Twister on Tuesday (4 page)

“Hey, Jeb,” he called out. “I'm not hungry. You want my sweet potato?”

Jeb gave Jack a mean look.

“I could have brought my own lunch if I wanted to eat,” he said.

“Oh, sure,” said Jack.

Jeb narrowed his eyes.

“You making fun again?” he said. “I'm warning you. Do that one more time, and I'll fight you.”

Jack couldn't believe it. This kid took everything he said the wrong way!

“Hey!” Annie said. “Leave my brother alone. You're nothing but a bully, Jeb.”

“Annie, stay out of this,” said Jack.

But Jeb just laughed. Then he stood up and walked back into the schoolhouse.

Jack felt angry. He hoped they would find the special writing soon so they could leave.

Will seemed to have read Jack's mind.

“Don't worry about him,” Will said to Jack. “He's never been to school before.”

“Oh, so he's embarrassed,” said Annie.

“Why hasn't he been to school?” said Jack.

“Because he has to work in the fields all the time,” said Will.

“I heard him tell Miss Neely he walked five miles to get here today,” Kate said. “So he must have really wanted to come.”

“Wow,” said Annie. “How far did you and Will walk?”

“Only two,” said Kate.

“Two what?” asked Annie.

“Miles,” said Kate.

“Two miles,” Jack repeated.

The prairie kids nodded.

“It must be lonely living out here,” Annie said.

Will and Kate nodded again.

“Do you live in a sod house?” Jack asked.

“We used to,” said Will. “But it was always dirty. So our pa built us a log cabin.”

“He cut trees near the creek,” said Kate. “Then he made the cabin by hand.”

Before Annie or Jack could ask another question, thunder cracked in the sky. Then rain started to fall. It fell fast and hard.

Everyone jumped up.

“Come in! Come in!” Miss Neely called from the doorway.

They ran back inside. The wind slammed the door behind them with a BANG.

Inside the lamplit hut, it was dry and cozy.

Jack sat back on his bench. He didn't dare look at Jeb.

“It's time for our writing lesson now,” Miss Neely said. “I'm going to give you each a slate and a pen.”

She handed out the slates. They looked like small blackboards set in wooden frames.

Next she gave everyone a slate pen. Each pen was a thin piece of chalk.

Miss Neely opened the McGuffey Reader.

“While you were eating your noon meal, I copied a poem from the book,” she said. “Now I want
you
to copy it.”

Miss Neely held her own slate board up for them all to see:

Jack quickly started copying the words. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jeb writing very slowly. It took the older boy a long time just to write the letter T.

Jack slowed down, too. He didn't want Jeb to think he was showing off.

Suddenly, loud thumping sounds came from overhead. It sounded as if someone were throwing stones against the roof.

“Oh no! Grasshopper attack!” screamed Kate. She covered her head.

“Grasshopper attack!” cried Will. He covered his head, too.

“Be calm, everyone!” said Miss Neely.

What's a grasshopper attack? What are they talking about?
Jack wondered.

Even Jeb seemed worried. As Miss Neely started toward the door, he said, “Don't open it! They'll come in!”

Has everyone gone crazy?
Jack thought.
How can grasshoppers hurt anyone?

Miss Neely opened the door and looked out. A moment later, she stuck her head back in and closed the door.

“It's all right,” she said. “It's only hailstones.”

“What's that?” said Annie.

“Hailstones are small pieces of frozen rain. Sometimes they fall to earth during a thunderstorm,” said Miss Neely.

“Why did Will and Kate yell, ‘Grasshopper attack!'?” Jack asked.

“Because last spring, grasshoppers
did
attack us,” said Miss Neely.

“Yes! Millions and millions of them came out of the sky,” said Will. “It looked like a huge, shiny cloud.”

“They covered every inch of ground!” said Kate. “They ate everything!”

“They ate all our crops,” said Will, “our turnips and fruit trees and watermelons.”

“They even ate our clothes and bedsheets!” said Kate.

“Yuck,” said Annie.

“Oh, man,” said Jack. He'd never heard of a grasshopper attack before.

“It was very scary,” said Kate.

“But remember how we replanted and everyone helped everyone else?” said Miss Neely.

Kate and Will nodded.

“We must try to hold on to the good memories,” Miss Neely said gently, “and let go of the bad ones.”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Kate.

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then the sound of the hailstones died away.

“Let's go back to our lesson now,” said Miss Neely.

They all returned to their writing.

Even working as slowly as he could, Jack finished first. He showed his copy of the poem to Miss Neely.

“Good work, Jack,” she said. “We can all learn from these words, can't we?”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Jack.

“Hey, this is it, Jack!” Annie blurted out.
“Something to learn!”

Miss Neely looked puzzled.

But Jack smiled. He knew what Annie was talking about:
They had their special writing. They could go home!

Jack stood up.

“Excuse me, ma'am, but I'm afraid we have to leave,” he said.

“So soon?” said Miss Neely.

“Yes, we have to go back to our parents,” said Annie.

“May I take my slate with us?” Jack asked.

“Please do,” said Miss Neely. “Use it on your trip to California to practice your writing.”

“Thanks!” said Jack with a big smile. He put the slate in his leather bag. “We learned a lot, ma'am.”

“I'm glad you had a chance to come to school,” said Miss Neely. “Good-bye and good luck.”

“Good luck to you, too,” said Annie.

“Bye!” Will and Kate called out.

“Bye!” said Jack and Annie.

As they went out the door, Jack glanced at Jeb. He felt sorry for the older boy. He tried one last time to be friends.

“Bye, Jeb,” he said.

But the boy wouldn't even look at him.

Jack gently closed the door to the schoolhouse.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to get away from Jeb's anger.

“That's weird,” said Annie. “Look at the sky.”

As Jack turned away from the schoolhouse door, he caught his breath.

The sky
did
look weird—really weird.

The black clouds had taken on an odd greenish color. They all seemed to be going in different directions.

“Do you think it's a grasshopper attack?” Annie asked nervously.

“No, I think it's some more weird weather, like that hailstorm,” said Jack. “Let's go before it gets worse.”

As they started back to the tree house, the wind picked up.

Jack and Annie looked over their shoulders. The greenish clouds had dipped down close to the prairie.

“I feel like something awful is about to happen,” said Annie.

“Hurry!” said Jack. “Run!”

He and Annie started running through the grass. When they got to the ladder of the tree house, they looked back.

In the distance, twisting black clouds had dropped out of the storm clouds. They were swirling into a funnel shape.

The dark funnel started twisting across the prairie.

Jack's heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

“It's a twister!” he said.

“Oh no!” cried Annie.

The twister was whirling and tearing across the grass.

“Let's get out of here!” said Jack. He grabbed the rope ladder and started up.

“Wait!” said Annie. “We have to help Miss Neely and the other kids!”