Emma’s anger was almost spent. She was beginning to think clearly now. She didn’t try to pass the snowplow. It slowed her down, but she decided not to push her luck. The roads were bad.
Emma decided to buy the book for Johnny. She was against spending all that money for a book. Johnny couldn’t read. They knew that from the teacher. She had sent a note in the fall saying Johnny was far behind the other children. He was very good at other subjects, but very bad with reading. The teacher said he needed some help at home. How could she help when she couldn’t read very much herself? She had felt so hurt.
Tom was the one who had read the note
to her. It didn’t bother him. All he said was,
“We will have to do something about this.
”
Emma tried to find the book in the children’s section. She knew the book was about stars. She checked again. She couldn’t find any book on stars. She watched other people looking at the books. They seemed so sure of themselves. She remembered she had the name of the book written down. She looked in her purse and pulled out another note from the teacher. She had been so upset she had shoved it in her purse. Emma had forgotten about it. Poor Johnny! He was not doing well in school. She didn’t try to read the note here. She pushed it back in her purse. She would give it to Tom to read after Christmas. She was very sad now.
Emma handed the paper to a girl at the counter. The girl smiled and went to a different section. Emma realized she had looked in the wrong section. It wasn’t a children’s book. The girl informed her the book was sold out. She checked in the store’s other branch. They would hold it for her.