Treasures from Grandma's Attic Read Online Free PDF Page A

the next morning. “Can’t you hurry a little?” I called. “What took you so long?”
    “I had to change my dress,” she replied. “Besides, I didn’t know school was a place you hurried to. What’s the rush?”
    “I want to see the grade on my paper.”
    “Not I,” she stated firmly. “That’s a pleasure I’d put off indefinitely if I could. I hope it won’t ruin your day if you don’t get a hundred.”
    The opening exercises seemed to take a lot longer than usual. I was almost chewing my fingernails before Miss Gibson picked up the test papers from her desk.
    “The examination was especially hard this time,” Miss Gibson announced. “There was only one paper with a hundred percent, and that was Mabel O’Dell’s. Warren Carter had ninety-eight.”
    I felt the blood rush to my face, and Sarah Jane’s mouth dropped open. “You did it!” she exclaimed. “You beat Warren by two points!”
    “I’m proud of you, Mabel.” Miss Gibson smiled at me as I went to get my paper. “You worked hard on this. And you, too, Warren,” she said to him. “One error is still an excellent test.”
    But not perfect, I thought triumphantly. It would have done my heart good to say it out loud, but I knew it was better not to. Warren’s look of disbelief was reward enough for me.
    “I’ll have to admit I didn’t think you could do it,” Sarah Jane said. “Or maybe I thought Warren couldn’t make a mistake. I’m sure proud of you. Your folks will be too.”
    I knew they would be pleased, and I put my paper in my books to take home. It was hard to concentrate on English and history and science the rest of the day. I noticed Warren wasn’t doing very well either, but I didn’t feel sorry for him. He deserved it for what he said about God and girls.
    I showed Ma the test as soon as I got home and then put it on the table for Pa to see when he came in. “I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed anything as much as beating Warren Carter,” I said to Ma. “Maybe he won’t be so sure of everything from now on.”
    “Don’t gloat,” Ma said. “Think how it would be if you were in his place.”
    I tried to do that, but it was hard not to believe he had it coming. After supper I helped Ma with the dishes. Then I spread my homework out on the table while Pa was looking over my test paper.
    “Mabel,” he said, “this answer isn’t right.”
    I dropped my book and hurried over to him. “It has to be, Pa! Miss Gibson corrects them from the key in her book!”
    “Books have been known to be wrong,” Pa replied. “I’ve worked this out twice and got the same answer both times. You look at my figures.”
    I carefully checked the problem that Pa had done. There was no doubt; mine was wrong.
    “How could that book have an error in it?” I cried. “People depend on books to be correct. Miss Gibson didn’t see it!”
    “She wasn’t expecting it,” Pa said. “I’m sure she didn’t think it was necessary to work every problem when she had the key.”
    “How did you find it? With all the problems on that test, how did you see the wrong one?”
    “Just by chance, I guess,” Pa answered. “I thought I’d see if I still remembered how to do these and I just picked one to work.”
    “Oh, this is awful!” I moaned.
    “There’s nothing so awful about one mistake,” Pa said. “You still have an excellent test paper.”
    “But not perfect,” I replied. “I don’t want just excellent—I want perfect. I’ll die. I feel sick just thinking about it.”
    “It hardly seems sensible to quit school over one arithmetic problem,” Ma pointed out. “Just think of the favor you’ll be doing the people who got it right.”
    “I am thinking,” I said. “What if that’s the one Warren missed? He’ll have the hundred and I’ll have ninety-eight. He’ll never let me forget it. In fact, he’ll claim he was right about not praying. It wasn’t any use.”
    Ma was silent while I gathered up my books to go to my