WHEN THE BELL RANG they headed for their homerooms, Suzanne, Miri and Eleanor to 9-201, Natalie and Robo to 9-202, but that didn’t stop them from jabbering.
“Settle down, boys and girls,” Mrs. Wallace, their homeroom teacher, said. Mrs. Wallace was so small, not even five feet, they called her “Tiny” behind her back, not Theresa, her real first name. Rumor had it she weighed under ninety pounds. Yet she was married and had two children, both of them in elementary school. In addition to teaching English, Tiny was the adviser to the school paper, Hamilton Headlines. Eleanor was editor in chief. The paper came out just three times during the school year and the stories covered only school-related activities. Nothing about the rest of the world, or even the rest of the city. Miri had very little interest in the stories she was assigned to write, but she did her best, getting in the who, what, where, when and why.
On the day the paper came out most of the kids just glanced at it, then tossed it into the wastebasket. Some didn’t even bother to look before throwing it away. It galled Miri to see that, because even if it wasn’t exciting to read, it was still a lot of work.
Tiny said, “I can see you’re upset about yesterday’s situation, but now it’s time to get back to normal.”
Situation? Miri thought. Normal?
“Mrs. Wallace,” Suzanne called, waving her hand in the air.
“What is it, Suzanne?” Tiny asked.
“Miri was there. She saw it happen.”
Why did Suzanne think she had to tell the whole world she was there? Natalie had let the girls know last night. Not that it was a secret, not that she didn’t want her friends to know, but having Suzanne announce it in homeroom felt wrong, it felt like a betrayal, as if your friend blurted out one of your deepest secrets, something you never wanted anyone else to know.
Everyone turned to look at Miri, including Tiny. “Then it’s only right that Miri should get to choose today’s psalm,” Tiny said.
Every day since they’d started junior high, the morning routine in homeroom was the same—Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the singing of “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” the reading of a psalm, then reciting the Lord’s Prayer together.
Tiny walked to Miri’s desk and laid the Bible on it.
“Psalm one hundred,” Miri said, without opening the book. It was the only psalm she knew by heart, the one she chose whenever it was her turn to read from the Bible.
“Would you read that for us, Miri?” Tiny said.
Miri thumbed through the Bible until she came to it. She cleared her throat and began very quietly. “?‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands….’?” Usually the words meant nothing to her but today every word left her picturing the crash, hearing the explosions. The ringing in her ears returned. She couldn’t finish. She felt like she might cry or scream or both. Suzanne took the Bible from her and finished reading the psalm.
“I’m sorry,” Suzanne said when the bell rang and they left for their first-period classes. “I didn’t know she’d make you read the morning psalm.”
“It’s okay,” Miri told her. “Just, please, don’t tell anyone else.”
“I won’t.”
No other teacher mentioned the crash.
Right after fifth period algebra, Natalie took Miri aside in the girls’ room and said, “I have this buzzing inside my head.”
“You want to go to the nurse?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Maybe it’s your period,” Miri said.
“This is different,” Natalie told her. “And when the buzzing stops, Ruby starts talking to me.”
“Ruby?”
“The dancer who was on that plane. Didn’t you listen to Walter Winchell last night? He spent half his show talking about her.” As soon as she admitted Ruby was talking to her, before Miri even had the chance to take it in, Natalie grabbed her shoulders. “Swear you won’t tell anyone what I just said.”
What could Miri do? Natalie was her best friend. She had no choice but to swear she would never tell. For the rest of the day, whenever the other kids were buzzing about the crash, Miri was thinking about the buzzing in Natalie’s head.
OBITUARIES—Mrs. Estelle Sapphire of Bayonne was among the first identified at the makeshift morgue set up in the two garages behind Haines Funeral Home. She was identified by her wedding ring. Her husband, Benjamin Sapphire, collapsed at the scene and was taken by police car to the home of a friend.
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