The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden

Author:Ann Braden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2018-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

The writing keeps going, but I can’t keep reading because my hand has started to shake and I have to bury it in my opposite elbow. So “super unfair” means not having time to discuss your Mars colonization ideas? Or maybe it’s that the cherry on top of your ice cream sundae has dyed the whipped cream pink and you wanted it perfectly white?

I look back at the clock. 3:24.

I screamed when I saw that man’s face at the window, and my mom woke up when I did. I never saw her move so fast. He shattered the window with his crowbar, but she beat him off with her keys until she could drive away. That little key chain against that big crowbar. But she was more motivated than he was. And she kept all sorts of sharp metal things on that keychain. I never wondered why again.

I can only see the back of Ms. Rochambeau’s head. Can she see the clock from where she’s sitting? Even if the voice over the intercom releases us like nothing happened, is she going to dawdle back over to the whiteboard and continue adding to the topic list?

I hear the pounding of someone sprinting down the hallway. Closer, closer, and then right past us on the way toward the office.

I catch Mr. Herd exchanging another glance with Ms. Rochambeau.

“May I have your attention please,” Principal Fitzgerald’s voice comes over the intercom. “There is no longer a threat to safety. I repeat: There is no longer a threat to safety. You may resume your earlier activities. Thank you for your patience.”

As soon as the intercom clicks off, people are up and talking.

“What happened?”

“That wasn’t a drill, was it?”

“Ms. Rochambeau?” an eighth grade girl asks. “Do you know what happened? Did they send you an email or something?”

Mr. Herd is already striding over to his computer. “I’m checking.”

“Can’t you go right down to the office and ask?” one of the eighth grade boys asks Ms. Rochambeau.

Ms. Rochambeau smooths her skirt and takes a deep breath. “The last thing they need right now is every teacher in the school showing up to demand an explanation of what just happened.”

Mr. Herd is hunched over his computer. “There’s no email yet. We’ll just have to be okay with not knowing.”

“Besides,” Ms. Rochambeau says, looking at me, “it’s almost 3:30 anyway. Most of you must have parents arriving to pick you up soon, and we all have places to get to. We’ll meet back here again Wednesday afternoon and—”

No one hears what Ms. Rochambeau says next because Evan Hewitt bursts through the library doors. “Did you guys hear? Someone shot at someone in the parking lot!”

“Who?”

“Like with a gun?”

“Was it a student?”

“Did they miss or is someone like … dead?”

Kids immediately swarm around him, but I sink down into a chair. All I can see is that man’s face pressed up against our car window. That split second it takes to go from safe to a full-on fight for survival.

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.