Rhonda can't quite grasp the working of Mr. Benedict's tests. Why did he have to wait so long for these four children? Were all those other kids not good enough? Why didn't he send her? It could've been too late. Rhonda feels that Mr. Benedict may have missed some opportunities.
Mr. Benedict couldn't have sent her on her own. She knows that. She was the only one who passed: there was no use. But what of the kids who were smart and kind and brave, but made one mistake too many? What of the kids who were smart and kind and brave and made no mistakes, but wrote such detailed answers that they couldn't finish the test on time? What of those who never got to read the paper, or didn't want to because they were uninterested in more news about the Emergency and were too busy reading books? Or kids who couldn't read at all?
Rhonda sometimes wishes Mr. Benedict could've sent her with the Pencil Boy. She hasn't seen him for a long time, but she feels like she owes him a favor. She doesn't know his name, but he is printed forever in her memory.
When Rhonda had arrived at the building to take Mr. Benedict's tests, she was so excited. She'd been without a friend, without a family, without fun things to do, and suddenly here she was, about to meet friends and have fun! She stared into the sky. She skipped across the sidewalk. She swung her pencil into the air, up and down, up and down, until she missed a catch. She could only watch in horror as her pencil slipped down the drain. She'd only brought one pencil.
"Need some help?" And there he was with a goofy smile on his face.
"I, um, my pencil..." Rhonda blushed.
"No worries," he said gently. "I'll make you a new one. I've got a firestone."
He rubbed two stones together to make fire, then took a stick from the bushes and burnt it to make charcoal. They made it into the room just in time. Once it came to her mind to say thank you, the test had already begun. If she spoke one word, she'd be sent away. Rhonda wrote her entire test in charcoal.
Ever since, Rhonda has re-enacted this moment to help single out the kindest children. Every time she drops her pencil into that drain, she remembers the Pencil Boy, and every time a child helps retrieve her pencil, she is amazed by their kindness and clever solutions. The Pencil Boy didn't make it past the second test. She doesn't know what became of him.
She should've let him cheat.