Arly by Robert Newton Peck

Arly by Robert Newton Peck

Author:Robert Newton Peck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Published: 1989-03-24T16:00:00+00:00


Chapter 16

We left the Lucky Leg.

Yet not before Miss Binnie Hoe shook hands with a few of the dredgers, and told them their kids would be welcome at the school.

“Arly,” she said, “it’s still early.”

“Yes’m.”

“Lately I don’t retire as promptly as I used to, so let’s take ourselves a stroll, you and I.”

“If you want.”

Then I up and asked her if there be any one place she’d be fixing to visit.

“Well,” she answered, “seeing as you’re offering me a choice, I shall make one.” She looked smack at me. “I should like to see Shack Row.”

I stopped. “No,” I said, “you won’t cotton it much.”

“Perhaps you’ll allow me to judge for myself.”

“But it’s where pickers live, Miss Hoe. People like me, and Papa … and the Cooters.”

“You’re not a picker yet, Arly Poole.” Miss Hoe stared me right in the eyes. “And if Binnie Hoe is as capable a teacher as I’m convinced she is, you may not ever be one.”

“Honest?”

“Cross my heart and hope to teach. Which way to Shack Row? Is it far?”

“Not very.”

Stopping, I bended myself over, to blow my nose into the dirt. But then, as I straighted up again, Miss Hoe looked at me in a strange way, like I’d done something wrong.

“You don’t have a handkerchief?”

I give her a grin. “No, not me. Papa says that a poor man blows his snot on the ground, but a rich man puts it all back in his pocket.”

Miss Hoe shook her head, like she couldn’t think of anything to say. And I was sort of decided that schoolteachers sure git some odd notions. We walked along together. Seeing as Huff Cooter and I used every single shortcut in Jailtown, along with the fact that Shack Row was only as far as the edge of town, Miss Hoe and me got there sudden quick.

“Which house is yours?”

“Over there. But I don’t guess Papa’s got an eye for company coming. Dan Poole might be in his underwear. Or worse.”

Miss Hoe stiffen her spine. “In that case, Arly, I am sure we will first knock before entering. We’ll send you in first. I can’t admit that I’d favor your father’s calling on me when I was in my underwear, so surely we can afford him some preparation.”

I laughed right out. “Miss Hoe, you surely got a wit to you. You certain do.”

“A teacher with no wit, young man, wouldn’t last too long this side of the insane asylum. Now scoot, and tell Mr. Dan Poole that he has a caller.”

I bolted ahead and into our shack. Papa was there, sitting in the dark like usual, down on his tick on the floor.

“Papa,” I said, “we got company.”

Fading light from a crack in the cookstove lit up his face so I could read his surprise. He jumped up to his feet. I’d been right when I’d warned my teacher that he’d be in his dirty old underwear.

“Here,” I said, “pull on your pants.”

“Who’s coming?” he asked me, stuffing in one skinny leg and then the other.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.