Seeing Red by Kathryn Erskine

Author:Kathryn Erskine [Erskine, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409579304
Publisher: Usborne Publishing

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The Fight

Miss Miller had already explained the whole Foxfire project, and most people had started talking with their families and interviewing people. A lot of kids didn’t even mind the project, but some of them were still stuck on what to write, so Miss Miller decided we need to brainstorm.

She went to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk. “Who are some pillars – important people – of our community? Living or dead.”

Emma Jean raised her hand. “My daddy. He’s the sheriff.”

As if we didn’t know.

Miss Miller wrote SHERIFF SCOTT on the board in her perfect cursive handwriting.

Kids called out other names like Reverend Benson and the principal, Mrs Pugh. Emma Jean said Lou Anne’s mama.

Bobby Benson asked why.

Lou Anne rolled her eyes. “She’s the head librarian at the county library.”

“Why is that important?” he asked.

Miss Miller rubbed her forehead. “Please tell me that’s a rhetorical question – one that doesn’t need to be answered because the answer is obvious.”

Bobby shrugged. “Okay, fine, librarian can go on the list.”

“Thank you, Bobby,” Miss Miller said.

Lou Anne raised her hand and said my daddy was an important person in our community.

Bobby snorted.

“He was a deacon,” she said, “and a store owner and he was Local Businessman of the Year.”

I smiled at Lou Anne, and she turned a little pink.

I raised my hand.

“Yes, Red?”

“Miss Georgia.”

Bobby snorted again. Some kids laughed.

“Why is that funny, class?”

“Because,” said Bobby, “she just an old black woman.”

Miss Miller took in an angry breath and stared him down. “Old means she’s wise. Black simply means her race. And woman means she’s the half of the population that is capable of having babies, which, in case you hadn’t noticed, is how you got here in the first place.”

While the class giggled, she turned to the board and wrote MISS GEORGIA in even bigger letters than the preacher.

Someone called out, “Mr Reynolds,” and Miss Miller, her face turning pink, started writing his name on the board.

“He’s not really part of our community,” Emma Jean said.

Miss Miller shook her head, blushed some more, and let out what sounded almost like a giggle except that she was a teacher. “Of course, Emma Jean, you’re right. He’s a contributor to our community, but he’s not exactly a part of our community.”

“And,” said Emma Jean, “my mama said we shouldn’t be listening to him, anyway.”

Miss Miller swallowed hard and tried to smile, but it looked more like she had one of Mama’s sick headaches. She picked up the eraser and started wiping Mr Reynolds’s name off the blackboard.

Bobby piped up, “My daddy said Mr Reynolds is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Miss Miller dropped the eraser and it bounced off her green dress, leaving a big chalky white mark down the side of it. It felt like we were all holding our breath, except Bobby, who had a big smirk on his face. I wanted to smack him.

“Why does your daddy say that?” Miss Miller’s face was pink, but her voice was real quiet and even.

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