September Wind Read Online Free PDF Page B

she couldn’t name. To the right of that was a basketball court.
                  She walked up to the top step and sat watching a number of children arrive carrying paper bags, or tin buckets, and some with notebooks tucked under an arm. When a car approached, she squinted and fixed her eyes intently to see if it was Miss O’Reilly. It was a black car, but the woman who got out wore dark-rimmed glasses and had brown hair rolled into tight curls.
                  “I’ll bet you’re Emily, the new girl,” the woman said as she came up the steps. “I’m Miss Tucker.”
    Emily stood and gathered her gunnysack in her arms. “Is the other teacher on her way?”
    “You mean Miss O’Reilly, the young lady from the school board? She doesn’t teach here. She helps out in Watseka now and then, but she’s from Chicago. And no, she won’t be here.”
                  “ Oh,” was all Emily could manage.
                  Miss Tucker put a hand on her shoulder then went to unlock the door, holding it open.
                  “ I’ll wait out here,” Emily said. She stepped onto the porch as a group of children filed by and went inside.
                  A car stopped in front, and two girls hopped out and came up the steps. Emily smiled at the one with big blue eyes and shiny ringlets the color of maple syrup. The girl next to her, wearing a large pink bow at the crown, screwed up her mouth and nudged her friend.
                  “ Look, she’s got a potato sack.” They set their eyes on her bag, giggling as if she had dropped it in cow poop.
                  One of the older boys who had gone in earlier came back out and blew a whistle.
                  Emily cradled her bag closer, waiting for everyone to pass before going inside.
                  “ Children,” the teacher said, “find yourselves a desk. You can sit where you want today. I’ll separate you into classes at the end of the week.”
                  Emily was about to take a seat in the front row, when the girl with the large pink bow cut her off.
                  “ Connie,” the teacher said. “We know you and Sally are both in the fifth grade, so why don’t you two go on to the back.”
                  Connie lifted her chin, which still only put her eye-to-nose with Emily, gave a haughty “ humph” and then marched off to the back.
                  Emily sat and watched more of her classmates wander in. She perked up when she saw an Indian girl named Haity who had been at the farm two summers ago. They had played up in the tree house while Haity’s father did business with the men.
    Haity headed straight for Emily. “Hey, I remember you.”
                  “ You’ve grown,” Emily said, meaning up. Although it was obvious that she had not only grown up, but sideways too.
                  Haity squeezed into the seat next to her. “It’s nice to see you.”
                  Emily glanced around to the back row. “Not as glad as I am to see you.” She pulled herself up in her seat, smiling, certain she had found her friend.
                  A couple of girls joined Connie and Sally in back. They huddled together, whispered, and giggled as they turned their eyes up front.
                  “ They always cackle like that?” Emily asked.
                  Haity looked back and pinched her eyes into slits. “They’re all snobs. I hate their guts. You Indian?” she asked, giving Emily a closer look. “They don’t care much for Indians. ’Course they might hate you ’cause you’re prettier than all of them put together.”
                  Emily couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It made her insides grow warm with pleasure.
    When a few stragglers filed in and took the last of the seats, a