Guys Read: Plan B: A Short Story from Guys Read: Other Worlds

By Rebecca Stead

Nathan has been locked in his room ever since “it” started growing back. They’re going to come for him soon, so he’s got precious little time to tell us what is happening. A short story from Guys Read: Other Worlds, edited by Jon Scieszka.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9780062289667

Rebecca Stead

Rebecca Stead ("Plan B") went to the kind of elementary school where a person could sit on a windowsill or even under a table to read a book, and no one told you to come out and be serious. After trying to be serious as a lawyer for a while, she decided to be a full-time writer. Her book When You Reach Me was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2010 and was a New York Times bestseller. She lives in New York City with her family. 

Book preview

PLAN B

BY REBECCA STEAD

Wednesday

April 19

Dear ____________,

Because whoever is reading this, I have no idea who you are. I haven’t even figured out where I’m going to stick this thing when I’m done with it, but it’ll be somewhere secret, somewhere hard to find, and it might be a long time before anyone reads it. A year. Ten years. Maybe more.

You can’t write a text or an email and hide it for someone to find someday. You need pen and paper for that. And opposable thumbs. Speaking of which: I probably should have started this letter hours ago, when I heard the key turn on the other side of my bedroom door.

I keep listening for the sound of the lock and squinting to see if maybe the doorknob is turning. But I don’t know if I’m hoping that the door will burst open or stay closed. I don’t even know how much longer I’m going to be able to hold this pen.

Opposable thumbs. Let me tell you something, whoever-you-are: If you have opposable thumbs, you probably take them for granted. If you knew how much you love your thumbs, you would write them a love song, sing it in your underwear, and post it on YouTube. You would be willing to totally humiliate yourself for those thumbs.

And if you don’t have opposable thumbs? Well, that would answer a lot of the questions