Beautiful Blue World Read Online Free PDF Page B

the nape of her neck. She wore a gray army uniform with a jacket and a skirt to her knees.
    Kammi ran over and tugged my sleeve.
    “Mathilde!” She squeezed my arm.
    “Ouch! What?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
    “Jullen says they’re taking everybody today, everybody who sits the test. If you signed the papers, you belong to the army already!”
    “That isn’t true,” Megs said. “If they were taking everybody, they wouldn’t be holding a test, would they?”
    The bell rang.
    Megs ran to the line for the test, not wanting to lose points for tardiness.
    But when I looked down at Kammi, she was crying.
    “Hey, shh…” I knelt to look into her eyes. Her worry was the same one I’d confessed to Father. “Megs is right, they won’t take people who won’t be useful. I don’t have much of a chance to be picked.”
    Kammi frowned at me, doubtful.
    “I’m nowhere near the top of my class, and most of the kids are two years older than me. Miss Tameron seemed surprised I’m even going to sit the test, but anyone’s allowed to.”
    Kammi scowled, still not believing me.
    The yard had almost cleared. We didn’t have much time.
    “Listen, you’ll get out of school hours before me today. Get a treat.” I put the coins in her hand.
    Her mouth dropped open as she turned them over.
    “Where did you get these?”
    “Father.”
    Suddenly I felt warmer, lighter. Father had said he would be proud no matter how I did. And if he was scrimping on bread, he wasn’t expecting the four hundred orins.
    He wasn’t expecting me to pass.
    What a gift Father had given me in these coins!
    I glanced up at the teachers. The Examiner was staring at me from the head of the testing line, brow creased and mouth set straight.
    Uh-oh.
    I jumped, grabbed Kammi’s hand and ran her over to her line, and hurried to the back of my line.
    The Examiner asked, “Mathilde Joss?”
    Process of elimination: I was the last one.
    “Yes.”
    “You’re late.”
    “Yes.”
    “Care to explain yourself?”
    “No.”
    She nodded and entered a mark on her attendance sheet.
    I swallowed hard and stared solemnly back at her.
    —
    The Examiner’s assistant led us to a large classroom. At each of the forty desks sat two booklets, a pink one with printed text and a blank blue book, plus two sharp pencils.
    The Examiner had somehow gotten there ahead of us, as if she could evaporate and reappear in a different place. She said, “You will sit in alphabetical order by last name, starting in the front left, one behind the other.”
    Then she called our names and we took our seats. Some of the older students, especially the boys, were much taller than me. I felt very small in my chair.
    Megs sat behind me to the right. I turned to look at her, but she was so focused that I couldn’t catch her eye. She was like that during tests. I turned back around.
    The Examiner said, “Put your lunch pails on the floor. Verify that your name is on the pink booklet in front of you.”
    Mine was.
    “And on the answer booklet.”
    Mine was.
    “Many of your answers will go into the pink booklets, but for math problems and longer paragraph answers, you may use the answer booklet. You may work in any order, but make sure to number the answers you enter in the blank book. You have all day today, but not any longer. There will be a break at noon for lunch and stretching.”
    She paused, but no one moved. No one would dare open the booklets before being instructed to.
    The Examiner’s manner changed, from being someone who looked like she would take a ruler to us for the slightest infraction to someone who might, maybe, give a crying child a hug.
    Maybe.
    “Before you begin, I want to thank you for volunteering to serve your country. You are very young, and, if selected, you may spend the rest of your childhoods away from home. None of you have taken the decision to be here lightly. Nor have your families. All of Sofarende appreciates your willingness.”
    She looked