Read Online The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine - Free Book Online Page B

said she believed in me. But how could she believe in me if she wasn’t there?
    The bell rang, and I splashed water on my face. I glanced in the mirror. My skin was the same beige color it had been before. Liz was the first person outside of my family I could really talk to. I couldn’t lose her. It must be some big misunderstanding. When it was resolved, when she came back, I wanted the magic square book. I wanted to have earned it.
    History was right after lunch. Miss Taylor looked surprised when I raised my hand. “Yes, Marlee?”
    â€œI want to do the presentation.” My voice shook, but the words were clear.
    Miss Taylor was speechless. She just nodded and gestured for me to go to the front of the room.
    Everyone was silent. Every eye was on me. It took forever. Finally, I reached the front of the room. I pulled the black feather from my pocket and stuck it in one of my braids, like an Indian headdress. I took a deep breath.
    Nothing came out.
    I counted 29, 31, 37, 41.
    Still no voice.
    Finally, in desperation, I imagined them all in their underwear.
    It made things worse. In a moment, I was going to faint dead away. JT was grinning at me like a monkey.
    A monkey.
    Sally was stroking her hair, preening like a peacock.
    Nora’s long neck turned her into a giraffe.
    A boy in the back row had his head down, sleeping like a lion.
    They were all animals. It was a zoo.
    I started to talk.
    â€œThe Quapaw Indians were one of the tribes that lived near the river when the first French explorers came to Little Rock. The Quapaw had respect for all living things. After hunting, they would thank the animal they’d killed for giving them food.”
    I stood up in front of the class and told them how the Quapaw smoked the peace pipe with the Europeans. I explained how unmarried women wore their hair braided and pinned up, while married women wore their hair down.
    â€œWho did you marry, Sally?” JT called out, and everyone laughed. Sally turned bright red and stopped fiddling with her hair.
    Miss Taylor shushed them, and I went on, explaining what crops the Quapaw planted (corn, beans and squash) and where they slept (on woven mats). Finally, I got to the last part of our presentation—the Peach Seed Ceremony.
    â€œFathers were real important to the Quapaw, so if yours died, you had to get another one. Instead of letting the grown-ups decide, they let the kids choose.”
    I held up the peach pit I had been clutching in my hand. It left a mark on my palm.
    â€œIf your father died, they gave you a peach pit and put you in a circle of all the men. The man you gave the pit to would be your new daddy.”
    I held up the pit and all the boys starting oohing and ahhing.
    â€œPick me!” yelled JT.
    That had been my plan. It was going to be fun. Flirty. But he’d called Liz that name, and now I was determined to pick someone else. Anyone else. I scanned the room.
    Little Jimmy was quiet and shy and bad at football and, well, little. I’m not sure he’d ever spoken to me before. I know I’d never spoken to him. But when I placed the pit in his hands, he looked up at me with shining eyes, as if I’d given him a diamond.

14

    FACING FACTS
    After history I went to the bathroom and threw up. I’d done it. I’d spoken aloud in a class at school. But I didn’t feel powerful. I didn’t feel triumphant. I felt like I was getting the flu.
    I got halfway to the nurse’s office before I turned and walked out of the building. I tried to make myself feel bad about skipping school, but it didn’t work. I just kept hearing Sally saying she threw away her hairbrush. Imagining Mother complaining about states’ rights. Remembering racing turtles with Liz in the sunlight.
    I walked home slowly. I needed to talk to Judy. She would know what to do. She would know what to say. But as soon as I went into the kitchen, I remembered Judy was at Margaret’s for a