on, Allie,â said Joey. âLetâs hear it.â
âYeah, Allie. Read,â other voices urged.
âYou donât have to if you donât want to,â Mr. Henry repeated.
âItâs okay,â said Allie. She looked around at her classmates. Most of them were regarding her with great interest. Dub was grinning encouragingly. She glanced toward Karen and was immediately sorry. Karenâs arms were folded across her chest and she mouthed the words, âTeacherâs pet.â
Allie looked away and, reluctantly, began to read. ââI am L.â The words appeared, mysteriously, on the opening page of my journal. I sat down to write and there they were. But that is not the beginning of the story.â
Allie continued reading until she came to the end: ââWho is L? I plan to find out.ââ
There was a brief silence before the class broke into spontaneous applause. All except for Pam, who was looking at Karen, and Karen, who was staring off into space with a bored expression on her face.
âCool story, Al,â said Brad.
Other voices echoed, âYeah.â
âWhatâs going to happen next?â asked Trisha.
âWho cares,â Allie heard Karen mutter.
âI donât know,â said Allie. Boy, was that the truth!
Mr. Henry was beaming at her. âThanks, Allie. I enjoyed it even more the second time. After hearing that example of imaginative writing, I hope all of you will cut loose in your journals and express yourselves as freely as you like.
âBut now please put your journals away and letâs head down to the library,â Mr. Henry said. âI talked with Mrs. Foster about your interest in Fossil Glen and she had a terrific idea. She suggested that we alternate field-study trips to the glen with research trips to the library. Sheâs all set to help you find answers to the questions we raised yesterday. So get your pencils and notebooks and letâs go.â
As they walked through the hall to the library, Mr. Henry fell into step beside Allie. âI hope I didnât put you on the spot, Allie,â he said. âI really wanted the rest of the class to hear your work.â
Allie shook her head. âItâs okay,â she said. âI didnât mind.â They walked a few steps in silence. Then Allie said, âMr. Henry?â
âYes?â
âDo you think anything like that could really happen?â
âDo you mean something like what happened in your story?â asked Mr. Henry.
âYes.â
Mr. Henry looked into Allieâs face for a moment before answering carefully. âI think this, Allie: The world is a very complex, interesting place. Sometimes things happen that we donât understand. It doesnât mean there isnât an explanation. We simply havenât found it yet.â
Allie thought about that. It made sense.
âWhy do you ask?â said Mr. Henry. He wasnât making fun of her; he looked serious, as if he really wanted to know.
For a second she thought about confiding in Mr. Henry. Then she remembered her parentsâ conversation the evening before. If they talked to Mr. Henryâ¦
No, sheâd better keep quiet. For now. They were approaching the library door, anyway. âOh, I donât know,â she answered. âI just wondered.â
âWell, keep wondering,â said Mr. Henry with a smile. âThatâs how we learn.â
They walked into the library. As usual, it was a busy place, filled with children choosing books, watching filmstrips, listening to cassettes, working on projects, and clicking away on the computers. Mrs. Foster, the librarian, was everywhere at once, it seemed, answering questions and offering advice on how to find things. There was a table piled high with materials she had gathered for Allieâs class.
âMr. Henry tells me you want to know everything ,â she said with a smile.
Salman Rushdie
Ed Lynskey
Anthony Litton
Herman Cain
Bernhard Schlink
Calista Fox
RJ Astruc
Neil Pasricha
Frankie Robertson
Kathryn Caskie