100 T he three weeks passed quickly.
The day before the play, Robert felt
happy as he walked home from school with no homework. As he
turned onto his street, he found a dollar floating over the currents of wind.
“A buck,” he screamed to himself. He snapped it up and looked for
others. But he didn’t find any more. It was his lucky day, though. At
recess he had hit a home run on a fluke bunt—a fluke because the catcher
had kicked the ball, another player had thrown it into center field, and
the pitcher wasn’t looking when Robert slowed down at third, then burst
home with dust flying behind him.
That night, it was his sister’s turn to do the dishes. They had eaten
enchiladas with the works, so she slaved with suds up to her elbows.
110 Robert bathed in bubble bath, the suds peaked high like the Donner Pass.
He thought about how full he was and how those poor people had had
nothing to eat but snow. I can live on nothing, he thought and whistled
like wind through a mountain pass, raking flat the suds with his palm. e e MONITOR
The next day, after lunch, he was ready for the play, red beard in hand Think about how Robert
feels the day before the
and his one line trembling on his lips. Classes herded into the auditorium. play. How might this
As the actors dressed and argued about stepping on each other’s feet, affect his performance?
Robert stood near a cardboard barrel full of toys, whispering over and
over to himself, “Nothing’s wrong. I can see.” He was hot, itchy, and
confused when he tied on the beard. He sneezed when a strand of the
120 beard entered his nostril. He said louder, “Nothing’s wrong. I can see,”
but the words seemed to get caught in the beard. “Nothing, no, no. I can
see great,” he said louder, then under his breath because the words seemed
wrong. “Nothing’s wrong, can’t you see? Nothing’s wrong. I can see you.”
Worried, he approached Belinda and asked if she remembered his line.
Balling her hand into a fist, Belinda warned, “Sucka, I’m gonna bury your
ugly face in the ground if you mess up.” f f PLOT: RISING
“I won’t,” Robert said as he walked away. He bit a nail and looked into ACTION
How has the tension
the barrel of toys. A clown’s mask stared back at him. He prayed that his increased now that it is
line would come back to him. He would hate to disappoint his teacher the day of the play?
130 and didn’t like the thought of his face being rubbed into spiky grass.
The curtain parted slightly, and the principal came out smiling onto
the stage. She said some words about pioneer history and then, stern
faced, warned the audience not to scrape the chairs on the just-waxed
floor. The principal then introduced Mrs. Bunnin, who told the audience
about how they had rehearsed for weeks.
Meanwhile, the class stood quietly in place with lunchtime spaghetti
on their breath. They were ready. Belinda had swallowed her gum because
she knew this was for real. The snowflakes clumped together and began
howling.
36 unit 1 : plot, conflict, and setting
