Monday morning! In two hours THAT MAN would be heading out of state and OUT OF MIND. Lolly and Grandma Toady had gone over to the house to say, Good bye to him before he left. Munch did not join them. He stood at the bus stop alone. His thoughts drifted from the exodus of THAT MAN to Thahn Ho. If he was lucky she would be in the art room when he got to school. He could already feel himself getting tongue tied. Good Lord! He needed to get a grip. How was he going to impress her if he could barely even talk to her?

This morning he was dressed in brown wingtips, wool slacks, an arm patch jacket and a Led Zeppelin T-shirt. The screen door to the house banged. He glanced back, Lolly was on her way. She looked sad. She always got sad when her daddy left. A brief thought flitted through Munch’s brain, how sad would Mama be when she came home from work today? He dismissed it. He WOULD NOT think about that. If Mama was sad it was her own damn fault. He heard the rumble of the bus. It pulled up just as Lolly reached him. He motioned for her to enter first.

When they sat down, Munch did not ask her how she was. He did not want to know. He did not want to hear ANYTHING about her pa. In silence they road to school. As soon as the bus stopped he was out the door and headed for the art room. He couldn’t get there fast enough. He was practically running down the hall when a girl in a hooded sweat shirt bumped into him. She looked up at him. There were tears in her eyes. Those frightened eyes were Thahn Ho’s. “Sorry,” she said and turned away from him.

“Wait, what’s wrong?”

Thahn Ho glanced back at the art room door. “That boy who’s name sounds like what a duck says, won’t leave me alone.”

Stupid Quack! If he was bigger, taller, stronger he would punch Quack, but Munch was none of those things. He said, “Yeah, he is so stupid like that.”

Her voice quivered when she said, “I really wanted to work on my painting. I’m so far behind. I guess I will have to just take it home with me tonight.”

“You shouldn’t have to do that. Talk to Mademoiselle Petite, she will tell to Quack where to get off.”

For a moment she looked at him with a puzzled expression. “I don’t understand.”

“She will make him stop bothering you.”

Her mouth formed a small o. “I will, but I’m not going to the art room before school anymore. I don’t like the way those boys talk about me.”

Fury surged through Munch. “What did they say?”

“One boy called me an exotic piece of meat. And his friends laughed.”

Despite his lack of stature and strength, Munch was ready to kick some major ASS. “Which boy?”

Nervously she looked back at the art room door again. She shook her head and told him, “I need to go.” She turned away from him and started down the hall. Munch followed. In his head he was going over every guy that hung out in the art room in the mornings. Sometimes they brought along friends that didn’t even take art.

He caught up to her and said, “I’m sorry that happened. The library is a quiet place.”

Tears pooled in her eyes. “I don’t remember where it is.”

“No worries Girl, I will show you where it is.” When they reached the double doors of the Library, Munch was unsure what to do. He didn’t want to seem like he was after her and he didn’t want to be a presumptuous jerk.

With her deep dark eyes, she looked up and softly asked, “Could you sit with me?”

It took everything he had to not slap on another stupid grin. “Of course I can.” He opened the door. As soon as the librarian, Mrs. Stanton saw him, she put a finger to her lips. It was her signal that he better be quiet or he would be kicked out. This morning he would NOT be kicked out of the library. He lead Thahn Ho to a table near the back window. He asked, “Will this do?”

She nodded. Thahn Ho slid into one seat and he slid into the one beside her. There were tears on her lashes, but they did not fall. She asked, “Why are boys so dumb?”

“I don’t know.” He really didn’t. “Not all of them are dumb.”

“You are not dumb. I can tell. Lolly would never be friends with a dumb boy.”

This compliment warmed Munch to his core. “No she wouldn’t.”

She reached for her backpack and took out her sketch book. He didn’t ask to see it, because when he was upset, drawing always calmed him. What she needed was to draw right now. Though he wanted to ask her again which boy had said that mean thing, but he thought better of it. If she wanted to tell him she would. Not sure what to do with himself and certain he did not want to read, ANYTHING, he got out his own sketch book. It wasn’t the one he had drawn Thahn Ho’s portrait in. Over the course of his art life he had had more than one sketchbook snatched out of his hands and passed around. A few times the bully was amazed by what he or she saw, other times they turned plain nasty and said harsh and ugly things about his drawings. One mean girl had even called his work perverted, which implied he was a pervert. Stupid, stupid people.

After several silent minutes, of drawing he cold tell that Thahn Ho was beginning to calm down some. He looked on the page of her sketch book and was amazed by what she had drawn. It was a sparrow with wings spread in flight. It looked almost real. The feathers were perfectly shaded. He couldn’t help himself, he whispered, “That is really incredible.”

Her shy smile crossed her lips. She dropped her eyes down to the page and whispered back, “Thank you.” She pushed her sketch book toward him and asked, “Would you like to look at my drawings?”

“I’d be honored.” With careful fingers he took the sketchbook in his hands. It drove him crazy when someone manhandled his sketch book. The second drawing in the book was a sketch of a small gray kitten. Munch was blown away by the delicate lines and contour shading of the drawing. The kitten looked so real and it’s eyes glistened with life.

She told him, “That is my cat, Hoa. Hoa means blossom or flower in English.”

Munch nodded. Page after page he was amazed over and over again. She liked to draw small animals and flowers mostly. He liked to draw people and clothes. When he finished looking at it, he said to her, “These are amazing. I bet you could get an art scholarship.”

Pleased, she asked, “You really think so?”

“I do.”

“Do you want a scholarship too?”

“Yeah, I want to go to design school.”

With a tilt of her head she asked, “For architecture?”

“No clothing.”

Mrs. Stanton cleared her throat and looked straight at Munch. It was her warning sound. He gave her an apologetic nod. When he turned his attention back to Thahn Ho her eyes brightened up. She whispered, “Did you make that suit you had on at church yesterday.”

Munch felt his face grow very warm. Embarrassment washed over him. Afraid to speak, he nodded.

“Oh, it was beautiful. My Me admired your stitching?”

Confused, Munch whispered, “Your Me?”

A small giggle erupted in her throat. “Oh, sorry. Me is the word for Mother in Vietnamese.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, it gets confusing when I mix my Vietnamese with English.”

The bell rang. Thahn Ho stood. She cast a worried glance at the doors. Munch said, “If you want, I can walk you to class.”

“Thank you. I would like that.”

Once they were out in the hall, Munch really had to fight his impulse to strut. He wanted everyone to see who HE, MICHAEL DUTCHENDORPH, was walking to class. Somehow he managed to tamp down his enthusiasm. He didn’t want to come off as another dumb boy showing off. Before they reached Mrs. Beasley’s door, he hung back. Suddenly unsure of himself, he worried that it would not be a good thing for Thahn Ho or him if he walked her all the way to class.

From behind them someone called, “Hey you two.”

In unison they turned. It was Lolly and she had a big old grin on her face. Trevor was beside her. Lolly said, “Trevor this is Thahn Ho, Thahn Ho, this is my boyfriend Trevor.”

Trevor flashed a smile as only he could. He stuck out his hand and said, “Nice to meet you Thahn Ho.”

Munch could only wish he was that charming.

Thahn Ho blushed a little and took his hand. “Nice to meet you. Lolly has said many nice things about you.”

Trevor cut his eyes at Lolly. The look that passed between them usually made Munch feel a little left out and a little jealous, but not this morning. He watched Thanh Ho release Trevor’s hand.

Lolly gave Trevor’s arm a squeeze and then she linked her arm through Thahn Ho’s. She said, “You boys better hurry or you’re going to be late for math.”

With a quick peck on Lolly’s cheek, Trevor turned and headed down the hall.

As Lolly escorted Thahn Ho to class, Thahn Ho turned to Munch and mouthed, “Thank you.”

Munch mouthed back, “Any time.”

And she smiled at him.