Just Another Hero Read Online Free Page A

just talked to Laura, who said Sunshine is eating and burping and not crying for me! Ungrateful kid. The least she could do is scream and holler and miss her mother,” November joked.
    â€œI’m sure she misses you, November. You’ve been there for her twenty-four/seven ever since she was born. It’s gotta be hard for both of you.”
    November sighed. “Yeah, it is. I know by the sound of her breathing what she needs or wants. Every cry she has is different—every noise she makes I understand. I can’t wait to get home this afternoon.”
    Olivia touched November’s shoulder. “She’ll give you the biggest smile when she sees you!”
    November grinned. “She might punch me in the nose instead!”
    â€œOr poop all over you,” added Kofi. “Kids do that sometimes, you know.” Both girls laughed.
    Olivia paused for a moment, her brown eyes growing serious. “So, what’s the latest from her doctors?”
    November shivered, perhaps from the cold and perhaps from the thoughts of her daughter, born three months early, whose future might include some disabilities. Kofi wasn’t in on all that girl stuff, but he knew from Dana that the baby might have mental or physical developmental delays.
    â€œShe’s five months old now, and well, I guess she’s still behind on those baby charts they use to measure growth,but she’s catching up slowly. It’s like that old story of the tortoise and the hare. She’s my little turtle—slow and steady. She may not be the first kid to the finish line, but she’ll get there.”
    â€œDoesn’t the tortoise win the race in that tale?” Olivia asked, scratching her head.
    November brightened. “You know, you’re right!”
    Cleveland yelled loudly then, “Hey! Somebody! Anybody! I’m freezin’ my buns off here! Somebody let us back in the building!”
    Other kids started to grumble then as well. “Do you see any fire?”
    â€œOr fire engines?”
    â€œAnybody smell smoke?”
    â€œIt’s another false alarm.”
    â€œMaybe they’re keepin’ us outside to punish us for pullin’ the fire alarm.”
    â€œDid somebody have a test this period and just wanted to get out of it?”
    â€œWho knows?”
    â€œWhere’s Jack?”
    â€œDidn’t he go to the bathroom?”
    â€œJack only pulls the alarm when he has a test, man. Jack’s wack, but he’s got rules!”
    â€œOughta be a rule that no fire drills can be called when it’s cold like this! I’m gonna sue if I die of pneumonia!” Cleveland complained.
    The all-clear bell finally sounded, and everyone hurried back into the warmth of the building. Jericho and Cleveland once again chair-lifted Eric with their armsand deposited him safely back into his own wheelchair upstairs.
    â€œI can’t believe I’m glad to be back in this thing,” Eric remarked. “It’s like my second skin.”
    But before Miss Pringle could get the class back in order, the imposing, powerful image of Mrs. Sherman, the principal, also new this year, appeared on the TV screen in the corner of the room. Each classroom had a closed-circuit television available so that morning announcements, special presentations, and video events could be seen by everyone.
    A thick woman with arms and legs that looked like clay, Mrs. Sherman boomed, “Good morning, students of Douglass High School. Thank you for your orderly evacuation of the building, and we apologize if any of you were chilled by the inclement weather.”
    â€œYou think it’s a law or something that principals have to use big fat words like that?” Jericho whispered to Cleveland.
    â€œToo much alphabet soup!” Cleveland agreed.
    Kofi wiggled his toes to get them warm again as Mrs. Sherman continued.
    â€œThe fire alarm was not triggered by anyone in the administration