The Cactus Creek Challenge Read Online Free PDF Page A

hands.
    “That’s her,” one of the twins said, pointing to the little girl. “She don’t talk much, not even hardly to Miss Bucknell. And she never talks to men at all.”
    Wonderful. What was he supposed to do with a student who wouldn’t talk to him? He checked the box next to her name.
    “Ulysses Harrison?”
Ulysses? Really?
    “I’m here, and so’s my brother.” The twins pointed at each other, shoving and tussling.
    “Quincy?” He placed two more checkmarks. “Settle down, boys.”
    He went on down the list until he finally called out Mary Alice Watkins, the oldest girl in the school. When he was done, he looked at the clock. Only a couple of minutes had passed. This might turn out to be the longest day of his life.
    “You’re supposed to pray. Then we say our psalm,” Ulysses—or was it Quincy?—piped up.
    He closed the attendance book and remembered that Cassie had mentioned putting a schedule somewhere. Oh yeah, the back of the record book.
    1. Take attendance
    2. Prayer and psalm
    3. Primary reading
    And so on. The only things he read on the list that didn’t give him the heebie-jeebies were recess, lunch, and dismissal.
    Prayer. He prayed all the time, but he wasn’t all that comfortable praying in front of others, especially not this little hoard of monsters. An idea struck him.
    “Anybody want to volunteer to pray this morning?”
    Quicker than a wink, Quincy—or was it Ulysses?—hopped to his feet. “I will.” And before he received permission, he clamped his eyes closed, slapped his hands together under his chin, and launched into a dreadful Scottish accent.
    “Some hae meat and cannae eat
Some would eat that want it
But we hae meat and we can eat
Sae let the Lord be thankit.”
    His eyes snapped open and he plopped into his seat, beaming.
    Snickers and snorts rippled through the classroom.
    “That ain’t no school prayer, you mug. That’s saying grace before you eat.” An older boy seated behind them poked him in the shoulder.
    “It’s the only prayer I know.” Quincy shrugged. “One prayer’s pretty much as good as another, ain’t it?”
    “Naw,” his twin piped up. “You gotta say a special prayer for every occasion. Miss Bucknell says a different prayer every morning.”
    Quincy shrugged again. “Next time
you
pray then, if you know everything.”
    “Boys, that’s enough. Now, what psalm are you working on?”
    All the students slid out of their desks and stood up straight. Mary Alice started them off.
    “Psalm forty-six. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river …” And they went on right to the end. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”
    And like a little well-trained army, they all sat down. Through it all, while Amanda Hart had stood and sat when everyone else did, she never opened her little mouth, staring up at him through her pale lashes as if she thought he might hop over the desk and grab her. Now that he had time to study her face, he saw that she was the spitting image of her mama. A little porcelain doll. Had something happened to make her so man shy? He’d have to go careful with her.
    Consulting his list, he saw it was time for the primer reader class. Calling upon his memory of school days past, he searched for a ruler. His teachers had always rapped the desk with their ruler and called for a class to come forward. Cassie must keep hers in a drawer somewhere.
    The instant he opened the top drawer, something fluttered and shot upward. He rocked back so hard he tipped his chair over, his feet going skyward and his head colliding with the chalk tray