Under Anton's care, the baby bird thrived, and within two weeks, it was ready to be released into the wild.

"Why can't we get a cage and keep him as a pet?" asked Anna. "Marshmallow can't get to him if he's in a cage!"

Anton shook his head. "He is a wild bird, Anna. He would never be happy in a cage."

Anna felt a little sad as she watched the bird fly away, but she knew her father knew best.

The following Thursday, Miss Barlow passed out lists of all the students' names to the children.

"Saturday is Valentine's Day, so we will exchange Valentines on Friday. Get your mother to help fill out a Valentine for each student."

When she got home, Anna showed the list to her mother.

"We'll have to go to Woolworth's to buy some Valentines," Patty said. Simon started jumping around excitedly when he heard the word 'Woolworth's.'

"I suppose you can have a new toy as well, Simon," Patty told him.

"He already has lots of toys," said Anna.

"So do you," Patty reminded her.

Once inside the store, Anna became transfixed at the sight of the candy counter.

"The Valentines are over here." Patty's voice cut into her reverie.

Anna followed her mother to the aisle with the Valentine cards. She saw all different kinds of designs - flowers, animals, cartoons, toys, candy, and balloons. After some thought, she chose cacti with red hearts which said 'Stick with me, Valentine.'

Before heading for the check-out, Patty chose a wooden toy car for Simon. He was all smiles as they left the store.

They returned home just in time for Patty to prepare dinner, which was meatloaf, potatoes, and green beans. After dinner, Anna sat at the table with her mother to address her Valentines.

The first name on the list was David Allen's.

"I don't want to send a Valentine to him," said Anna. "He's mean, and him and Mike and Steve pick on me and Dasan sometimes."

Patty hesitated so long Anna thought she wasn't going to answer.

"Make him a Valentine anyway," she finally said. "That's what the teacher expects."

"When you were little, did you have to give Valentines to people you didn't like?" asked Anna.

Her mother nodded. "When I was little, I had a friend named Freddy whom nobody else liked very much. I was his only real friend. Some of the kids picked on me too just because I was his friend, but when Valentine's Day came, I made a Valentine for everyone in my class. My parents made me, and now that I'm older, I can see they were right."

Anna sighed. "Okay."

She made a Valentine for each child in her class, and Friday morning, she took them all to school in a satchel her mother had given her.

"I know you are all very excited," Miss Barlow told the class, after the Pledge of Allegiance and morning prayer. "We'll do our lessons this morning, and we'll pass out our Valentines and have our party after lunch."

The morning lessons seemed to last much longer than they usually did. When the students returned from lunch, they saw that a long table was at the front of the classroom, and on it was a pitcher of strawberry Kool-Aid and two large boxes of cupcakes with red and pink icing.

Miss Barlow quieted the excited chatter.

"We'll pass out our Valentines first, and then we'll have our party," she announced. "David, you may go first."

Each child took a turn passing out their Valentines. After Gene Wallace was finished and sat back down, everybody looked around at the piles of Valentines on all the desks. Anna saw that she had fewer than Mary Lou and many of the others, but that was all right. She was just glad for the Valentines she did have.

A loud, booming voice cut into her thoughts.

"The Injun and the Christ Killer got less Valentines than anybody else! Ha, ha!"

Mike chortled as he snatched up the few Valentines on Dasan's desk and held them up for all to see. Anna saw how hard her friend was trying to remain stoic as his eyes moistened with tears, and suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. Her feet seemed to belong to someone else as they left her seat and strode to the table with the treats. Her hands seemed to belong to someone else as they snatched up the pitcher of Kool-Aid and poured it over Mike's head.

Everything was quiet for the space of one second, and then Mike began to wail loudly. Some of the children began to taunt him.

"Cry baby! Cry baby!"

Anna felt the teacher's sharp fingernails dig into her arm, felt herself pulled along toward the door.

"That was the last straw, young lady! You're coming with me to the principal's office, right now!"

Anna's brain barely had time to register what had just happened before they were almost there. The principal was a middle-aged man named Mr. Harris. He was pudgy and had a bald spot. His secretary, a woman of about sixty with a face wrinkled like a prune, looked up as they entered.

"May I help you?"

"This young lady decided to pour Kool-Aid all over an innocent child," Miss Barlow said through gritted teeth.

He wasn't innocent! Anna wanted to say, but knew she didn't dare.

The secretary made a tsk-tsking sound.

"I'll get Mr. Harris."

She disappeared behind a door and returned a moment later with the principal.

"This incorrigible child needs some discipline," Miss Barlow told him. "I need to hurry back to my class. They've probably eaten all the cupcakes by now."

Mr. Harris gave Anna a disapproving look.

"What's this I hear about you dousing one of your classmates with Kool-Aid?"

"I - I'm sorry." Suddenly, Anna was terrified. She'd always known getting sent to the principal's office was just about the worst thing that could happen to you - and now, it had happened to her.

"He was being mean to me and Dasan again and I just couldn't stand it anymore!"

"Hm. So what exactly did he do?"

"He - he - " Anna felt foolish. "He was making fun of us because we didn't get as many Valentines."

Mr. Harris frowned.

"Sure sounds to me like someone's jealous. Anyway, as I'm sure you know, we don't tolerate this kind of behavior here in school. I'm sending you home for the rest of the day." He nodded toward a small red chair. "Sit there while Midge calls your mother to come pick you up. I sure wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now."

Anna was determined not to cry, but found she wasn't able to control the hot tears welling up in her eyes as her throat constricted.