He turned toward Lily and noticed to his satisfaction that her ribbons were,as usual,undone and dangling.There would be an announcement like that quite soon,he felt certain,and it would be directed mainly at Lily,though her neme,of course,would not be mentioned.Everyone would know.
Everyone had known,he remeberedwith humiliation,that the announcementATTENTION.THIS IS A REMINDER TO MALE ELEVENS THAT OBJECTS ARE NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE RECREATION AREA AND THAT SNACKS ARE TO BE EATEN,NOT HOARDED had been specifically directed at him,the daylast month that he had taken an apple home.No one had mentioned it,not even his parents,because the public announcement had been sufficient to produce the approprate remorse.He had,of course,disposed of the apple and made his apology to the Recreation Director the next morning,before school.
Jonas thought again about that incident.He was still bewildered by it.Not by the announcement orthe necessary;those were standard procedures,andhe had deserved them--but by the incident itself.He probably should have brought up his feeling of bewilderment that very evening when the family unit had shared their feelings of the day.But he had not been able to sort out and put words to the source of his confusion,so he had let it pass.
It had happened during the recreation period,when he had been playing with Asher.Jonas had casually picked up an apple from the basket where the snacks were kept,and had thrown it to his friend.Asher had thrown it back,and they had begun a simple game of catch.
Everyone had known,he remeberedwith humiliation,that the announcementATTENTION.THIS IS A REMINDER TO MALE ELEVENS THAT OBJECTS ARE NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE RECREATION AREA AND THAT SNACKS ARE TO BE EATEN,NOT HOARDED had been specifically directed at him,the daylast month that he had taken an apple home.No one had mentioned it,not even his parents,because the public announcement had been sufficient to produce the approprate remorse.He had,of course,disposed of the apple and made his apology to the Recreation Director the next morning,before school.
Jonas thought again about that incident.He was still bewildered by it.Not by the announcement orthe necessary;those were standard procedures,andhe had deserved them--but by the incident itself.He probably should have brought up his feeling of bewilderment that very evening when the family unit had shared their feelings of the day.But he had not been able to sort out and put words to the source of his confusion,so he had let it pass.
It had happened during the recreation period,when he had been playing with Asher.Jonas had casually picked up an apple from the basket where the snacks were kept,and had thrown it to his friend.Asher had thrown it back,and they had begun a simple game of catch.
