“There were other times this weekend, old man.” She came into the room and sat down on the side of his bed. “Your dad and I were talking about it—you’re doing so much, you seem all stressed out.”

Derek heaved a huge sigh. “Totally,” he said with a weary edge to his voice. “But it’s all stuff I really want to do!”

“Are you sure?”

“I really, really want to make this team, Mom! Only the best players get into AAU league.”

“And the talent show?”

“It’ll be fun—if we ever get our act together. Anyway, I promised Vijay. I just wish the two things weren’t happening at the same time. And then there’s this big test on top of it! Why did Ms. Terrapin have to assign us an essay, too—this weekend of all weekends?”

“It’s not her fault if you’ve got other things on your plate besides school,” said his mom. “Derek, if you really want to do it all, you’re going to have to manage your time better. And in the end, you may find it really is all too much. In that case, something will have to go by the wayside.”

“No! I mean, I don’t want to drop anything.”

“Well, then, let’s check out this upcoming week.” She got up and took a look at Derek’s wall calendar, which hung over his desk, right next to the poster of Dave Winfield, the Yankees right fielder, who was Derek’s idol.

“Let’s see… basketball tryouts are Saturday… testing is when?”

“The twentieth and twenty-first.”

“That’s Monday and Tuesday. And the talent show?”

“Not till October eighth—but we don’t even have any ideas yet. We haven’t even picked out music! Vijay is already freaking out about it.”

“Well, he’s wise to be thinking ahead, at any rate. Still, it seems like there’s more give there. You still have three weeks to prepare. Maybe you and Vijay could do some planning over the phone this week and really go at it after testing is done.”

“It’s not that simple, Mom,” Derek said. “This Saturday’s basketball tryouts are only the first round. There’s a second round the Saturday after, so there goes another week—if I get that far.”

“Well, you can cross that bridge when you come to it. Meanwhile, I suggest you work things out with Vijay so that you’re both okay with the plan. As for basketball, as long as you’ve left enough time for schoolwork, I’m sure you and Dave can find time to practice.”

“But we both need Dad to keep coaching us, and he’s only around at certain times.”