The Roun d
reading materials as he ambles around the room kind of aimlessly. We’re all trying to be good and read our books and, as usual, no one notices him; it’s like he’s not there. Ms. Susannah goes over to the blind kid and stoops to speak to him: “I can read to you if you’d like?” “Um, I like when people read to me and everything,” he says, “but…” He doesn’t want to hurt her feelings. “But you want to read for yourself,” she says. “Okay, I’ll find it.” She’s back to fumbling around at her desk when suddenly, she pulls out a yellow folder from a pile of papers in a book on her desk. It’s like she’s going to cry until that moment when her face lights up—“Yes!” She walks over to the blind kid and gives him the folder. He makes his way back to our part of the room, sits down and rests his head on the table. I watch as his fingers glide down the yellow boards. Not long after, the period ends and it’s suddenly noisy. Ms. Susannah looks lost for a minute until the teacher from next door shows up and says something to her. She turns to the class before the other teacher is even out the door, and loudly says to us: “Okay, everyone. I want you to pack up your things, form an orderly line and go to the library.” She sounds like she means it this time and we slowly drag ourselves down to the library in pairs. James is alone in the back. Ms. Susannah is behind him, barking at us to hurry up. We have a free period that we alternate with drama. We’re supposed to just sit and read again but I don’t want to do that. We have the library to ourselves and decide to flop ourselves down on the floor and talk and play games.
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