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Dick Nelson's The Incident at |
Sample
Chapter 8 | Supplement | Related Book: Travis and Trish | Ordering Information
Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | Ch11 | Ch12 | Ch13
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INTRODUCTION |
The Incident at Crystal Lake made headlines all over the
state, and Kenneth Sugihara, Candace Walton, and Jennifer Long were treated as
heroes when the story appeared on the news. Kenneth and Candace were among the
eighth graders Mrs. Stephens, the counselor, thought about when she considered
forming a special group of Walton Middle Schoolers to go beyond the call, when
needed, to help others. And she might well have had Jennifer in mind as one of
the sixth grade students who needed assistance. But not in her wildest dreams
did she think that Kenneth, Candace, and Jennifer would face the kind of
situation that confronted them.
Jennifer's
problem was a lack of acceptance by her classmates who saw her as both childish
and overly-imaginative; and children and adults alike, including her own
father, often doubted her word.
Jennifer
thought about sharing her concern with Kenneth and Candace when she overheard
Candace offer Kenneth a glass of lemonade as he took a break from mowing the
lawn at the Walton's summer cottage.
She
thought, "This'll be the best time to talk to them, if I'm going to."
She took two steps up the hill, brought the two young people in view, then
turned away and slumped along the path. "Oh, heck. . ., if Dad doesn't
believe me, no one else will."
A year
earlier Mrs. Stephens had formed the Peer Advising and Leadership, or PALs
group, because she was concerned about the number of Walton students who seemed
to have serious problems. The group had improved the situation somewhat, but as
the new school year approached, Mrs. Stephens wanted more help. She asked a
small group of students to go beyond listening to their troubled peers and
referring them for help. She wanted them to feel free to go beyond the call to
do what needed to be done, and Beyond the Call became the private name for the group.
Mr.
Jefferson, the principal, was present when Mrs. Stephens met with the group to
test their interest, several days before the beginning of school. Both were
pleased with the response of the students.
The next
day after work, Candace's father, Mr. Walton, drove Candace and himself to
their cottage by Crystal Lake, and Kenneth caught a ride with them, since he
was planning to mow a lawn nearby.
Mr. Walton
announced that he wanted some time at the Everything Store near the lake, and
Candace scowled and pursed her lips. "I know what you want. You just want
time to smoke one of those awful, smelly cigars before you go home."
Rather than
wait, Kenneth and Candace decided to walk the remaining distance toward the
cottage. They had covered most of the distance when Candace called,
"Stop," in a loud whisper. Kenneth couldn't hear anything.
Candace
said, "Listen for something like a whimper."
Finally,
he heard the sound. "It's coming from that thick stand of woods and brush
near Randolph Point."
The two
were in no way prepared for what they heard when they found Jennifer Long in a
small clearing, whimpering.
Chapter 8
appears in full below. The Choice Awareness Supplement presents this Big Idea:
We make
caring choices when we respond to others' needs.
Note that
the double asterisk in each chapter (**) indicates that there is at least one
activity -- something to think about or try out -- in the Choice Awareness
Supplement pages in the back of the book. There is also a reminder at the end
of the chapter, plus the page number to return to -- to make it easy for the
reader to relocate the signal. For individual readers the activity may be completed
in a break from reading. If a teacher, counselor, or other leader is using the
book with a class or counseling group, the activities may be used whenever the
schedule permits.
Sample Chapter 8 -- IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO FOR YOU? |
Candace beckoned
to Kenneth. A few steps further along the road she pointed out a well-worn
drive that wound its way into the thicket, and Kenneth could readily see that
it was a better route than crashing through the brush, the thorny blackberry
bushes, and the poison ivy. It had two other advantages; it was both safer and
quieter.
As they neared
Randolph Point, a narrow strip of land jutting out into Crystal Lake, Kenneth
saw a small, pleasant cottage built originally as a stable, and beyond and
below it a far grander home. A thick stand of trees and bushes stood to the
left of both buildings.
They heard the
whimpering sound again, and Candace put her index finger to her lips. They
picked their way carefully to avoid snapping twigs underfoot, then they saw
her. Jennifer Long, Candace's summer neighbor, was seated in a rusty, too-small
kiddiecar with no wheels. Her feet were pulled up under her, her arms around
her legs, her face buried in her knees. Every few seconds she heaved just a
little and made the whimpering sound they had heard from nearby on the lane.
Candace thought
of Jennifer as a bright-eyed, dark-haired, slim, solitary, and serious
soon-to-be sixth grader. She paused, then called gently, "Jennifer."
Jennifer hopped
out of the car, drew herself up to her full height, wiped her eyes with the
heels of her hands, sniffed, drew out a handkerchief, and blew her nose.
"What. .
.," she choked out the word, "what are you two doing here?"
"We heard
you and we wanted to see if we could help," said Candace.
** "Yes,"
said Kenneth. "You sound like you've lost your last friend. Is there
anything we can do for you?"
Jennifer looked
from one to the other, then stared at the ground for several seconds. "Oh,
you won't believe me either," she said. "My dad doesn't. My mom doesn't.
They think I'm making it all up or imagining things."
Kenneth was
tempted to smile, but he didn't, since Jennifer was looking directly at him. He
remembered his father saying about Jennifer, "That girl has the wildest
imagination I ever ran into."
Mr. Sugihara
had been doing some gardening for the Randolphs, and Jennifer had come up to
him and told him that the impatiens he was planting had said they would be
happier on the east side of the house, where they could get a little morning
sun and be shaded by the cottage in the afternoon. It hadn't surprised Mr.
Sugihara, but he found it interesting that the impatiens he put where Jennifer
suggested had indeed fared better than the others. "You see, they are
happier here," she had told him afterwards.
As he clipped
the Randolph's hedge about a year earlier, Kenneth himself had heard Jennifer
report on a conversation she told him she had with elves. "They are really
pleased that you are clipping the hedge," he recalled her saying. "It
will become thicker, and they can hide there better when they want to escape
from the troll down by the little bridge across the creek."
Candace's
thoughts, too, went back to a conversation she had with Jennifer earlier in the
summer.
"I love
school and learning, you know," Jennifer told her. "But I'm not sure
I can go back to school and start sixth grade this fall."
"Oh?"
said Candace, using one of the listening ideas that Mrs. Stephens had taught
the PALs.
"Yes, the
trees have been telling me that they miss me too much when I come only on
weekends. Besides, I'm a good reader. Maybe I could just borrow books and go
into school and listen now and then and get the assignments and take the tests
and all," Jennifer added.
"But won't
the other kids miss you, and won't you miss them?" said Candace.
"Not very
much. At least I won't miss them. They don't have any scope to their
imagination," Jennifer replied.
Candace thought
about that conversation several times afterwards. At first she couldn't
remember where she had heard a similar phrase, "scope for the
imagination." Then, standing there in that clearing in the woods, looking
at Jennifer, she recalled.
"I know
you have a wonderful imagination," Candace said as she watched a single
large tear run down Jennifer's cheek, "but I'll believe you if you say
that you're telling the absolute truth, with no extras thrown in. I promise I
will believe you."
Jennifer
sighed. "I don't know," she said. And all was quiet for several
seconds.
"OK, let's
leave that alone for now," said Candace. "Earlier this summer when I
saw you, you said something about the other kids not having much scope to their
imagination, when you were telling me you didn't much want to go back to
school."
"That's right. They don't," said Jennifer,
sighing.
"I
remember a line like that in Anne of Green Gables. I'll just bet you had Miss Ada Smith in third grade --
she was always saying that kind of thing to the girls she thought were just
too. . . dull," said Candace.
Miss Ada Smith
had seemed so old, yet so young, when Candace had her as a teacher. She wanted
girls to love being married and having babies if that was their goal, but she
wanted them all to have an imagination, and to do something additional in the
world that made a difference, if they could. "Most boys have a greater
imagination than most girls when it comes to jobs and work. Imagine yourself
working at anything you want," she told the girls, "but, most of all,
imagine yourself being an interesting person."
"Yes,"
said Jennifer, "I had her for a teacher. And I really loved her then. But.
. .," and another tear followed the previous one down her cheek.
"But. .
.?" said Kenneth, remembering Candace's comment that sometimes just one
repeated word was enough if you wanted someone to know you were really
listening. Candace smiled at Kenneth, glad that Jennifer was looking at the
ground.
"But having an imagination just gets me in trouble. But nobody believes me. But that doesn't mean I didn't tell my dad or mom the truth
when they thought I was lying," the words tumbled from Jennifer's lips.
"OK,"
said Candace. "I said I would believe you if you told me you were telling
the absolute truth. And I will. And Kenneth will, too. Won't you?" He
nodded.
A call came
from the cottage. "Jennifer! Are you there? I called you ten minutes ago.
I want you in here right away to work on the salad."
"Be right
there, mom," Jennifer called back. "I gotta go," she said to
Kenneth and Candace.
"How would
it be if we meet here in the morning and talk again?" said Candace.
"Really early? Here? That'd be great!" Jennifer said.
"I'll
come. But how early do you mean?" asked Candace, her hand to her chin.
"Maybe
quarter of six -- even earlier," said Jennifer.
"I
couldn't be here that early. I have to go back to town tonight and my dad will
bring me here again about eight, or later if there's dew on the grass,"
said Kenneth.
"Is it really important that we get together so early?" asked
Candace.
Jennifer looked
down at the ground. "If we're going to stop something from happening, it
has to be that early." She took several steps toward the cottage.
"What
about it," she said to Candace, "do you really want to help me do
that?"
"You said
'stop something.' Help you stop what?" asked Candace.
"Help me
stop a murder!" Jennifer's words
were a harsh whisper. At that she dusted off her jeans and disappeared around a
bend in the path.
Kenneth stared
after Jennifer for several seconds. "She can't be serious."
"I think
she is," said Candace. "And, somehow, I think it isn't just her
imagination."
|
Supplement to Chapter Eight: |
The double
asterisk (**) in each chapter is a signal that the discussion and the
activities in the supplement relate to the following sentence or two. The
signal is repeated at the end of the chapter, and the page noted, so that the
reading does not need to be interrupted.
Key Idea. The chapter supplement begins with a key idea that is
designed to encourage the reader to think about choice-making. The Key Idea in
Chapter 8 is:
We make
caring choices when we respond to others' needs.
Discussion
Paragraph. The discussion paragraph
amplifies the key idea and encourages the reader to think about it either alone
or in discussion with others.
The discussion
in Chapter 8 explores things a person might do or say when he or she or someone
else is angry upset, disappointed, concerned, or worried.
Activities. Cues include the following:
P. = an
activity that can be used with a partner.
G. = an
activity that can be used with a group.
P.G. = an
activity that can be used with either a partner or a group.
*J = an
invitation to write a journal entry about the chapter, the key idea, the
discussion paragraph, and/or the activity.
Following is
the Supplement to Chapter 8 in its entirety.
IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO FOR YOU? |
8-49 (Refers
to chapter 8, page 49)
We make
caring choices when we respond to others' needs.
Kenneth made
a caring choice in Chapter 8 when he said, "You sound like you've lost
your last friend. Is there anything we can do for you?" Now, skim the
chapter and see if you can find a caring choice that Kenneth made with a single
word -- a choice that encouraged Jennifer to continue talking. Caring choices
are what we say or do that helps others (or ourselves) whenever they (or we)
have a need. Build a list of things you
might say or do when someone around you is angry, upset, disappointed,
concerned, or worried. Use some of the ideas on your list when you see others
in need. (The word Kenneth used was but.)
*J
P. G. Take
turns making caring choices. One person describes a situation that might bother
him or her, and the other(s) make(s) different caring choices in response.
Example: "I think I flunked that test on Friday." The next person
makes different kinds of caring choices. Reflection of feeling: "I can
tell you're upset." A question that shows caring: "What can I
do?" An offer to help: "I'd be glad to study with you for the next
test." A pat on the arm, and other actions without words, can also be
caring choices -- as can most things you do to meet the person's need. Try out
different caring choices with others at home or in your neighborhood. Later,
share what happened when you made caring choices. *J
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