Rose Sayah

And she told me I could just paint the black again and carve out the flowers and no one would ever know.

And she stayed late so I could do that.

And that's when I gave her

all the answers that she wanted.

My dad was in jail in a state far away.

My mom got up early for work in the morning and came home late at night.

And sometimes she left me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, but sometimes there wasn't any bread.

So I didn't go to lunch or recess on those days.

The next day when I got to school, my painting was up on the corkboard next to the coat room.

And this Egan saw me and pulled me aside to the front of the room.

And she turned her back so the other kids couldn't see me.

And that's when she handed me a brown paper lunch bag.

And inside, there was a big red apple and a fat sandwich that she had made just for me.

Thank you.