Shadow Man Read Free Page A

attempted to, years ago. Once he actually threatened to hit me. He was suspended for three days.
    â€œI’m looking for James! He killed my brother!”
    â€œYour brother ran off the road,” I said, trying not to feel the words I was saying.
    â€œJames knows how drunk Gabe gets! He shouldn’t have let him drive!” Gerald looked at me sideways, like a dog about to bite.
    From the back of the room Ray Jackson spoke up. “James couldn’t stop him. Nobody could. Nobody can make Gabe do anything.”
    â€œYou tell that little sucker he’s dead. When I find him—”
    â€œGet out of here, Gerald,” I said. “Get out before I call the police.”
    He killed me with his eyes. Then he slammed out of the room. The kids were frozen at their desks.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Ray told me. “James can take care of himself.”
    â€œRight,” I said. “Like Gabe took care of himself.” A wave of despair engulfed me. Gabriel is dead. I saw this coming in his eyes. I saw this coming and I couldn’t stop it.
    I’ve heard that Jennie is not in school. Nobody has seen her. At first I was afraid that she’d been in the truck with Gabe, but they said no, Gabe was alone. He was always alone, in the long run.
    I wanted to talk to Jennie about Gabe. I wanted to warn her, but it was not my place. I should call her house and see how she’s doing, but teacher has no answers today, no words that will take away her pain. Nothing I could say would explain what has happened. It was an accident. If something that deliberate can be called accidental. He threw his life away; batting aside every helping hand, thumbing his nose at every offer of assistance, as if he were entitled to unlimited chances—
    Incredible. The kid’s dead and I’m still mad at him. He was a splotch on my record, a reminder that I’d failed. The master teacher could not reach him. He shot through life like a falling star. Look, there goes Gabe! we said, dazzled by his brilliance. Then he burned out.
    I’ve been sitting here, reading the pages he wrote for the weekly writing assignment in senior English. He hated that assignment. He didn’t trust words. They’d been used to hurt him too many times.
    Looking at what he wrote, at that brave, childish scrawl, I can see Gabe’s face, I can almost hear him speaking.

6
    Gabriel McCloud
    Dear Mrs. Sanders,
    I don’t like this asinement. I don’t think its fair. You say just write like your writing to a friend but if you don’t I’ll flunk you.
    That’s not to friendly.
    I think it should be up to us if we do it or not. I am not the kind of person who likes to write. I don’t read much. The stuff I like to read (comix) you would say doesn’t count. But some of them are really good I like them a lot. There funny and they tell you stuff about life.
    Like this one, this guy’s name is SHADOW MAN . He has powers over the weather and the stars and he makes something happen just by thinking it. Mostly he does stuff for good but don’t get him pissed off or its tornado time!
    I like the way he looks his eyes are like stars I mean they flash. Did you know that when you see a star twinkle its not really happening now it happened a long time ago in the past. It took all that time to get to your eyes because its so far away. That’s the kind of thing I learn from this comic and its true.
    I don’t know what I’m supposed to write. You say write 250 words but I can’t its torcher. Anyway its not like people are going to read it just you and its not like I’m going to be a writer or something. We don’t have to many books at our house exsept in my mother’s room. You can’t write at my house its to confusing but that’s another story. Anyway my spelling is pretty bad.
    282 words! Do I get extra credit?
    SHADOW MAN
    Gabriel :
    Who says you can’t write?