Read Online Adrian Del Valle - Diego's Brooklyn by Adrian Del Valle - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Adrian Del Valle
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the wool over my eyes, didn’t you?”
Diego never got the chance to meet anybody after three. Instead, he landed in the lunch room with two hours detention. He felt miserable.
A letter arrived by mail a few days later. Diego wasn’t home when it got there and he hadn’t said anything to his mother about the incident. She couldn’t read English very well anyway. Perhaps he could bluff his way through this one, he had thought. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
“Karen read to me thees papers today and I done Like eet, Meester Diego Rivera.”
Using and pronouncing his full name in Spanish was always a bad sign, especially when she rolled the r’s with her tongue.
“Mom, it really wasn’t me. I got blamed for it, but nobody really saw what happened.”
“So why done ju tell me thees theeng when eets hopping for ju?”
“I thought you might not get a letter. Hector was sitting right there. He knows it wasn’t me.”
“So now ju want Hector to lie for ju, too?”
“I’m not lying, Mom. Oh, what’s the use? You’re not going to believe me anyway.”
“Karen told to me that I’m having to go to school.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Sorry? Sorry? Ees too late for sorry. Ju know I no can walk weeth thees heep.”
“I know, but it wasn’t me. It really wasn’t.”
“I wan to belief ju, but even if eet wasn’t ju, Diego, dee teacher believe eet was ju.”
Principal’s Office
“Come in! Have a seat right there, Mr. Rivera. And who is that with you?”
“This is Mr. Jackson, Mr. Ratzfarb. He’s a family friend. My mother couldn’t come. She has a bad hip and can’t walk very far.”
“That’s perfectly fine. Do you know what this is all about, Mr. Jackson?”
“I gots the gist of it, suh. But you see, Diego is a good boy. I knows him for quite some time now and…”
“Well, Mr. Jackson, you know this boy for quite some time, but I guess you don’t really know him very well after all, do you? He put one of my teachers in danger with these darts?”
The principal tapped hard on his desk with a forefinger. “These darts! These darts right here!”
“Suh…alls ah knows is that he ain’t done nothin’ of the kind in all the time I knows him. We been a workin’ all summer long togetha, an’ I can tell you, Mista Principal, suh, if he says he ain’t done did it, then that be the truth. Please, suh, he ain’t never even did hissalf nothin’ in the fust place.”
“You got a three day suspension, Mr. Rivera, and that’s the end of it. You can go now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Diego trailed behind Bill and shut the door quietly behind himself.
Out in the hall, Bill fumed, “That man ain’t heard nothin’ ah said. If ah could put his dot sized brain in a gnat’s butt, I betcha that bug would fly backwards.”
In the ensuing silence of his office, Mr. Ratzfarb sat and stared at the closed door. He continued to tap on his desk with the end of a pencil for a while—a long while. Something about this whole thing bothered him. If he could only put his finger on it. More tapping. Finally, that “something” sparked his memory.
“Betty Ann!”
His secretary cracked the door open. “Yes, Mr. Ratzfarb?”
“You remember something last year about darts being thrown in the school yard, or…I don’t know, I can’t remember exactly who it was or where, but there was an incident about darts? Do you remember that?”
“That was in the lunch room. That Willie kid… um…Willie Goodwin.”
“That’s right…Goodwin! Is he in Diego’s class this year?”
“I believe so. Do you want me to pull his file?”
“No, don’t bother. It’s all settled for now and I really don’t have time to pursue any of this. Never mind. Thanks anyway.”
Aside from the incident, Diego did very well in school. He was especially good at math, inherited from his mother he had always thought. She was good at calculations—did it all in her head.
The School Assembly
It was halfway
Diego never got the chance to meet anybody after three. Instead, he landed in the lunch room with two hours detention. He felt miserable.
A letter arrived by mail a few days later. Diego wasn’t home when it got there and he hadn’t said anything to his mother about the incident. She couldn’t read English very well anyway. Perhaps he could bluff his way through this one, he had thought. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
“Karen read to me thees papers today and I done Like eet, Meester Diego Rivera.”
Using and pronouncing his full name in Spanish was always a bad sign, especially when she rolled the r’s with her tongue.
“Mom, it really wasn’t me. I got blamed for it, but nobody really saw what happened.”
“So why done ju tell me thees theeng when eets hopping for ju?”
“I thought you might not get a letter. Hector was sitting right there. He knows it wasn’t me.”
“So now ju want Hector to lie for ju, too?”
“I’m not lying, Mom. Oh, what’s the use? You’re not going to believe me anyway.”
“Karen told to me that I’m having to go to school.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Sorry? Sorry? Ees too late for sorry. Ju know I no can walk weeth thees heep.”
“I know, but it wasn’t me. It really wasn’t.”
“I wan to belief ju, but even if eet wasn’t ju, Diego, dee teacher believe eet was ju.”
Principal’s Office
“Come in! Have a seat right there, Mr. Rivera. And who is that with you?”
“This is Mr. Jackson, Mr. Ratzfarb. He’s a family friend. My mother couldn’t come. She has a bad hip and can’t walk very far.”
“That’s perfectly fine. Do you know what this is all about, Mr. Jackson?”
“I gots the gist of it, suh. But you see, Diego is a good boy. I knows him for quite some time now and…”
“Well, Mr. Jackson, you know this boy for quite some time, but I guess you don’t really know him very well after all, do you? He put one of my teachers in danger with these darts?”
The principal tapped hard on his desk with a forefinger. “These darts! These darts right here!”
“Suh…alls ah knows is that he ain’t done nothin’ of the kind in all the time I knows him. We been a workin’ all summer long togetha, an’ I can tell you, Mista Principal, suh, if he says he ain’t done did it, then that be the truth. Please, suh, he ain’t never even did hissalf nothin’ in the fust place.”
“You got a three day suspension, Mr. Rivera, and that’s the end of it. You can go now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Diego trailed behind Bill and shut the door quietly behind himself.
Out in the hall, Bill fumed, “That man ain’t heard nothin’ ah said. If ah could put his dot sized brain in a gnat’s butt, I betcha that bug would fly backwards.”
In the ensuing silence of his office, Mr. Ratzfarb sat and stared at the closed door. He continued to tap on his desk with the end of a pencil for a while—a long while. Something about this whole thing bothered him. If he could only put his finger on it. More tapping. Finally, that “something” sparked his memory.
“Betty Ann!”
His secretary cracked the door open. “Yes, Mr. Ratzfarb?”
“You remember something last year about darts being thrown in the school yard, or…I don’t know, I can’t remember exactly who it was or where, but there was an incident about darts? Do you remember that?”
“That was in the lunch room. That Willie kid… um…Willie Goodwin.”
“That’s right…Goodwin! Is he in Diego’s class this year?”
“I believe so. Do you want me to pull his file?”
“No, don’t bother. It’s all settled for now and I really don’t have time to pursue any of this. Never mind. Thanks anyway.”
Aside from the incident, Diego did very well in school. He was especially good at math, inherited from his mother he had always thought. She was good at calculations—did it all in her head.
The School Assembly
It was halfway
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