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Show 46 speak with refinement -- only when she was deeply disturbed did Maggie Rose lapse into a big of brogue. She still studied the book from time to time. Though she hadn't had much formal education, Maggie Rose believed that a person could continue to learn. The little book made Karl think of school. He wondered whether his toes might stay sore enough that he wouldn't be able to wear shoes for a month or so. Surely his mother wouldn't make him go to school if he couldn't put on a shoe -- maybe he could use that as an excuse to stay out of school. Carefully, he tested his toes to see whether they hurt unbearably if he wiggled them. They hurt, but not unbearably. School was exactly a month away, and Karl had a good hunch his toes would have healed by that time. Jeez! It was a shame to go through so much pain if he couldn't get any advantage out of it, like staying out of school. For as long as he could remember, Karl had wanted to be a steel-worker. When he was a little kid, he ran down Pine Alley each evening Hugo had been on day turn, to meet his father on his way from work. After Karl had jumped into his father's arms for a hug, Hugo would open his dinner pail to take out a treat he'd saved for Karl -- half an apple, or a couple of crackers, or a hard boiled egg. It didn't matter what the treat was, Karl loved it because it had come out of his father's dinner pail, which had been with his father inside the mill where his father made steel. Hugo, dressed in soot-blackened work clothes, was far more heroic to Karl than the president of the United States dressed in striped pants and a silk hat. |
