Snow War

  The kids thought.

  Hannie said, “We could buy eight prizes that cost five dollars each. Or we could get ten that cost, um, four dol —”

  “No, dope. Five dollars,” muttered Leslie.

  “No. It is four. Dumbhead,” whispered Karen.

  Ms. Colman did not hear the girls. A good thing, thought Ian. She would not like the way they were talking to each other.

  In the end, Ms. Colman and her class decided to buy ten four-dollar prizes. Then Ms. Colman passed out paper and scissors. The kids cut out the first of their snowflakes.

  SNOWBALLS

  The X-ers had been traveling through space for weeks and weeks. They were traveling in their meteor-powered ship, the Planet Jumper. And they were supposed to reach the fourth planet from their sun in … thirty-one weeks.

  “Thirty-one more weeks,” said Ian to himself.

  “What?” said Hank.

  “Oh. Oh, nothing.” Ian hid his book in the pocket of his jacket. Then he took a bite out of his sandwich. He had not realized he had been talking out loud.

  “Come help us with our fort after lunch, Ian,” said Omar. “Please?”

  “We need you,” said Bobby.

  “Yeah. The girls have two forts,” added Chris. “Karen and Sara and Nancy and Natalie and Hannie have one.”

  “And Leslie and Audrey and Jannie and the twins have another,” said Omar. “And the one they are working on is … well … ”

  “It is good,” said Ricky. “Admit it. So is the other one.”

  “Yeah. It is good,” Chris agreed glumly. “And they brag about it all the time.”

  “Well, yours is good, too,” said Ian. “I saw it. I have seen all three of them. But I just want to read.”

  Chris sighed. “Okay,” he said.

  The boys finished their lunches. “Come on!” cried Omar.

  Omar, Chris, Bobby, Hank, and Ricky clattered out of the cafeteria. The girls were already outside. Ian followed slowly. His hand was on the book in his pocket. He could not wait to open it again.

  Ian trotted across the playground. A snowball whizzed by his head. “Hey!” he yelled. He turned around.

  Ian saw Leslie packing a snowball. She ran into her fort and flung it out at the boys’ fort. The snowball smashed against the side. It made a dent in it.

  Now it was Bobby’s turn to yell. “Hey! Hey, Leslie! It took me a long time to build that!” Bobby packed up a snowball. He flung it at Leslie’s fort. It missed and hit the other one.

  “Thanks a lot, Leslie!” shouted Karen. “That was your fault.” Karen threw a snowball at Leslie.

  The fight was on.

  “Oh, boy,” said Ian. He hurried to his rock. He opened his book to Chapter Seven. He tried to forget about the snowballs.

  The next day, Thursday, Ian ran to the rock as soon as he finished his lunch. He wanted to get to it before his classmates started throwing snowballs again.

  He just made it. The moment Ian sat on the rock, he heard an angry shout behind him.

  “You stay out of our fort,” Sara yelled at Jannie.

  “You stay out of ours!” Jannie yelled back.

  “We would not want to be in your stinky fort anyway!” Nancy shouted to Jannie. “Or in yours,” she yelled to the boys.

  Whoosh.

  A snowball shot out of the boys’ fort. It hit Natalie on the arm.

  “Ow!” cried Natalie. She threw a snowball at Ricky. Then she threw one at Audrey.

  Snowballs flew through the air. Ian watched for a moment. Then he returned to his book. While he read, he wiggled his tooth. Back and forth, back and forth. He hoped it would fall out soon.

  When the bell rang, Ian snapped the book shut. He ran across the playground. He ran by his friends. He noticed that when they lined up to go inside, they stuck with their groups. And the groups were not talking to one another.

  THE SNOW WAR

  The next day was Friday. Ian was glad. The week was almost over. On Saturday and Sunday he could read as much as he liked. And he would not have to listen to snowball fights.

  On the playground that day, Ian kept looking up from the X-ers’ adventures. He watched the three groups of kids. He watched Tammy sneak into the boys’ fort and kick down part of a wall. He watched Chris run to Karen’s fort and sit on it. Chris sat on the secret tunnel, and the tunnel collapsed. Then Ian watched Hannie tiptoe around to Leslie’s fort and steal the snowballs hidden there.

  Nobody looked as if he were having fun.

  “You wrecked our fort!” Bobby yelled at Tammy. “I’m telling!”

  “Liar! You are not going to tell!” Tammy shouted back. (Ian knew that was true.)

  “Meanie!” Karen yelled at Chris. “Now we are going to destroy your fort. You just wait. You will see what we will do. We are going to win the snow war!”

  “Thief!” Leslie yelled at Hannie. “You will be in big trouble for stealing, you know. Ms. Colman would not like it!”

  She certainly would not, thought Ian. He opened his book. But Ms. Colman did not know what was going on. She did not know about the snow war. She was not on playground duty that month.

  Ian wished once again that he could hurtle through space. He would hurtle far, far away from the playground and the snow war.

  That afternoon Ms. Colman told her students they could make snowflakes for half an hour. They had been making them in the afternoons and keeping them in their desks. Ian had made seven, and he was proud of them. He took them out of his desk and counted them.

  Next to him Sara was doing the same thing. “One, two, three, four — hey, only four? I know I made six.” She turned and looked at Terri. “You took them,” she whispered.

  “Did not.”

  In front of Ian, Tammy was muttering, “Hank, you give me back my scissors. They are my own scissors.”

  “I did not take them,” Hank replied. (Ian saw that Hank was smiling.)

  “Class,” said Ms. Colman loudly, “I do not know what is going on here, but I would like you to get to work. If anyone sees Tammy’s scissors, please return them. In this class we do not take things that belong to other people. At least, not without asking first. Understand?”

  The kids nodded.

  And Ian thought, I know what is going on here. It is called a snow war. And I do not like it.

  THE SNOWFLAKE WAR

  Over the weekend Ian had plenty of time to read They Came from Beyond. He read and read. He read until the X-ers reached the fourth planet from their sun. By Sunday night, only three chapters were left in the book. Ian was excited. As soon as he finished They Came from Beyond, he was going to start the next book about the X-ers. It was called Beyond Space.

  Beyond space, Ian thought. Hmm. Now that is funny. What could be beyond space except more space?

  On Monday, Ian put both They Came from Beyond and Beyond Space in his backpack. Just in case. Just in case he read so much at recess that he finished the first book before the bell rang. He wanted to be able to start the second book right away.

  Ian hurried into room 2A that morning. He hung up his jacket and ran to his desk. He could read for ten minutes before school started.

  “Hey, Brain!” Bobby greeted him.

  Ian did not even have a chance to answer. Before he could say hey back, he heard, “Oh, no! Oh, no!” from behind him.

  Ian turned around. He saw Nancy, Hannie, and Karen peering into their desks.

  “Four of mine are gone!” Nancy cried.

  “Three of mine are gone,” said Hannie.

  “Well, all of mine are gone!” exclaimed Karen.

  “All of your what?” asked Ian.

  “My snowflakes,” said Karen. “And I know who took them.”

  “Who?”

  Karen glared across the room at Jannie. “She did.”

  Jannie glared right back at Karen. “Well, you wrecked part of our fort. And anyway, someone stole two of my snowflakes. And I know who did that.” Now Jannie was glaring at Ricky.
r />   “You guys — I mean, you girls — you broke down the back door to our fort,” said Ricky. “Which means you are probably the ones who did this.” Ricky held up a handful of torn snowflakes.

  Oh brother, thought Ian.

  “Class? What is going on here?”

  Ian looked up. Ms. Colman was standing in the doorway. “I could hear you halfway down the hall,” she said. “Ricky, what happened to your snowflakes?” Ms. Colman was frowning. She did not look happy.

  “Jannie ripped them up,” said Ricky.

  “I did not!” cried Jannie. “But Ms. Colman, Ricky took two of my snowflakes. I had five on Friday, and now I only have three.”

  “Jannie took all my snowflakes!” exclaimed Karen.

  “Omar stole four of mine,” said Terri.

  “Did not!”

  “Boys and girls,” said Ms. Colman sharply. “Please sit down. I want absolute silence in this room.”

  The kids in Ms. Colman’s class took their seats. No one said a word.

  “Please place all of your snowflakes on your desks,” said Ms. Colman.

  Ian pulled out ten perfect snowflakes. Around him, his friends pulled out a few each. Some of them were torn.

  Ms. Colman stared at them. “Why are you taking each other’s snowflakes?” she asked quietly.

  Nobody said a word. Ms. Colman waited for nearly a minute. At last she said, “This must stop. I am surprised that I have to say this to you, but you must leave each other’s snowflakes alone. If you keep taking them, or ruining them, we will not have any for our booth, and then we will not be able to have a booth at the carnival.”

  Ms. Colman looked around the room. “I do not expect to have to say another word about this to you. Now clean off your desks. It is time to start the morning.”

  IAN’S TOOTH

  That morning Ian’s stomach felt funny. It did not exactly hurt. And he did not think his breakfast had disagreed with him. He just felt … nervous. That was it. Ian felt nervous. He decided he had butterflies in his stomach. And he decided he knew why. It was because Ms. Colman was cross with the class. Ms. Colman hardly ever got cross. And she almost never lost her temper. But Ian knew she was mad now. And he felt bad — even though he had nothing to do with the snow war or the snowflakes. None of his snowflakes was missing, and he had not taken anybody’s.

  All that morning, while Ian felt bad, his classmates were very quiet. Maybe they felt bad, too. Maybe they would even stop the snow war. Ian hoped so. And by lunchtime he felt better. That was because his classmates were behaving themselves. They did not say mean things to each other. They did not take things out of each other’s desks. And they certainly did not steal any snowflakes. These were very good signs, thought Ian.

  After lunch Ian ran outside with They Came from Beyond and Beyond Space stuffed into a big pocket in his jacket. He ran straight to his tree, and he sat on the rock. He looked out over the playground. And he saw his classmates gathering at their forts again.

  “Oh, no,” said Ian with a groan.

  “Get out of here! Get out of my way!” Ian heard Audrey yell.

  “No, you girls get away from our fort!” Bobby yelled back.

  “You do not own this playground!” cried Karen.

  Terri threw the first snowball. Hank threw the second. And Audrey threw the third. She threw it very hard. She was aiming at Ricky. But she missed. The snowball sailed across the playground. And it hit …

  … Ian.

  It hit him in the face.

  “Ow, ow, OW!” shrieked Ian. The snowball had hurt. It had hurt much more than a snowball should hurt. Ian looked down. He saw blood in the snow. He touched his cheek. He saw blood on his mitten. “Help!” he cried.

  “Brain, are you okay?”

  Chris and Bobby ran to him.

  “Brain? Ian?”

  “I think my loose tooth came out,” mumbled Ian.

  The other kids gathered around Ian.

  “Audrey, what did you throw?” asked Omar.

  “Well … it was a sort of an iceball,” admitted Audrey.

  “An iceball?” said a grown-up voice. The voice belonged to Mr. Tang. He was the teacher on playground duty. “All right. Let’s straighten things out here,” he said.

  Half an hour later the kids were in their classroom again. Ian had been to the nurse. He was still dabbing a wet paper towel on the hole where his tooth had been.

  The classroom was silent. The kids were listening to Ms. Colman.

  “I am glad you told Mr. Tang about the snow war,” she said. (She certainly does not look glad, thought Ian.) “But I am not pleased with you. You let the snow war get out of hand. You brought it inside to our classroom. And Ian could have been hurt very badly. He is lucky that he only lost a tooth. So now I must tell you something. If the snow war does not stop right now, and if it does not stop completely, then we will not have our booth, and none of you may go to the carnival at all.”

  IAN GETS MAD

  Ian could not believe his ears. His classmates could not believe theirs, either.

  “Not go to the winter carnival?” repeated Nancy.

  “That is what I said,” replied Ms. Colman. “And I meant it.”

  If Ian’s class had been quiet that morning, they were even quieter that afternoon. Everyone was quiet. Even Ms. Colman.

  Ian knew the kids were embarrassed. No class had ever been told they could not go to the carnival.

  Toward the end of the day Omar raised his hand. “But we can go to the carnival if the snow war stops, can’t we?” he said.

  “Yes,” agreed Ms. Colman. “But I am going to be watching you carefully. So is Mr. Tang.”

  Ian felt himself blush. He glanced around the room. Some of his classmates were looking at their hands. Some were looking at the floor. Nobody was looking at Ms. Colman — or at anyone else.

  When the last bell rang that afternoon, the kids jumped up from their desks. They hurried to their cubbies.

  “This is all your fault,” Tammy hissed to Bobby. “You threw the very first snowball.”

  “Did not,” Bobby hissed back.

  “Do not let Ms. Colman hear you!” Hank whispered.

  “I won’t. And anyway, this is your fault, Hank,” said Bobby.

  “Why is it mine?”

  “It was your stupid idea to build a fort.”

  “Well, it was Ricky’s idea to wreck the girls’ forts.”

  “Was not!” exclaimed Ricky. “But it does not matter. Audrey was the one who threw the iceball.”

  “But Ian was the one sitting right out on a rock where anyone could hit him,” whispered Audrey. She glared at Ian. “I guess the Brain is not so smart after all.”

  Ian opened his mouth. He was about to yell at Audrey. He was about to point out that the rock was under a tree, for heaven’s sake. Then he turned around and looked at Ms. Colman. She was sitting at her desk. And she was watching her students carefully. So Ian stuck his tongue out at Audrey. But he did not say a word to her. Then he stuck his tongue out at Ricky. And at Tammy. And at Bobby and Hank and even Chris. Then he marched out of the classroom.

  Ian was mad. He was mad at every kid in the class. If the kids had not started the snow war, then they would not be in trouble. Ian was especially mad at Audrey. Who was so stupid she would throw an iceball at someone? Audrey, that was who. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ian was even mad at Ms. Colman. Ms. Colman had no right to say that Ian could not go to the carnival if the snow war did not stop. Ian had never been part of the snow war.

  Ian was in a very bad mood when he woke up the next morning. He was still in a bad mood when he arrived at school. So he was particularly cross when he heard Mrs. Titus, the school principal, make this announcement over the loudspeaker: “Good morning, girls and boys. It has come to my attention that some of you have been holding snowball wars on the playground. Yesterday one of our students was injured when he was struck in the face by a snowball.”

  “It was an iceball,” mut
tered Ian.

  “So from now on,” Mrs. Titus continued, “there will be no snowball throwing on school property. At all. Ever.”

  Ian saw Audrey blush. Everyone in school would know that this was the fault of the kids in Ms. Colman’s class.

  “Aw, man,” whispered Omar. “We cannot even throw snowballs anymore.”

  The other kids grumbled and muttered.

  Karen said, “Now what are we going to do at recess?”

  And Ian replied, “I do not know, but none of this is my fault.”

  THE SPACEMAN

  All that morning in school Ian worked very hard. He paid attention to Ms. Colman. He kept his eyes on her or on his work. He did not look around at the other kids. He did not even look across the room at Chris.

  When he heard Tammy complain that she was going to be sooooo booooored on the playground if she could not throw snowballs, he just stared down at his spelling words. When he saw Bobby making monkey faces at Natalie during silent reading, he just kept on reading.

  At lunchtime Ian watched his classmates. Since they were all so mad at each other, he wondered where they would sit. They sat down at three tables in their three groups. But the groups did not seem very happy. Nobody was saying much. At Karen’s table the girls did not even sit next to each other. They left empty chairs between their places.

  “Rats and toads,” said Ian.

  Ian carried his lunch to an empty table. He sat down by himself.

  “There is the Brain,” said a voice from another table.

  Ian stood up. He moved to a different chair. He sat down with his back to his classmates. Then he opened Beyond Space and began to read. He was in Chapter Four of his new book.

  Once again the X-ers were hurtling through space. Only this time they wanted to hurtle to whatever was beyond space. Ian chewed and read, and read and chewed. He took a bite of his sandwich. And he tried once more to imagine himself hurtling through space.

  Then — suddenly — Ian got a great, big, enormous, wonderful idea. It was so great that it made him forget about his classmates and their fight and the snow war. It nearly made him forget the X-ers. Ian jumped up. He stuffed his book in the pocket of his jacket and snapped the pocket shut. Then he tossed his trash in a garbage can. And then he found Mr. Morton, the cafeteria monitor.