The Man in the Woods Read Free Page B

“Beverly’s going to be the death of Jerry’s state journalism award. She does these awful, sappy editorial cartoons for the Whaler every week. Last year I was faculty advisor to the Whaler , and Jerry was managing editor. I couldn’t get him to stop printing these disgusting little caterpillar drawings she turns out. Now the time has come to get Jerry to print an editorial cartoon with some guts to it.”
    Helen nodded. “But,” she said, “if you couldn’t get him to change his mind last year when you were advisor, how can you get him to do it this year when you’re not?”
    Mr. Bro grinned again, this time mischievously. “Beverly’s gone into business,” he said smoothly. “Now she cuts her little smiley-faced caterpillars out of copper, enamels them in livid colors, bakes them in the school kiln, and sells them at drugstores. She makes a pretty penny at it using school materials! I haven’t told the principal, but if I do, he’ll stop her. She’s making a private profit off the school. She says it’s an art project, but it’s a business. If I stop Beverly using the school kiln, she’ll hit the roof. Jerry Rosen will do anything for Beverly. He’s in love. If I tell him to run your cartoon instead of Beverly’s caterpillars or else, he will. Believe me. It will help the Whaler . It will help Jerry win his state journalism award and get his scholarship. I’m doing him a favor. He must put some ideas and controversy into that paper, or he’ll fail. If I have to give him a little nudge in the right direction, he’ll do it, and since he won’t listen to reason, he’ll listen to Beverly.” Mr. Bro clipped his note on top of Helen’s drawing. “Another thing,” he said softly. He began straightening the papers on his desk. “You see, what you have in that drawing is an idea. It’s funny, and you are a very talented artist, but the important thing is, it’s full of heart and caring. It’s got thinking behind it. The caterpillars ... I can’t tell you what a waste I think it is that such claptrap is printed, even in a school newspaper. Beverly has the heart of a Hostess Twinkie. Now ... go down to the Whaler office. Give Jerry this cartoon and this note, and you’ll be in like Flynn!”
    “Thank you, Mr. Brzostoski,” said Helen a little breathlessly.
    “Bro,” said Mr. Brzostoski. “Bro is much easier.”
    She turned around once more in the doorway, but he was already busily locking up his drawers. Then her feet were running down the empty hall toward the Whaler office. There, she knew, either acceptance as warm as a tropical sea or a still greater disaster to end this day of wretchedness awaited her.

Chapter 2
    “Y OU MUST HAVE COME about the booster tags!” chirped an optimistic voice when Helen stepped into the Whaler office. “I’m Penny Parker, assistant business manager,” the girl went on without waiting for a reply. She shook a full head of copper curls as merrily as she spoke. “It’s just super of you to come and help us. How many tags do you think you can sell this week? Fifty? A hundred?”
    “I ... um, what exactly are they?” asked Helen.
    “My goodness!” said Penny. She hauled a carton to where Helen was standing and ripped the tape and flaps off the top of it. Then she plunged her hand into a mass of little white cardboard triangles, each with a string attached and each with a picture of a football player and the message “BEAT FALL RIVER!” in red ink. “Aren’t they great?” asked Penny. “What you do is, you sell them to all your friends, and they get everyone else to sign ’em. You hang ’em on your notebook ring or on your pocketbook. You sell ’em for fifty cents apiece and bring us the money at the end of the week. You should do real well this week ’cause Fall River’s our big rival!”
    “I really came,” said Helen, “with a note for Jerry—the editor?” She edged the note and drawing, upside down, into Penny’s view. Penny was