A Boy.
Page 3-5.
11-20
4. Story
Page 4 (halfway)
As Mrs. Ebbel
began the lesson,
Bradley took out
a pencil and
a piece of paper,
and scribbled.
He scribbled
most of the morning,
sometimes on the paper
and sometimes
on his desk.
Sometimes he scribbled
so hard his pencil point broke.
Every time that happened
he laughed.
Then he’d tape
the broken point
to one of the
gobs of junk in his desk,
sharpen his pencil,
and scribble again.
Page 5
His desk was full of
little wads of torn paper,
pencil points,
chewed erasers,
and other
unrecognizable stuff,
all taped together.
Mrs. Ebbel handed back
a language test.
“Most of you
did very well,”
she said.
“I was very pleased.
There were fourteen A’s
and the rest B’s.
Of course,
there was one F,
but…”
She shrugged her shoulders.
Bradley held up his test
for everyone to see
and smiled that same
distorted smile.
As Mrs. Ebbel went over
the correct answers
with the class,
Bradley took out
his pair of scissors
and very carefully
cut his test paper
into tiny squares.
End of 11-15
Words and Chinese 16-20
When the bell rang
for recess,
he put on his red jacket
and walked outside,
alone.
“Hey, Bradley,
wait up!”
somebody called
after him.
Startled,
he turned around.
Jeff, the new kid,
hurried alongside him.
“Hi,” said Jeff.
Bradley stared at him
in amazement.
Jeff smiled.
“I don’t mind sitting
next to you,” he said.
“Really.”
Bradley didn’t know
what to say.
“I have been
to the White House,”
Jeff admitted.
“If you want,
I’ll tell you about it.”
Bradley thought a moment,
then said,
“Give me a dollar
or I’ll spit on you.”