The first thing everyone has to do upon entering the classroom is pull out their Sustained Silent Reading books and begin reading for ten minutes. This is to be done without talking. Ralph usually just stares at the pages, Nikki notices, never turning them. Just staring at them with his chin on the desk. Nikki is tempted to point this out to Ms. Shelby, but she would probably remind Nikki that she has enough to do taking care of herself.
Actually, sometimes Nikki just stares at the pages as well, whenever she feels like thinking more than reading. on this day she wants to think of how Antonia acts whenever she is lunch monitor. She doesn't even give a warning. It is almost as if she is happy to catch people breaking the rules.
Nikki looks over at Deja now. She is reading a book about howler monkeys. on the cover is a longhaired monkey swinging from a tree, its mouth open just like a big O. Deja is mouthing the words, even though Ms. Shelby has told them to try to read without doing that.
Soon, Sustained Silent Reading time is finished. They get to put their books away, to the relief of some but the dismay of others. It is time for Antonia to give her report. It is time for some behavior cards to go from green to orange.
"Antonia, do you have a report to make?" Ms. Shelby asks.
Antonia stands up and takes the small spiral notebook out of her pencil box. She flips it to the right page. She looks around. She begins. "Leslie was laughing with her mouth open with chewed-up food in it so that we could all see it."
Leslie frowns. Ms. Shelby looks as if she is trying to keep from smiling.
"Remember what I said, class. only make a note of the behaviors we talked about: rough-housing, playing with food, throwing away food that's been untouched, shouting..."
Nikki notices that the whole time Ms. Shelby is saying this, Antonia is looking down, with her mouth pursed. Nikki knows that look. Antonia is not pleased. Nikki can guess what she is thinking. People who show their chewed-up food should not be excused.
Antonia goes on: Arthur was shooting the paper off his straw. Gerald blew bubbles in his chocolate milk, then sucked some up and shot it across the table at Jose. She pauses then. "That's it," she says, sounding almost disappointed. She is about to sit down when she jumps back up again. "oh, and Deja didn't eat all of her apple. She threw away most of it."
Deja opens her mouth to protest, but Ms. Shelby silences her with a look.
"I noticed it on her tray at the last minute, so I didn't get a chance to put it in the notebook, Ms. Shelby."
Nikki feels like protesting as well. She remembers Deja's apple. It was mostly eaten.
Ms. Shelby sighs and puts Arthur's and Gerald's orange cards in front of their green cards. "I'm hoping I can replace these with green by day's end," she says. Antonia puts away the lunch monitor notebook and sits down.
"As for you, Deja," Ms. Shelby continues, "you have to try to eat what's put on your tray—at least most of it. Not just a couple of bites. I'm giving you a warning this time." Deja looks like it is all she can do to keep her mouth shut.
Later, on the way home from school, Deja says, "That dumb Antonia. What's her problem? I didn't think she still had it in for me. After all, I did invite her to my birthday party out of the goodness of my heart."
"Maybe she didn't see it that way," Nikki says. "Maybe she thought your auntie made you invite her."
"oh, whatever," Deja says, then changes the subject. "Don't forget. We're getting subscriptions today."
"uh-huh," Nikki says.
Deja looks over at Nikki with a questioning look on her face, as if checking to see if Nikki is in full agreement.
Nikki sighs. "I don't think it's right that Antonia is trying to get so many kids in trouble. I don't think that's helpful," she says. "I think I'm going to write about how when people get to be a monitor, it shouldn't be just to get other kids in trouble. I'm going to add it to this week's newsletter."
"Yeah. She can't be trying to get people in trouble all the time, just for fun. That's not right," Deja agrees.
They reach Deja's house. Deja sees Auntie's car in the driveway. She must have gotten out of work early. "Let's hurry up and get permission to get subscriptions to our newsletter," Deja says.
"Deja, we need to write the newsletter first."
"We can write it after we get subscriptions."
"But then people will be paying for nothing," Nikki says.
"No, because it's not gonna take us long to write our newsletter. Probably just a couple of hours."
"Deja, it's going take longer than that. Let's get the subscriptions afterward."
Deja seems to think about this. "okay," she says.
Nikki is right. It takes more time to write the newsletter than Deja said it would, even though each article is not more than a paragraph. They both write, then Nikki edits and revises a little bit, just like Ms. Shelby has taught them. Deja types because she can hunt and peck faster.
Nikki looks up from scanning Deja's latest paragraph and says in an exasperated voice, "Deja, why can't you write neater? I can't read what you've written here."
Deja stops her hunting and pecking and snatches the handwritten page out of Nikki's hand. She squints at the paper. It seems she can't read it herself. "Oh," she says finally. "It says, 'People who are bad monitors shouldn't be monitors at all. They ...'" Deja stops and peers at the paper. After a long moment, she says, "Well, you write it, then. It's about how dumb Antonia is, trying to get me in trouble."
Nikki sighs deeply. This is going to take way longer than she thought.
When they finish, it doesn't exactly look like a newsletter. It is plain, and it doesn't have columns. Each paragraph is in a different-colored type. Deja has changed the headlines to sound more like news. And she's added a bunch of exclamation marks:
MRS. MARKHAM'S ROSES VIEWED BY THOUSANDS!
SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON FULTON STREET!
BAD MONITORS AT CARVER ELEMENTARY!
PRICES SLASHED AT GLOBAL TIRE!
MR. ROBINSON LOCKED OUT OF HIS OWN HOUSE!
MISS IDA VISITS SHUT-INS!
VIANDA'S CAT FINALLY COMES HOME!
"I didn't put in these exclamation marks," Nikki says. "Like, 'Miss Ida Visits Shut-ins!' It's stupid to top that off with an exclamation mark."
"I just want people to be excited."
"You can't force people to be excited, Deja."
Deja looks off to the side, but says nothing.
Their newsy newsletter is only one page—front and back. And it only covers both sides of the page because they've used a big font. Now all they have to do is print one side, then stick the paper back into the printer face-up and print the other side. Because they use a different color for each article, the last few newsletters are a bit faded. The color ink is running low.
"We're ready to sell!" Deja exclaims. She runs to the bottom of the stairs and yells up to where Auntie Dee is talking on the telephone in her bedroom. "Auntie Dee, can me and Nikki go for a walk?"
Auntie Dee comes to the top of the stairs and looks down. She squints suspiciously. "A walk?"
"Just for twenty minutes, and we'll stay on this street. It's a Friday..." Deja adds, a little whine to her voice.
"Twenty minutes," Auntie Dee says. "And I'd better be able to look out the window and see you."
"Okay." Deja turns to Nikki. "Come on, let's go."
5. Selling Newsy News
"I'll take this side, and you take across the street," Deja says.
"Wait a minute. I'm not getting it," Nikki says, frowning.
"What is it now, Nikki?"
"We're selling the newsletter and getting subscriptions at the same time?"
"Yeah," Deja says. "Once they see the newsletter, they're gonna want a subscription."
"But they're going to have to fill out stuff and then get the money. That's going to take more than twenty minutes. Why don't we just sell the paper without all that subscription stuff?"
"But I like our subscription form, and anyway, what are we go
ing to do with all those forms?
Nikki thinks about this. "The recycle bin?"
"Wait a minute, Nikki. We need those forms. They're going to be for the people who aren't home. We're going to put them in their mailboxes."
"Are they going to mail them to us? They can just walk them over."
"Nikki, why are you making things so complicated? We need to get started. We're wasting time."
There is no answer at the first house Nikki goes to. For some reason she is glad. She has nine subscription forms and nine newsletters. She slides a subscription form into the mail slot. One house down and eight to go. Actually, she'd rather slip a subscription form into everyone's box. She is a little nervous at the thought of talking to people about the newsletter.
Nikki looks across the street. Deja is already talking to Mrs. Cheevers. She and her husband are retirees. Mrs. Cheevers is fishing around in a little change purse and plucking out a quarter. Nikki watches Deja do an about-face and strut down the Cheeverses' walkway, head held high. She looks confident.
Slowly, Nikki approaches the front door of the next house. She reaches up and rings the doorbell. She waits, listening. She looks at the pots of geraniums on either side of the door. It is Vianda's house. It looks different and feels different this close up. She can hear footsteps. Her heart sinks. Then the door is opening.
"Hey, girl, whatcha want?" Vianda says. She has on a purple sweat suit, and she looks as if she is in the middle of cornrowing her hair. Half is hanging loose, and half is tightly braided.
Nikki, suddenly nervous, almost forgets what it is that she wants. But Vianda's warm smile puts her at ease.
"I've got this newsletter that me and Deja made, and we're selling it for a quarter. If you want to buy it," Nikki adds.
"Newsletter ... hmm," Vianda says. "Let me see it."
Nikki hands it over and holds her breath.
Vianda scans it, then looks up at Nikki and winks. She turns it over, reads a little bit, then bursts out laughing. "This is funny," she says. "I remember that, too—Mr. Robinson getting locked out of his house last Sunday morning. He woke me up." She keeps reading, and Nikki begins to grow worried. If Vianda reads the whole thing just standing there, why would she need to buy it? An image of people lingering at the newsstand, reading whatever they want so they won't have to pay for stuff, flashes in her mind. Maybe Vianda is going to read the newsletter front to back and then not pay for it.
"This is some funny stuff," Vianda says. "And Bianca's in it. I'll buy it." She pulls a small zippered purse from the pocket of her sweat suit top. "Here's a quarter." She drops a quarter into Nikki's hand. "Wait, here's another one for any future issue." She drops another quarter into Nikki's hand. Nikki slips them into her pocket, feeling relieved.
The next house is Darnell's. Nikki feels funny approaching the house of someone from Carver Elementary. She climbs the steps and rings the doorbell. She looks around. There is Darnell's skateboard at the far end of the porch, looking abandoned. She hasn't seen him on his skateboard, in fact, since the accident. His skateboard looks huge, somehow. While she is thinking about this, the door opens. She is dismayed to see that it is Darnell.
"What do you want?" he asks rudely.
"Me and Deja are selling this newsletter. It's all about our block. And a few things about Carver," she adds.
He extends his hand, but doesn't step out. "Let me see it."
Nikki doesn't want to just let him see it. In fact, she'd rather let his mom or dad see it. It feels like Darnell will be a waste of time. She hands over a copy and waits while he looks it over, scowling the whole time.
"Uh-uh!" he says suddenly. "This ain't right. You got this wrong." He'd gotten to the part about Evan's accident. "I wasn't havin' him do somethin' dangerous. The flat-ground Ollie is not dangerous! He just didn't do it like I told him. If he'd done it right, there wouldn't have been a problem."
Nikki stands there, looking down. She feels it is best not to say anything.
"You shouldn't put something in a newsletter that's not right."
"Well, I kind of think it was dangerous for Evan," she says quietly.
"Not if he'd done like I told him."
"Do you think your parents would like a subscription to our newsletter? It's going to come out once every two weeks."
"This looks stupid," he says as he returns the newsletter to her with a sneer.
"Can you give them this subscription form?"
"No, I cannot," he says, and shuts the door.
She stands in front of the closed door for a few seconds, then sticks a subscription form in the mailbox mounted on the porch post and skips down the steps. She is happy to be walking away from Darnell's house rather than toward it.
The next house is Auntie Dee's friend Phoebe's. Nikki rings the doorbell. Phoebe opens the door. "Hi, honey," she says warmly. "What can I do for you?" There is a heavenly aroma drifting out of her kitchen. Brownies. Nikki is momentarily caught off-guard, thinking of brownies.
"We're selling this newsletter," she says when she finally finds her voice.
"Newsletter?" Phoebe takes it out of her hand and studies it for a bit. "Jo Markham's flowers are featured in some kind of magazine?"
Again, Nikki is caught off-guard. She's never thought of Mrs. Markham as having a first name. And not such a modern-sounding and short one as Jo.
"How much you want for this newsletter?" Phoebe asks with smiling eyes.
"It costs a quarter," Nikki says.
"That's a bargain. Be right back." She turns and starts for the kitchen. Not only does she come back with a quarter, she is holding a warm brownie on a green napkin.
"Here, sweetie pie," she says, handing Nikki the quarter. After Nikki deposits the quarter in her jeans pocket, Phoebe puts the delicious-smelling brownie in her hand.
"Thank you," Nikki says.
"My pleasure."
That's the way it goes for the rest of the block. A few people aren't home, so she just sticks subscription forms in their mailboxes. But the ones who are home readily buy the newsletter and promise to buy the next issue as well. Nikki feels a real sense of accomplishment when she heads back to her porch, where she is to meet Deja. She has her brownie, and it is still kind of warm. She is waiting for Deja to return before taking the first bite. It is just something she is compelled to do. Nikki is pretty sure Deja hasn't gotten a brownie on her side of the street. This way she can nibble at it in front of Deja and make her wish she had one.
"Where did you get that?" Deja asks as soon as she returns and sees the brownie on its green napkin, perched on Nikki's bent knees.
"Auntie Dee's friend Phoebe."
"Let me have some."
Nikki twists her mouth to the side, thinking. "Okay, I'll give you a little bite, and I mean a little one." Nikki holds it out, but as Deja bends forward, it seems as if she is positioning herself to take a big bite. Nikki snatches it away just in time. "I said a little bite."
"I was going to take a little bite," Deja says.
"It looked like you were going to take a big bite."
"I was going to take a little bite. Now let me have some."
"I'm going to break it off," Nikki says, breaking off a piece before Deja can protest. She holds it out to Deja, and Deja snatches it out of Nikki's hand, sucking her tongue at the same time.
"You didn't even say thank you," Nikki complains.
"Thank you," Deja says, then pops it into her mouth.
Deja has collected six quarters. She only left one subscription form, because she skipped over their own houses. Nikki has collected five quarters—six, if she counts the extra one Vianda's given her. She left four subscription forms. They plan to divide the money later, after more people pay for subscriptions and it's all collected. They go into their houses to do their homework.
6. Trampolines and Tetherballs Built into the Ground
The problem with putting out a newsy news newsletter every other week is that the days seem to race by
. Suddenly it is Wednesday, and the second newsy news newsletter is due on Friday.
On the way to school Nikki says, "Deja, we need news for Friday's newsletter."
"We'll get news. I'm not worried."
And she doesn't seem to be. When Nikki looks over at Deja, she has a smooth, calm look on her face.
In the classroom, once morning journals are open on every desk and everyone has been writing awhile, Ms. Shelby scans the seats for absences and says, "Antonia's out again." She says this under her breath, as if she is just making an observation to herself.
Deja looks up, then glances over at Antonia's empty seat. Nikki's eyes meet hers. They both look at Antonia's vacant desk.
Antonia was absent on Monday, Tuesday, and now Wednesday as well. Maybe she has the flu or something. Maybe she has the chickenpox. Nikki thinks of Antonia with chickenpox. Nikki had it when she was four. It was awful. Chickenpox on the bottom of her feet, chickenpox in her ears. She imagines Antonia covered with chickenpox all over. Where is Antonia? Why hasn't she been at school all week?
Deja poses this question as she and Nikki walk home that afternoon.
"It's kind of mysterious," Nikki says. "Plus, hasn't her house been looking strange?"
"Strange how?" asks Deja.
"Like nobody's there."
As they reach their block, they slow to get a good look at Antonia's house. It does seem as if no one is home. The drapes are drawn, and there is a quietness that the other houses on the street don't have.
"Where is everybody?" Nikki asks.
No cars in the driveway. "They've gone on vacation," says Deja.
"They wouldn't go on vacation in the middle of the school year," Nikki says.
The Newsy News Newsletter Page 3
