Escape! Read Online Free PDF

It’s kid stuff. If you
think it’s too easy for you we can go on to something better. But
first you’ll have to take a test to see if you’re ready for harder
work.”
    He walked Danny back to one of the booths. Opening
the door, Mr. Cochran stepped inside and flicked on the lights.
Danny saw that the booth had a little desk in it, and the desk was
covered with dials and push-buttons. Just above the desk, on the
wall of the booth, was a small TV screen.
    Mr. Cochran fiddled with the dials and buttons for a
few moments, then stepped outside and said to Danny, “Okay, it’s
all yours. Just sit right down and have fun. SPECS is going to give
you a reading test.”
    With a shrug, Danny went into the booth and sat down.
Mr. Cochran shut the door. The window on it was made of darkened
glass, so that Danny could hardly see the classroom outside. The
booth felt soundproofed, too. It had that quiet, cushionlike
feeling to it.
    The TV screen lit up. “GOOD MORNING,” said SPECS’
voice.
    “Hi. You know who this is?”
    “DANIEL FRANCIS ROMANO.”
    “Right again.” Cripes, thought Danny, ain’t
he ever wrong? Then he got a sudden idea. “Hey SPECS, where can
I get a tape recorder?”
    “TAPE RECORDERS ARE USED IN THE LANGUAGE
CLASSES.”
    “Can you take ‘em back to your room? Are they small
enough to carry?”
    “YES TO BOTH QUESTIONS. AND NOW, ARE YOU READY TO
RECEIVE STANDARD READING TEST NUMBER ONE?”
    Smiling to himself, Danny said, “Sure, go ahead.”
    By the time the test was over, Danny was no longer
smiling. He was sweating. SPECS flashed words on the TV screen.
Danny had to decide if they were spelled right. He pushed one
button if he thought the spelling was right, another button if he
thought it was wrong.
    After what seemed like an hour of spelling questions,
SPECS began putting whole sentences on the screen. Danny had to
tell him what was wrong, if anything, with each sentence.
    Finally, SPECS put a little story on the screen. Then
it disappeared and some questions about the story came on. Danny
had to answer the questions.
    When he was finished, Danny slumped back in the
padded seat. His head hurt, he felt tired. And he knew he had done
poorly.
    The door to the booth opened and Mr. Cochran pushed
in. Danny saw, past him, that the classroom was now empty.
    “How’d it go?” The teacher leaned over and touched a
few buttons on the desk top. Numbers sprang up on the screen.
    “Not good, huh?” Danny said weakly.
    Mr. Cochran looked down at him. “No, not so very
good. But, frankly, you did better than I thought you would.”
    Danny sat up a little straighter.
    “Look,” Mr. Cochran said, “I know Friends in the
City is a kind of dumb book. But why don’t you just work your
way through it? Read it in your room. You don’t have to show up
here in class every morning. SPECS can help you when you’re stuck
on a word. Then, when you think you’ve got it licked, come in and
take the test again.”
    “How long will it take?”
    Cochran waved a hand. “Depends on you. Three, four
days, at most. You’re smart enough to get the hang of it pretty
fast, if you really want to.”
    Danny said nothing.
    Mr. Cochran stepped out of the booth and Danny got up
and went outside, too.
    “Look,” the teacher said, “reading is important. No
matter what you want to do when you get out of the Center, you’ll
need to be able to read well. Unless you can read okay, Dr. Tenny
won’t let you leave here. So it’s up to you.”
    “Okay,” said Danny. “Give me the book. I’ll learn
it.”
    But as he walked down the hall to his next class,
Danny told himself, Let ‘em think I’m trying to learn. Then they
won’t know I’m working on a break-out.
     

Chapter Ten
     
    Danny went to two more classes that morning: history
and arithmetic. He fell asleep in the history class. No one
bothered him until the teacher poked him on the shoulder, after the
rest of the boys had left.
    “I don’t think you’re