Heaven Read Online Free PDF

than any of the others, and that Tom and I were responsible for seeing that Keith and Our Jane made it safely to school. She said a million nice things with her eyes. With some other teacher perhaps Tom and I wouldn’t have developed such a love for school. She was the one who made our school days a real adventure, a quest for knowledge that would take us, eventually, out of the mountains, out of a poverty-ridden shack, into the bigger, richer world.
    Tom and I met eyes, both of us thrilled to be again in the presence of our radiant teacher who had already given us a bit of the world when she inspired in us the love of reading. I was nearer the window than Tom, since looking outside always gave Tom compelling itches to play hooky despite his desire to finish high school and earn a scholarship that would take him through college. If we couldn’t win our way to college with good grades, we’d work our way through. We had it all planned. I sighed as I sat. Each day we managed to go to school was another small battle won, taking us closer to our goals. Mine was to be a teacher just like Miss Deale.
    My idol’s hair was very much the texture and color of Our Jane’s, pale reddish blond; her eyes were light blue, her figure slim and curvy. Miss Deale was from Baltimore and spoke with a different accent than any ofher students. Truthfully, I thought Miss Deale was absolutely perfect.
    Miss Deale glanced at a few empty seats before she looked again at the clock, sighing as she stood up and made the roll call. “Let us all stand and salute the flag,” she said, “and before we sit again, we will all say silent prayers of gratitude to be alive and healthy and young, with all the world waiting for us to discover, and to improve.”
    Boy, if she didn’t know how to start the day off right no one did. Just to see her, to be with her, gave both Tom and me reason to feel the future did hold something special for both of us. She had respect for her students, even us in our shabby clothes, but she never gave an inch when it came to order, neatness, politeness.
    First we had to hand in our homework. Since our parents couldn’t afford to buy our books, we had to use the schoolbooks to complete our homework during school hours. Sometimes this was just too much, especially when the days grew shorter and darkness fell before we reached home.
    I was scribbling like mad from the chalkboard when Miss Deale stopped at my desk and whispered, “Heaven, you and Tom please stay after class. I have something to discuss with the two of you.”
    “Have we done something wrong?” I asked worriedly.
    “No, of course not. You always ask that. Heaven, just because I single out you and Tom does not always mean I plan to reprimand you.”
    The only times Miss Deale seemed to be disappointed in either Tom or me was when we turned sullen and quiet from her questioning about how we lived. We became defensive of both Ma and Pa, not wanting her to know how poorly we were housed, and how pitifulwere our meals compared to what we heard the city kids describing.
    Lunchtimes in school were the worst. Half the valley kids brought brown lunch bags, and the other half ate in the cafeteria. Only we from the hills brought nothing, not even the change it took to buy a hot dog and a cola drink. In our high mountain home we ate breakfast at dawn, a second meal before darkness drove us into bed. Never lunch.
    “What ya think she wants?” Tom asked as we met briefly during the lunch hour, before he went to play ball and I went to skip rope.
    “Don’t know.”
    Miss Deale was busy checking papers as Tom and I hung back after school, worried about Keith and Our Jane, who wouldn’t know what to do if we weren’t there when they were dismissed from their classrooms. “You explain,” Tom whispered, and then dashed off to collect Keith and Our Jane. We couldn’t depend on Fanny to look out for them.
    Suddenly Miss Deale looked up. “Oh, I’m sorry, Heaven … have