MISSING: Chapter 6

MISSING
Chapter 6: Es muss sein (pt. I)

Es muss sein!

An observation printed in the school bulletin after an interview: “everyone’s really nice. People will always lend you a dollar or change to get something from the vending machine – they just trust you will pay them back.”

She used to drive to work with her father in the mornings. She had a back room at his office all to herself. She would draw usually, or sometimes watch TV, but if he came back in between patients, he would make her turn it off. By fourth grade he had tutors come for her in the morning. This embarrassed her for 2 reasons: in the adolescent vocabulary, the word “tutor” sounds dangerously similar to the word “toot,” which refers to flatulence. Also, in the adolescent world of sensibility where one shirt costs too much to pay for two, a tutor indicates special needs. A tutor forges the assumption you struggle to keep up with your class work. You are probably dumb, and need extra help. You will probably end up with the special students next year.

This is not the case for the girl without a chance, but she desperately fears her classmates will decide otherwise. She despises the word tutor and fears ridicule. No one else in her fourth grade class has a tutor, no one. A boy at her bus stop is mean; he is a year older, and he bullies kids. He makes fun of her sometimes, but most of the time he is neutral to her because they share a bus stop. He will become relentless if he knows she has a tutor. He will be merciless. He is, after all, a boy.