Dinnertime was great. You could sit anywhere you liked, so he didn't sit next to those nasty boys. There was a space where some girls were sitting. They weren't talking much, but they didn't seem so mean so he sat there.
It was beef stew with vegetables tonight. Andy wasn't sure about some of the vegetables, but the gravy smelled really nice.
Rain was falling in the playground now instead of snow, but it was still very cold. He was very thankful for his dinner because it was hot. It was tasty too. His mom didn't have time to cook, they ate a lot of TV dinners, so it was good to eat something as delicious as this. Maybe the vegetables weren't so bad after all.
Somebody said that Mr. Wolf did most of the cooking here. He heard him earlier talking to Mr. DeSalvo. He asked him why he should keep his job but Fat Pat didn't answer. Mr. Wolf said that if he didn't believe in what they were doing at Wish House then he should leave. He couldn't listen any more because the people behind him in the dinner queue were getting annoyed. He must have forgiven him though, because the fat guy was watching over dinnertime. Andy didn't understand how you could forgive somebody like that, somebody who hit your kid. He had never understood that.
"Is your name Andy?" said the girl sitting opposite him. She didn't look at him as she spoke.
"Yes, what's yours?"
"You have a note."
Andy looked by his plate. There was a scrap of paper with 'ANDY' written on it in orange crayon. Andy picked it up and went to open it.
"Don't look at it here!" gasped the girl, "Put it away or Fat Pat will see you."
The girl next to her giggled at the fat man's nickname. Andy put the note in his pocket.
"Something funny?" said DeSalvo walking towards them. Andy's heart was thumping, what if he'd seen the note? He didn't want to get in trouble with this guy, this dirty man who acted like his father. This man who talked angry and hit kids.
"N-no Mr. DeSalvo." stammered the girl.
He looked at Andy. Andy got ready to be hit.
"Then eat your dinner quietly please. You know the rules."
He walked away to the table where Robert and his roommates were talking and started to tell them off. Andy realized he'd been holding his breath, so he let it out and started to breathe normally. The girls were eating and staring hard into their stew.
Andy wanted to know who the note was from, but he thought it wasn't a good time to ask. He was desperate to open it though.
He forced himself to forget the piece of paper in his pocket and looked into his stew and carried on eating.