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Show -5- Peppermint Monday giggle. Now I didn't mind people talking about Jake behind his back, everybody did. I had before too. But when I heard Renae saying things about my little brother, I got mad. Everybody knew about Russ' disease, and because he was in a wheelchair he couldn't ride the bus to school. Before he got real bad, ma used to drive him, but he'd only been to part of a year of kindergarten before his muscles got too weak to finish the year. Now a special education teacher from the school district came two days a week to our home. Russ1 mind is fine, sharper than most. He's especially good at math, and is now working from a fourth grade book. That's pretty remarkable for a seven-year- old kid. If any tutoring was going on, Russ was the one teaching Jake. Either way, it made me furious that Renae would joke about Russ' condition. I dropped the volleyball I was ready to serve. Before anybody knew what I was doing, including myself, I was pounding fist after fist into Renae's stomach. Mrs. Richards, our P.E. teacher was horrified. She hadn't heard Renae's sarcastic remarks, and probably wouldn't have understood how I felt even if she had. She yanked me away and helped Renae to her feet. Renae was sobbing loud shrieking sobs, as if she was half dead, and she kept it up just to show everyone how terrible I was. Mrs. Richards smoothed Renae's silky, yellow hair, and even wiped a few convincing tears from her thin cheeks. Naturally I was sent to see the principal, and they got pa out of his fifth period literature class to hear the story too. Pa was real cool and professional sitting in the principal's office, but when we got home he let me have it. I was grounded for two weeks, and couldn't leave the house after school for any reason. I was not to get any allowance for a month, maybe longer. He roared and yelled like a crazy man, |
