Lemon Read Online Free PDF Page B

trying to decide which doughnut to consume. Tora wants to be a writer. She plans to go to university and take creative writing. I told her no decent writer studies creative writing. She accused me of being envious because I have no direction. She doesn’t think I’m serious about the soap thing. I’ve actually been thinking about a mint facial soap. Mint’s got anti-inflammatory properties, which would be good for zits.
    â€˜I’m going to crash Nicole’s party,’ Rossi announces.
    I get a blueberry cruller. The dough sticks to the top of my mouth, making speech difficult.
    â€˜You’ve got to get over this party thing,’ Tora says.
    â€˜And do what?’ Rossi asks. ‘Sit around writing lonely poems? No thank you.’
    â€˜You could get a hobby,’ I say.
    â€˜Don’t start with the pennies,’ Rossi says. When we were in Brownies, I collected pennies to earn a Brownie badge. I’ve kept it up because I want to have a penny for as many years as possible. My oldest penny is from 1939. I like holding it and thinking about some mother holding it in 1939, listening to the wireless about Herr Hitler, worrying that sonny boy will have to go to war and get his legs blown off. I like knowing that she’s dead and that her son’s dead and that the penny has changed hands millions of times since then. Hands that belonged to people who were just as freaked about something or other. There’s always something to freak about but the penny keeps going.

5
    A cop comes to our school to talk about Youth Violence. He’s short and losing his hair and talks really loudly even though the microphone’s set up. He keeps popping it on words like purpose and protect. His name is Power. Inspector Power. He says there have already been twelve homicides in our area this year. ‘If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword,’ he warns the assembly of head-and butt-scratchers. ‘Lay down your arms,’ he says. ‘The families who live here have good hearts and desire peace and just want to raise their families.’
    Ms. Brimmers – Drew’s replacement – stands gazing at Inspector Power, getting creamy about the man in the uniform. Brimmers is very serious about her job because it’s her first gig as principal. Occasionally she smiles, which is truly scary because her lips curl back rodent-style and her nose wrinkles. Unlike Drew, she’s always looking over her shoulder, watching for knives.
    â€˜Shootings are a symptom of something else,’ Inspector Power says. ‘You need to acquire the social skills that enable you to resolve incidents in a peaceful manner.’ He pops the mike on peaceful. ‘You’ve got to start thinking about compassion.’
    I guess nobody’s told him that violence buys status, not to mention stardom. It’s not like anybody’s forgotten the Columbine boys - heck, they’re so famous a video game was named after them. Maybe Inspector Power hasn’t noticed that, even in the movies, the good guy ends up blowing everybody’s heads off in order to protect the families who desire peace and just want to raise their families. If you look at history, all the killings are supposed to be about protecting somebody or other; from the Romans on it’s just one big disembowelling process in the name of defence. No different from gang wars. That’s another problem I have with Shakespeare, he makes battlefield stuff look noble when the fact is, it’s just more slaughter for no good reason. And while his Henrys and Richards are plotting inside their castles, peasants are being burnt out, raped and pillaged on a regular basis. Over and over again the most ruthless despot wins. I guess there are a few exceptions, Hitler for example, but he still managed to kill six million Jews. Gandhi never lifted a sword but who wants to starve themselves and sit around in a diaper