Читать книгу Balaclava Boy (school edition) - Jenny Robson - Страница 5

Pre-reading

1.	We all have a right to our privacy. This means that others should respect our personal space and be polite. Is it polite to ask someone personal questions in order to satisfy your curio­s­ity? Is there a better way to make a stranger feel at home?

During reading

2.	Notice how the children feel when they play a game of soccer and the way in which this sport helps them to feel happy and relaxed.

2. Break-time

We walked around the playground with the new boy, one on each side. After all, Mr Rasool said we must be kind.

“My name’s Dumisani,” said Dumisani. “And this guy’s Doogal. Or you can call us the Doo Dudes. That’s our aka.”

Tommy nodded his balaclava.

Then we started asking him question after question. Did you live in a city before? What school did you go to? Is your dad at the Coal Mine or the Power Station? Most of our dads work at the Coal Mine or the Power Station. Some of our moms too. Way off over the roof tops of our small mining town, you can see the huge cooling towers puffing steam into the air. Sometimes you can hear the steam engines carrying coal from the Mine.

Do you have brothers and sisters? Do you have a PlayStation?

I wanted to laugh. We sounded just like a stupid boring Comprehension ourselves! The only question we didn’t ask was: why are you wearing that thing on your head?

Tommy answered all the questions through his red-and-orange stripes. It was quite hard to hear what he was saying. At last he sat down and opened his lunch-box. Dumisani and I sat down too, one on each side of him. We held our breath.

But we held our breath for nothing! Tommy didn’t take off his balaclava. He just pulled the stripes away from his neck and his mouth and slid his tomato sandwich up underneath. It was very disappointing.

Our friend Obakeng was yelling at us now. “Hey, Doo Dudes. Let’s have ourselves some soccer! Bring that new guy along.”

Tommy was a bit nervous at first. “Me too? Are you sure? I only ever played a few times before. So I’m not sure…”

But Dumisani promised he’d help and explain anything Tommy didn’t understand. And then we ran down to the field. X-man and Riyaad and Johan Eksteen Clayton and Moketsi from our class were there already. Plus some guys from Grade Seven JH.

Tommy turned out to be one mean player. Very mean! Especially for someone with most of his head covered.

When the bell rang, Obakeng aka Ostrich Legz yelled, “Hey, Balaclava Boy! Tomorrow you’re on my side. Okay, bru?”

“You shouldn’t be so nosey!” Cherise was bossing us around from the girls’ line. “It’s Tommy’s private business. If Mr Rasool says he’s allowed to wear it, then it’s got nothing to do with you two.”

We were lined up on the netball court with the rest of the school. Obakeng yanked Tommy into the front of the boys’ line with him. But Dumisani and I got stuck halfway down, close to Cherise. She was giving us a lecture as usual.

“You wait!” Dumisani told her. “Straight after school, soon as we’re out the gates, we’re going to ask him. Straight out. When there’s no one else around. Then first thing tomorrow we’ll tell you why!”

“Yeah,” I added. “Because you’re dying to know, Cherise. Come on, don’t pretend. You and everyone else.”

And it was the truth! All the Grade Sevens were staring at our new boy. Plus the Grade Five twits. Even the Grade Eight bullies were having a good look.

Miss Venter waited to lead us back to class for stupid boring Geography. Well, it was stupid and boring at the moment. Who cares where maize is grown? Who cares how apples are exported?

“First thing tomorrow, Cherise,” Dumisani was promising. “You just wait…”

But Miss Venter was on our case again. “Dumisani! Doogal! Cherise! Dear! Dear! Dear!”

*

Yes, there is a Grade Eight at our school even though it is called Colliery Primary. But only a few pupils stay on for Grade Eight. Most of us leave at the end of Grade Seven for boarding school. There is no high school here in the mining town. And no high school anywhere close by. Outside of the mine and the Power Station, there are mostly farms and rural villages.

That’s why I suddenly get these feelings of sadness. Because I remember: only six more months and then I will have to go to a boarding school in White River.

But even worse: Dumisani is not going there with me! No, he will go to his grandmother in Port Shepstone and attend high school there.

Just six months to go! And then I will lose my best friend in the world and be alone and in some strange place.

Post-reading

1.	Mr Rasool tells the children to be kind to the newcomer. Why do you think Doogal and Dumisani walk around the playground with Tommy at break-time?
2.	What do the Doo Dudes find disappointing about the way Tommy eats his lunch?
3.	How do you think Obakeng got his nickname?
4.	Why does Obakeng want Balaclava Boy to be on his side the next day?
5.	The boys call Comprehension “stupid and boring”. Later they say the same thing about Geography and Maths. Do you think that they really mean this? Explain.
6.	Doogal will be going to boarding school in a different town. Where will Dumisani be going?
7.	How does this make Doogal feel?