Page 12 (1/2)

A little thrill went through the Others as they i shapes and colors of his punishirl who had gotten her hair caught in a stapler and paid little attention to either of them Pen-Stain, robbed of his chance to make it clear he was better than at least one other boy on the very first day, reddened in frustration Then his embarrassment turned into a smile—but the kind of smile that shows sharp teeth

“Fine,” he said gleefully “I’ll punish you, then After school Just you wait, freak-o I’onna thump you”

Mrs Wilkinson suddenly noticed that her classrooood and pealed forth as to become her battle cry:

“Settle down, children, settle down!”

Even though they were all quite settled, except for Pen-Stain

Thomas did not pay much attention to his lessons that day It hardly mattered, as Mrs Wilkinson only seeenta and how to add one and one together Tho a book full of big, violent illustrations of the Great Battles of Britain with quite a lot of s came into his mind (he liked it best because it had a bull in one corner of the illustration looking on with a bewildered expression on its brown face Thomas deeply preferred the bull to Williados and Waterloos You et hollered at and thuer and better equipped than yourself, who talk roughly and angrily in languages not very et walloped and wake up French Thoh of the land yet But he knew he had to be very good The only question was: What did good an talking about addition and this lasses of irl at her own desk, her hands folded just the sae and dark and mildly interested, like a bull who has just witnessed the Battle of Hastings and found it reasonably entertaining

Beneath his desk, Thomas quietly wrote in Inspector Balloon, so that he would not forget what he had learned so far The way the boy with the pen stain said After School e, lawless country of its own Who knehat Sense was Common in that mysterious place? After all, every Nation has its rules Soh resses and revolutions and having their hair brushed one hundred ti and Reckless, having sprouted like raspberry thickets and taken root without watering, feeding, or filibustering A Well-Groo a quill pen—for in the world of humans a pen with a feather attached has certain properties that undecorated ballpoints do not Anything written with a quill becomes instantly splendid, official, and eternal This is why clever senators, wedding officiants, and playwrights always keep one close by A Rude and Roa Rule is one that no one invented, or carved on stone plates, but that everyone knows, or learns on the double if they knohat’s good for them

The Kingdoms of School and After School are full of unta to pounce upon the unexpected It was more important than ever to keep Inspector Balloon informed

The boy with the pen stain, along hat see, Classroom 4 and possibly soyiants’ jaws over the gray stone of the play yard The Other Boy already had his fists up and looked very h he knehat to do with theht I have my Troll’s Mantle and my Carnivorous Mittens to protect , when Gwendolyn had tucked his hair behind his ear and said gently:

“Darling, you do know that those aren’t really tiger paws, don’t you? Tell your mother you know that”

He knehat she wanted, but he couldn’t make his mouth do it It was a just a bit of yarn, of course it was He’d seen her knitting them over the summer But Thomas couldn’t, he just couldn’t make himself not believe that they would not becoh, if only his need was great enough

“I’ye fists He wasn’t quite brave enough to say it to the crowd of children “My paws have known the jungles of Sumatra”

“What the devil is a Suled

“It’s a place far across the sea where there are tigers and coffee and—”

“Stop talking! I’onna hit you now! Hold still!”