down the stairs.
Curing the Bozos
“Here comes the nerd!”
“This ought to be really
cool . . . Not!”
The whispers were just loud enough for every kid in the class
to hear.
I fumed, my ears burning as my little brother walked up the
row, his skinny shoulders hunched and his glasses sliding down his nose.
The teacher beamed at him. “I’ve been looking forward to your
report, Fredric.” Of course she had. The teachers always did, ever since they
skipped him two years into my grade. But they never seemed to realize that the
more they talked about Fred’s brains, the more some of the other kids picked on
him.
Fred gave the teacher a pained look, then cleared his throat.
“My research report,” he said, “is on UFOs.”
“Yeah, because he’s an alien!” Jason M. snickered.
“Class,” the teacher said, frowning around. “Each one of us
deserves the same consideration.”
Watching Jason for approval, Ashley G. made snoring noises,
and of course her best pals giggled obediently. Fred’s shoulders hitched up
another notch, and I was so mad my ears not only burned, they itched.
But Fred adjusted his glasses, then started. “My observations
were made over a period of three weeks,” he said. “I made three sightings, each
time at about eleven p.m. The first one was an accident. I got up at eleven to
get a drink of water, and when I looked out my window, I saw was a roundish
disk of light moving in the eastern part of the sky—”
“Yeah, just like a frisbee,” Jason whispered behind his hand.
Of course several boys laughed like maniacs.
“Class,” the teacher said. “Continue, Fred. This is most
interesting.”
“So I’ve stayed up until eleven every night since. My second
observation was made exactly one week later. This time I didn’t turn on my
bedroom light, and I had my camera ready. The UFO dropped through the clouds.
It must have been about a hundred feet wide, maybe bigger, and it had green
running lights—”
“Just like a blimp,” Ashley muttered, and again came some
laughs, though I could tell some of the kids were interested in spite of
themselves.
“I snapped a picture, but the flash might have alerted it, and
the UFO rose into the clouds and vanished before I could get another shot,”
Fred said. “It’s smeared because the flash holds the aperture open longer, and
my hand jiggled,” he added apologetically, and held up a blown-up photo. “I
cleaned it up best I could.”
Not much of anything could be seen in it, which caused the
class to laugh again.
“I think I see what might be your running lights in this
corner,” the teacher said kindly, touching the photo.
Unfortunately, that part of the photo looked just like the
street lamps around the corner from our apartment, and the class obviously
thought so, too, because there were more snickers this time.
I bunched my hair over my ears, feeling like they’d be
steaming any minute.
“And my last sighting was a week ago,” Fred said. “It was too
foggy to get a photo, but I saw the outline of the ship, and the lights. It
stayed in the sky exactly two minutes and fourteen seconds, then moved up and
to the east. “
“And you were mysteriously hypnotized so you couldn’t call
911,” Kyler P. sneered.
This time the class roared.
Fred dropped his report on his desk, and shoved his glasses
back up his nose. “Why would I call 911?” he retorted. “All they’d do is make
noise with their sirens and loudspeakers—”
“And arrest you for prank calls,” Demi F. said prissily.
“That will do, class,” the teacher said. “Thank you, Fredric.
That was quite interesting. Now, let’s hear from Jason M.”
Jason got up and bored on about basketball statistics, and
most of the boys ooohed like it was a Presidential report straight from the
White House.
Then it was time for recess. Fred followed the boys out.
Marissa and Kelly, my two best friends, were waiting at the
door for me. “Want to grab a
Curing the Bozos
“Here comes the nerd!”
“This ought to be really
cool . . . Not!”
The whispers were just loud enough for every kid in the class
to hear.
I fumed, my ears burning as my little brother walked up the
row, his skinny shoulders hunched and his glasses sliding down his nose.
The teacher beamed at him. “I’ve been looking forward to your
report, Fredric.” Of course she had. The teachers always did, ever since they
skipped him two years into my grade. But they never seemed to realize that the
more they talked about Fred’s brains, the more some of the other kids picked on
him.
Fred gave the teacher a pained look, then cleared his throat.
“My research report,” he said, “is on UFOs.”
“Yeah, because he’s an alien!” Jason M. snickered.
“Class,” the teacher said, frowning around. “Each one of us
deserves the same consideration.”
Watching Jason for approval, Ashley G. made snoring noises,
and of course her best pals giggled obediently. Fred’s shoulders hitched up
another notch, and I was so mad my ears not only burned, they itched.
But Fred adjusted his glasses, then started. “My observations
were made over a period of three weeks,” he said. “I made three sightings, each
time at about eleven p.m. The first one was an accident. I got up at eleven to
get a drink of water, and when I looked out my window, I saw was a roundish
disk of light moving in the eastern part of the sky—”
“Yeah, just like a frisbee,” Jason whispered behind his hand.
Of course several boys laughed like maniacs.
“Class,” the teacher said. “Continue, Fred. This is most
interesting.”
“So I’ve stayed up until eleven every night since. My second
observation was made exactly one week later. This time I didn’t turn on my
bedroom light, and I had my camera ready. The UFO dropped through the clouds.
It must have been about a hundred feet wide, maybe bigger, and it had green
running lights—”
“Just like a blimp,” Ashley muttered, and again came some
laughs, though I could tell some of the kids were interested in spite of
themselves.
“I snapped a picture, but the flash might have alerted it, and
the UFO rose into the clouds and vanished before I could get another shot,”
Fred said. “It’s smeared because the flash holds the aperture open longer, and
my hand jiggled,” he added apologetically, and held up a blown-up photo. “I
cleaned it up best I could.”
Not much of anything could be seen in it, which caused the
class to laugh again.
“I think I see what might be your running lights in this
corner,” the teacher said kindly, touching the photo.
Unfortunately, that part of the photo looked just like the
street lamps around the corner from our apartment, and the class obviously
thought so, too, because there were more snickers this time.
I bunched my hair over my ears, feeling like they’d be
steaming any minute.
“And my last sighting was a week ago,” Fred said. “It was too
foggy to get a photo, but I saw the outline of the ship, and the lights. It
stayed in the sky exactly two minutes and fourteen seconds, then moved up and
to the east. “
“And you were mysteriously hypnotized so you couldn’t call
911,” Kyler P. sneered.
This time the class roared.
Fred dropped his report on his desk, and shoved his glasses
back up his nose. “Why would I call 911?” he retorted. “All they’d do is make
noise with their sirens and loudspeakers—”
“And arrest you for prank calls,” Demi F. said prissily.
“That will do, class,” the teacher said. “Thank you, Fredric.
That was quite interesting. Now, let’s hear from Jason M.”
Jason got up and bored on about basketball statistics, and
most of the boys ooohed like it was a Presidential report straight from the
White House.
Then it was time for recess. Fred followed the boys out.
Marissa and Kelly, my two best friends, were waiting at the
door for me. “Want to grab a
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