Blossoms on the Roof Read Online Free PDF Page B

but it sure seemed as if his seatmate, Billy Teddinton, was edging as far away as possible on their bench.
    With so much misery inside him, Ben found it hard to focus on his lessons. He glanced over in Polly’s direction. She didn’t look very happy either. Are the girls treating her badly too? How can our schoolmates be so mean? he wondered.
    Lunch hour was no better. As often happened, they planned to play Wolf-Dog, a game invented by an earlier generation of Oak Grove students. On each side of the schoolhouse, they drew a wolf cage in the mud. In each of the four cages, a student was stationed to be a “wolf.”Each wolf owned ten twigs, which he called his “bones.” The rest of the children were “dogs” with the goal to steal as many bones as possible without being tagged by a wolf, who could never set foot outside his cage.
    Today the game took a strange new twist. “Let’s call the wolves ‘huskies,’ ” suggested Tom, and the rest agreed with cries of delight.
    That was bad enough. Ben knew why they were doing it. But the worst part was when the huskies started chanting, “Look out, here comes an Eskimo,” whenever Ben or Polly drew near to steal bones. Then the husky would growl fiercely and make faces at them.
    â€œPretend it doesn’t bother you,” Ben whispered to Polly when he brushed past her. But he could see in her eyes that it did bother her a great deal.
    It was the longest lunch hour Ben had ever experienced. How glad he was to return to the classroom, even if Billy Teddinton slid to the far side of the bench again.
    Ben took one look at Miss Mulligan standing straight and stern at the front of the classroom, and his heart dropped. What now? Her eyes flashed the way they usually did when there was trouble ahead.
    â€œYour talk of Eskimos and husky dogs,” she said abruptly, standing with her hands on her hips, “is absolute nonsense.”
    Ben tried to catch a glimpse of his classmates without turning his head because he knew that when MissMulligan spoke in that tone, it was best to freeze. He didn’t dare move.
    Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the others were dumbfounded. Really, they shouldn’t have been surprised that Miss Mulligan had heard about the Eskimos. Everyone knew she had eyes in the back of her head—and ears in the front, back, and sides.
    â€œNorth Dakota,” she continued in a voice that could have frozen smoke in the chimney, “is situated just below the forty-ninth parallel, which is the border between the United States and Canada. Many different crops and vegetables are grown in North Dakota. It has millions of acres of prime farmland just being opened to settlers.” Her voice softened. “And if I were younger, I would be boarding a train for North Dakota too.”
    At that moment Polly wanted to run up, grab her hand, and plead, “Yes, do come with us. We want you for our teacher.” Of course she didn’t say it, but she gave Miss Mulligan one of her best smiles.
    â€œNow,” said Miss Mulligan, “let’s get on with our lessons.”
    Although Miss Mulligan never said the exact words, everyone understood that not another word was to be said about Eskimos in connection with North Dakota.
    Like magic the other boys’ attitudes had changed by the time school let out. Now they asked Ben friendly, interested questions about North Dakota and the train ride.Now, too, Ben thought he could detect a trace of envy in some of the boys.
    â€œAfter all,” he said to Polly when they were almost at home, “just staying here in Indiana looks pretty tame when you have a chance to go pioneering.”
    Polly nodded and thought, At least Ben is happy again. But in the evening when they were washing dishes, Polly said to Mother, “That was the worst day I’ve ever had.”
    Mother looked at her. “Are your friends sad that