I’m teamed up with Don for the research project.
We meet at the library during lunch,
where he unearths a quote in a dusty book by
British historian, James Anthony Froude,
“Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is
the only one to whom the torture and death
of his fellow creature is amusing in itself.”
The following day we wear black to school,
as planned. I have a fake bullet hole in my neck,
food-coloring blood spilling.
Ms. Hawes asks each pair to read in front
of the class. Ziggy and her partner chose one
by John le Carre,
“You should have died when I killed you.”
Everyone laughs.
Me and Don are next. I found this one
myself,
“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet
and fitting to die for one’s country. But in
a modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting
in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good
reason.”
Ms. Hawes likes it because Hemingway served
in World War I, so he knows what he’s talking
about.
I like it because the room is suddenly quiet
as a drawn-in breath.