Deep in the Heart of Me by Diane Munier Read Free Book Online

braided hair moving against her back as her delicate hand writes the words in the most beautiful loops and curls.
    And I'm not looking quick like I did yesterday or the day before. I'm pretty well staring.
     

Chapter 11
     
    At recess, I know things will be settled. When Sobe is finished at the board, she sits beside me on the bench along the windows. We are facing the room, and Halloran lacks the sand to do anything about it. It is a bold move, but she has chosen me in front of them all.
    She looks at me once in a while, and she smiles. It makes my heart pound every time, but I don't let on, I just stare at her like a boyo.
    It makes me proud. I feel like I can do anything needed to right the wrongs here. I feel like I can climb a mountain, or at least do the spelling Halloran gives us and anyway, we live in the flatlands. But I do look at her and smile my best, and I don't use my smile so often. Not full on like that. The ones in the back see and a couple of them made a sound, but I'll be taking care of all that soon. I am Tonio Clannan.
    So we finish the morning that way, side by side, looking out for ourselves in the snowstorm. They continue to throw spitwads at our empty desks and at each other, and sometimes one makes it up to my sister, or even to Halloran's desk, and once in a while Tillo Smith throws a wad at me and holds my stare, and that is a dare.
    My dad says Halloran's a good man, but I don't know what kind of rule he uses to come up with that notion.
    So it is finally recess, and there is Elsie, happy to be with us. It might as well be my mother right here because this sister, oldest in the gaggle thinks it her job to tell Mom everything.
    I should have known I'd have to try and talk to a girl with the eyes of the family looking on.
    "What's it like to be the only one?" Elsie asks Sobe before we're even all the way down the school's steps.
    "The only kid in my family?" Sobe asks.
    My ear is always peeled to learn what's going on. I'm used to it as oldest at home. And I listen like that to Sobe.
    "It's all I know," she says, and she laughs a little. "Sometimes I need someone to play checkers with."
    She says that to me.
    Elsie sighs. What is she talking about? She has it good compared to us boys having to do all the work. The girls help but mostly they work in the house. Elsie has never been one to like field work.
    But I'm thinking of Sobe being alone. Lonely? Are they the same? I already see myself playing checkers with her.
    But lonely. I don't know what that would feel like. Am I spoiled or something? I'm not! But loneliness is something Mom wouldn't put up with. She tells a story of a rich woman who she heard was bored. Mom made fun of such a word. If you feel bored or lonely, Mom will give you a job.
    "What does your mother say?" Elsie asks.
    Sobe laughs a little. But she doesn't answer, and Elsie is an embarrassment. There was no mother in the car that day.
    I've not heard of one. But this is what we do around here. We ask your business.
    They are out then, the Smiths, Tillo, and his brother Utz.
    There are others, some from Dewberry like the Smiths, but none I fear, for like my Dad I do not fear others.
    They are coming down the stairs smirking and making their noises.
    "You should go to the other side," I say to Elsie and Sobe meaning the yard on the other side of the school where the younger students play.
    Sobe looks surprised. Does she think I'm sending her off? I am.
    I turn and wait for Tillo at the bottom of the stairs. He is out front. Utz is close behind. I am blocking Tillo's path.
    "Move out of my way Tonio," he says. He is higher on the stair and as tall on the ground. He is heavier than me, older by one year.
    "You won't put your spit on me or mine again," I say, and that includes Sobe.
    His eyes go to Sobe. He will not be a fool in front of her. Well neither will I.
    Utz leaps over the banister, half falls to the ground with his heavy boots. But he is soon there, my same age, smaller than