The Monster's Ring by Bruce Coville

Author:Bruce Coville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

EIGHT

The Beast Within

School was over, and the buses had all left. Russell was still hiding in the tree. Just as he was wondering if he should climb down—and what he could possibly do next if he did—he heard the dreaded sound: “Russseelllll! Russsseeellllll Crannaker!”

They had called his mother.

Russell sighed. Now things might get really scary.

He considered his choices.

One: He could tell the truth.

Two: He could run away from home and become a tramp.

Three: He could get sick and throw up all over.

None of them seemed like a good idea.

Well, sooner or later he had to climb out of the tree, walk back to the school, and face his mother (not to mention Miss Snergal and Beast Rafschnitz).

It might as well be now.

Moving slowly, he returned to the ground.

Emerging from the woods, he spotted his mother standing at the edge of the playground. Her perpetually worried look was accentuated by her current upset over whatever the school had already told her.

She caught sight of him, waved, and hurried forward. “Russell, are you all right? Miss Snergal called and told me some terrible story about you going crazy and causing a riot. The woman must be losing her mind. ‘My Russell?’ I said. ‘My boy, cause a riot?’ I know you could never have done all the things she said.”

Russell felt his fear begin to shift into quiet anger. Why couldn’t he have done those things? He was no baby. He was just as capable of misbehaving as any other kid in the school.

But he didn’t say anything.

“It was that terrible Eddie, wasn’t it?” continued Mrs. Crannaker. “I’m going to speak to Mr. Rafschnitz about him first thing Monday morning. It’s not right to have him after you like that. You’re a delicate child. It makes you nervous.” She paused for breath, then said, “Well, come with me. Mother will get everything fixed up.”

Russell maintained a stony silence. But he could feel an uncomfortable urge to lash out at his mother building inside him. His resentment at being babied was growing stronger with every word she uttered.

The school was empty. They stopped in the boys’ room to pick up his clothing, and then in his classroom so they could collect his books. A pile of candy and a cupcake had been neatly arranged on his desk, an unspoken message of forgiveness from Miss Snergal.

His mother shivered at the sight. “Throw that garbage away,” she commanded. “Thank goodness you didn’t eat it!”

Russell hesitated, then gathered the goodies and carried them to the trash can.

The ride home was ghastly. Russell was on the verge of telling his mother exactly how he felt. But somehow he couldn’t get started. It was as if all his feelings, and the words for those feelings, were in a bottle with a little cork at the top. But the cork wouldn’t come loose.

He hunched into himself and stared out the window. Inside he felt stronger and braver and more ready to tell people what he thought than he ever had before.

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.