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"I pro next ht at the top of new business"
That seemed to satisfy her, at least for now With one curious look flung in etables turned on her heel and marched back into her doed, absentht ear "She has a valid point If we start running low on food in the storerooardens, and if that’s been picked over, we’re in trouble I think everyone here has come to understand how interconnected life is at East River Hey--do you mind if I stop by and visit Pete?"
I smiled "Of course not"
The little boy was buried under a mound of blankets--if the bare ladly donated theirs to his pile When his flushed face finally eed from the covers, I said hello and introduced ood fifteenthe cos of the camp Kids waved and smiled at me, like I had been there for years, not a few days I waved back, so in my chest I don’t knohen it had dawned onrealization, but I had begun to understand that black--the color that I had trainedthat allowed these kids to feel a small measure of pride and solidarity
"You’ll never feel alone here," Clancy said, shutting the cabin door behind hi next, then made a stop by the wash houses to test the faucets andEvery now and then, someone stopped Clancy to ask a question or air a co other than patient and understanding I watched hiestions for dinner, and give his opinion on whether the security teaned to it
By the time we reached the cabin that served as the Cubbies’ classrooive his weekly lesson on US history
The room was small and crowded, but well lit and decorated with colorful posters and drawings I spotted Zu and her pink gloves even before I saw the teenage girl at the front of the rooth of the Mississippi River on an old map of the United States Hina sat next to Zu, of course, frantically scribbling down notes I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me, but the kids actually cheered when Clancy appeared in the doorway The girl relinquished the front of the room to him immediately
"Alllll right, alllll right," Clancy began "Who can tell ririms?" he continued "What are those? How about you, Jairl about Zu’s age sat straight up "People in England were being ion, so they sailed to America and landed at Plyot there?"
About ten hands shot in the air He picked a little boy close to hiht have been a Green, but he could just as easily have been a Yellow or Blue My usualether Which, I suppose, was the point
"They set up a colony," the boy answered
"You got it It was the second English colony, after the one set up in Jamestown in 1607--not too far from where we are now, actually!" Clancy picked up theand pointed out both places "While they were on the Mayflower, they created the Mayflower Couaranteed everyone would cooperate and act in a way that would be beneficial to the colony When they arrived, they faced a lot of hardships But they all worked together and created a colish crown’s rule and could practice their faith openly" He stopped pacing for ahis dark eyes out over his audience "Sound fa close enough to see the freckles on her face, but,off her I feltin her ear, and her srew
"Sounds like us!" someone called, from the back of the room
"You bet," Clancy said, and talked for the next hour and a half about how the Pilgrims interacted with the native tribes, about Jas h school And when he had used up all his time, he took a small bow and roans and co as alked to the fire pit, where they were just starting to set up for dinner I felt a number of eyes latch onto us immediately, but I didn’t care I actually felt a small thrill of pride
"So?" Clancy said, as we stood beside the Office’s porch, listening to the bells calling everyone to dinner "What do you think?"
"I think I’m ready for my first lesson," I said
"Oh, Miss Daly" A ses of his lips "You already had your first lesson You just didn’t realize it"
Teeks passed like a page tearing from an old book
I spent so many hours of so es into hisabout the League, Thurmond, and White Noise, that we both fell out of sync with the cas, but instead of asking me to leave, he had me wait on the other side of the white curtain, where ere now conducting o out and inspect the cabins, or handle an argument, but I almost always stayed up in that musty old room There were books and music and a TV at my disposal, which meant I never once had the opportunity to be bored
I still saw Chubs at soht to us Zu was even harder to track down, because when she wasn’t in class, she ith Hina or one of the older Yellows The only tiht, before the cahost--alorking, looking for ways to catch Clancy’s attention by stitching up the kid who’d split her lip or suggesting a est I sat with him hen he took out my stitches