Elizabeth
The next morningthe Brooklyn Newsies prepared to head to Manhattan. I, on the other hand, had other problems. "Spade, how do youse read?" I asked. "Wha' youse don know hows?" He asked. I blushed and shook my head in shame. "I'll teach youse, it's easy enough once you learn it," he said.
He held out a small book, "do you know what these are?" He asked pointed to the markings on the page. I shook my head. "These are letters," he explained he sat down on the ground and motioned for me to sit with him. With his finger he drew in the dirt that looked like a triangle with a stick in the middle. "This is A," he said, he grabbed my hand and had me draw some with him. I drew A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.
"Those are some letters an when youse put 'em together youse get woids," he explained. He mixed the dirt back up before writing the letters in order again. Under them he wrote A C E and A G E. "Okay why don't you read the first one," he suggested. "Aky," I said slowly. "No, the letters sound different when put together remember, it's Aaa," He said. "Aaaacccceee..., ACE!" I exclaimed excitedly. I just read! I finally know how to read!!! "Good, now the next one, the A sounds the same, do you think you can do it by yourself?" He asked. I nodded. "Aaagggeee, age?" I asked. He smiled, "Exactly," he said.
"Now what if I added a D to that?" He asked adding the letter to age. I stared at it trying to figure it out. Ise can do this. "Age-ed?" I asked. "No, no ed," he shook his head. "Aged," I tried again. "Good now put the two together," he instructed. "Ace...aged," I read. "That was a sentence," he said. "Wha's that?" I asked. "Puttin' woids together, like tawkin' almost," he explains. He wrote another word for me. B A D. "Bad?" I asked after a moment of silence. "Youse got it.
"How do ya makes the Tuh sound?" I asked. "Youse mean like got?" He asked. I nodded. "Well Youse use T," he explained adding the T after the G. "An this is another letter we call H," he said putting it in between T and G. He wrote the word H A T and H A T E. "Hate," I said immediately. "Good job, what about the other one?" He asked. "Hot," I said. He shook his head, no that's another letter, this one is an ah sound," he explained. "Hat?" I asked. He smiled, "There it is," he praised.
"Now what happens when we add a D to hate?" He asked. "Hated," I answered. "What if Ise add an E to hat?" He asked. "Hate," I answered. "Now how about this?" He asked. H E HATED ACE. "But Ise don't know that one!" I complained, last time we did the sentencing I knew the words but now one of the words isn't what I know. "Sure youse do, youse just gotta try." He said. I pouted but still chose to try it. "Hhhheee? He hated Ace?" I said.
"Now why'd youse say it like dat?" He asked. "Like wha'?" I asked. "Like youse was askin a question, if youse know the answer don't say it like youse unsure," he explained. "But Ise is unsure," I explained. "Yea, but do youse really want the whole woild to knows that?" He asked. "Ise guess not," I said. "Exactly, so speak confident like if you have an answer okay," he said. I nodded.
"Now try this one," he said moving the dust and writing new words. C A T. "Cat," I answered. "Now this," he said. "Bad cat," I read. "And this?" He asked. "Fat cat," I read. Then he wrote more. "Bad fat cat," I read. New word. "A bad fat cat," I said. New word. "Face," I tried. "Mmhmm," he nods. "Bad face," I read. "Bad fate," I read the new word. "Fat face," I read the new sentence. "Bag," I read the new word. "And?" He asked. "Hag," I read. He wrote out FAT HAG in the dirt. "Fat hag," I read. Then he wrote BAT. "Bat bag," I read.
"Good, now that's it today, how bout we read some more tomorrow," he said. I nodded, "Thank youse," I said hugging him. "Of course kid," he said, "Yer a good reader." I squealed and ran out the room. I finally learned how to read! AND I DIDN'T EVEN NEED SOME HOITY TOITY FANCY PANCY SCHOOL TO DO IT! I can't wait to show Jack!
The rest of the day I read anything I could. And when I couldn't I would make it up, it's not like anyone would notice. If they did who cared, I CAN READ! Soon I'll probably be able to read everything, every little word on every pape with nobody's help. I just have to practice more.
