The Silent Spillbills

The Silent Spillbills — page 5 — You must enjoy getting to mix with the students Herr Fritz Mr Fritz tried to look enthusiastic Since most kids at Thornton Lake chose French or Spanish for their language requirement he had only a cou ple of classes to teach and had to drive one of the buses as well As he trudged off toward his Katerina made a break for hers Don't forget to congratulate the great man for me Katerina I won't Ms Wainwright she called over her shoulder As she hustled busward Katrina spotted a pied billed grebe flapping out of some reeds by the lake and wished she could sprout wings and feath ers and follow the bird into the sky She and Morty Kaplan were the last ones off their bus and by being first on and nabbing a rear seat she usu ally avoided having to talk with her schoolmates Now she would have to run the gauntlet Or maybe she would luck out As she climbed on board Mr Papadopoulos was yelling at a boy who was dangling one of Morty's crutches out a window Morty should never have gone spring ski ing He was smart but not very well coordinated

The Silent Spillbills — page 6 — The diversion didn't work on Steve O Grady however He was in a seat halfway up the aisle and as she approached him he exposed his braces in a metallic smirk So how'd Her Majesty like the sloppy joe he asked Katerina hated being called that And she had the perfect comeback Why do you ask Steve still got some stuck in that hardware store you call a mouth But it would have come out Why do you ask S steve s still got s some s stuck in that hard ware s store you call a mouth So she just scooted by in mortified silence

The Silent Spillbills — page 7 — Birding S snipe Katerina cried S six No S seven The snipe let out their distinctive rasping cries as they rose out of a stand of cattails and Katerina's father in the stern of the rowboat lifted his binoculars Katerina who was on the rower's seat the thwart as her father had taught her to call it didn't bother letting go of the oars She may have had a little speech problem but her eyesight was almost super human and as she turned her head to follow the birds flight she could make out the pointy wings and nail like beaks with her naked eye even when the snipe were hundreds of yards away Fantastic yaw her father said admiringly But they've got a s small fu s selage said

The Silent Spillbills — page 8 — Katerina who didn't mind stuttering in front of her parents True But they do have great stabilizers Mr Farnsworth lowered his binoculars and smiled at her Think we ought to build a Snipe XT Oh yes Uh oh he said checking his watch I'm afraid No It's s still early True but We haven't even been to the s smelly cove yet Mm but it's your grandfather's birthday Just one more s sighting Please Come on now Katya We've got to go home and get spiffed up and then come back and pick him up Katerina buried her chin in the top of her orange life vest Want me to take over sweetheart At this she quit pouting and began working the oars against each other turning the boat around so that the lowering sun was behind her father's head and his mussy gray hair glowed like a halo In the fall she'd had Mr Tupper for math

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