First Meetings Read Free

the parlor, reading a book while he listened to the test.
    Every now and then he was aware that the woman giving the test was glancing at him, but she never said anything to him and so he just kept reading. It was a book about the life of St. John Paul II, the great Polish pope that he had been named for, and John Paul was fascinated because he was finally getting answers to some of his questions about why Catholics were different and the Hegemon didn’t like them.
    Even as he read, he also listened to all of the testing. But it wasn’t like the government tests, with questions about facts and seeing if they could figure out math answers orname parts of speech. Instead she asked each boy questions that didn’t really have answers. About what he liked and didn’t like, about why people did the things they did. Only after about fifteen minutes of those questions did she start the written test with more regular problems.
    In fact, the first time, John Paul didn’t think those questions were part of the test. Only when she asked each boy the exact same questions and then followed up on the differences in their answers did he realize this was definitely one of the main things she was here to do. And from the way she got so involved and tense asking those questions, John Paul gathered that she thought these questions were actually more important than the written part of the test.
    John Paul wanted to answer the questions. He wanted to take the test. He liked to take tests. He always answered silently when the older children were taking tests, to see if he could answer as many questions as they did.
    So when she was finishing up with Andrew, John Paul was just about to ask if he could take the test when the woman spoke to Mother. “How old is this one?”
    “We told you,” said Mother. “He’s only five.”
    “Look what he’s reading.”
    “He just turns the pages. It’s a game. He’s imitating the way he sees the older children read.”
    “He’s reading,” said the woman.
    “Oh, you’re here for a few hours and you know more about my children than I do, even though I teach them for hours every day?”
    The woman did not argue. “What is his name?”
    Mother didn’t want to answer.
    “John Paul,” said John Paul.
    Mother glared at him. So did Andrew.
    “I want to take the test,” he said.
    “You’re too young,” said Andrew, in Polish.
    “I turn six in three weeks,” said John Paul. He spoke in Common. He wanted the woman to understand him.
    The woman nodded. “I’m allowed to test him early,” she said.
    “Allowed, but not required,” said Father, coming into the room. “What’s he doing in here?”
    “He said he was going into the other room to read,” said Mother. “I thought he meant the other bedroom.”
    “I’m in the kitchen,” said John Paul.
    “He didn’t disturb anything,” said the woman.
    “Too bad,” said Father.
    “I’d like to test him,” the woman said.
    “No,” said Father.
    “Somebody will just have to come back in three weeks and do it then,” she said. “And disrupt your day one more time. Why not have done with it today?”
    “He’s already heard the answers,” said Mother. “If he was sitting here listening.”
    “The test isn’t like that,” said the woman. “It’s all right that he heard.”
    John Paul could see already that Father and Mother were both going to give in, so he didn’t bother saying anything to try to influence them. He didn’t want to use his ability to say the right words too often, or somebody would catch on, and it would stop working.
    It took a few more minutes of conversation, but then John Paul was sitting on the couch beside the woman.
    “I really was reading,” said John Paul.
    “I know,” said the woman.
    “How?” asked John Paul.
    “Because you were turning the pages in a regular rhythm,” she said. “You read very fast, don’t you?”
    John Paul nodded. “When it’s interesting.”
    “And St. John Paul