitment." "Trust me when I say it is rare that I find a student with this much perseverance." "So please join me in honoring this amazing accomplishment and this amazing student." " This was it." " The moment she'd been waiting for." "The moment Sue would finally get the recognition she deserved." "Our perfect attendance award recipient Barb Heckie." "No." " Man." " This can't happen." "They can't do this to her." "She's gonna be crushed." "But she wasn't." "Then it hit me." "I may not remember exactly what happened  on November 14th or March 12th  or whether I left the car running in the parking lot right now." "But the point is, these are the moments you remember." " Way to go, Barb." " We love you, Barb Heckie." "We love you, Barb." "We made it." "Of course, we did." "We're Heckies." "Hmm." "Wow." "This must be what Hawaii is like." "Yep." "We've got the whole summer in front of us." "I'm bored."