Read Online Invaders From Mars by Ray Garton - Free Book Online Page B

learned about frogs in the past week.” She went to the front of the classroom and pulled down a chart over the blackboard. She pointed to the colorful diagram of a dissected frog and asked, “Who can tell me what these two red sacs are?”
    The class was silent.
    “You may refer to the frogs in front of you if it will help,” Mrs. McKeltch said, frustrated.
    Marcy Young raised her hand, her eyes fixed on the dissected frog.
    “Yes, Marcy?” Mrs. McKeltch said, smiling her iguana smile.
    Still looking down at her frog, Marcy asked, “Which ones, Mrs. McKeltch?”
    When Mrs. McKeltch went to the back of the class to help Marcy, a frog flew through the air behind her and slapped onto Heather’s chest, sliding into her lap, unseen by the teacher.
    “Gawd!” Heather squealed, startling David.
    He turned to see Kevin ( Who else? he thought) laughing into his palm across the room. Not at all in the mood for Kevin, David grabbed the frog from Heather’s lap and half stood, putting his hand on the desktop. He threw the frog at Kevin just as Mrs. McKeltch turned around.
    “David Gardiner!” she snapped.
    He paid little attention to her because he’d put his hand right on the scalpel; a small cut on the outer edge of his palm had begun to bleed.
    “That may be the way you behave at home,” Mrs. McKeltch went on, “but it’s not the way you’ll behave in my classroom!” The students began laughing at David until Mrs. McKeltch raised her hand and said, “One, two, three, four, five!”
    Instant silence.
    “Oh God, he’s bleeding!” Heather gasped, gawking with wide eyes at David’s hand.
    Mrs. McKeltch approached David’s desk and towered over him like a building. Her fists were clenched at her sides and her lips were pressed so tightly together they’d become pale.
    “Heather,” she said, her eyes boring into David, “you supervise them while I take this uncontrolled young man to the school nurse.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Heather said softly. She gave David a look of silent apology.
    Mrs. McKeltch grabbed David’s wrist and dragged him out of the room, stopping in the hall to examine his cut briefly. Her eyes narrowed to slits and a cold smile pulled at her lips as she led him down the hall holding his wrist in an iron grip. “I hope you need a tetanus shot,” she hissed.
    “That’s good news, Mrs. Beacham,” Linda said into the phone, sitting on the edge of her desk. “I’m glad it wasn’t a break.”
    She could hear someone stopping outside her office door and tried to wrap up the conversation.
    “Just keep her off the foot for a few days and tell her—”
    The door opened and Mrs. McKeltch stormed in, her face tight, holding the hand of the boy who Linda had run into the day before.
    “Ms. Magnuson,” Mrs. McKeltch said angrily, “David here has gone ahead and cut himself. It probably serves him right.”
    Linda held up a palm, trying to listen to Mrs. Beacham. “Okay, that’s fine,” she said. “Tell her that we’ll miss her here at school. All right, thank you.” She hung up the phone and turned in time to see Mrs. McKeltch rolling her eyes, annoyed at having to wait. “I’m sorry,” Linda said with a smile. “What’s wrong?”
    “I said this silly boy has cut himself! I don’t know what he’s gotten into. He’s . . . he’s simply uncontrollable.”
    Children behave only as well as they’re treated, Linda thought, wanting to say it aloud, but knowing better. She put a hand on David’s shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “I’ll take it from here, Mrs. McKletch,” she said, realizing her mistake the moment it was out of her mouth.
    “It’s Mc Keltch,” the teacher snapped, her nostrils flaring. She turned and stalked out, slamming the office door so hard it rattled the pictures on the walls.
    Linda sighed with relief and smiled down at David. He was holding his injured hand gingerly with the other, frowning deeply.
    “Why don’t you come back here and sit down,”