Rosa Takes a Chance by Susan Martins Miller

Author:Susan Martins Miller [MILLER, SUSAN MARTINS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62836-236-7
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2006-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Creak and Crash!

“But, Mamá, it’s a flour sack!” Rosa protested.

Mamá held the sack up against Rosa to see if it was long enough for a blouse.

“Mamá, you can’t use a flour sack to make me clothes.”

“Unless you can make yourself stop growing, you need new clothes. I have no fabric, Rosita, no money to buy any, and no more old dresses I can cut down for you.”

“I won’t wear a flour sack!” Rosa insisted. She pushed her mother’s arms away from her.

“Would you rather have a burlap sack?”

Rosa was horrified. “You wouldn’t really make me wear burlap, would you?”

“You can choose. Burlap or the cotton fabric of a flour sack.”

Rosa sighed and could hardly keep herself from crying. “Please make sure the writing doesn’t show,” she finally said.

Mamá softened. “Oh, mi hija, I don’t like this, either. But what choice do I have?” She brightened. “Perhaps we can dye the fabric. You can choose a color.”

Rosa raised her eyes to her mother’s but said nothing.

“I still have a few beets in their juice in the cellar,” Mamá said. “Or we can look for some wildflowers.”

“Beet juice will not make a flour sack pretty, Mamá.”

“I’m sorry, hija. I don’t know what else to do.”

Rosa did not want to be the first student in her class to wear clothes made out of flour sacks. She promised herself she would only wear the flour sack blouse at home. School was almost out for the year. For the summer lessons, Mrs. Madden would understand—she hoped.

Rosa was determined to make her report card at the end of sixth grade the best she could do. She had passed most of the other students in the class. No one wanted to be friends with a Mexican girl who was smart, however, so Rosa was lonely. Even Sally, who sat right next to her, ignored her when she saw Rosa earning one A after another. Rosa sat at lunch by herself and played at recess by herself.

Rosa didn’t want to play, anyway. Instead of going outside for lunch and recess, Rosa asked Mrs. Briggs for extra lessons. After that, the other students called her the teacher’s pet. But Rosa didn’t care. It was more important to learn everything she could than to have lots of friends. She told herself it didn’t matter. One day, she would finish school and become a teacher herself. Then she would have all the friends she needed.

In the meantime, she had Mamá and Papá, and Tío and Tía, and Rafaél and Juan, and Mrs. Madden. And somewhere in California, she had Téodoro. She hoped he thought about all of them as much as they thought about him.

Mrs. Briggs began to tell the other teachers what a hardworking student Rosa was. While Rosa sat outside eating lunch by herself one day, the second-grade teacher came and sat beside her.

“Are you Rosa?” the teacher asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Rosa answered, wondering what this teacher wanted. For a moment, she was afraid they were going to send her back to second grade.

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.