The Junkyard Wonders (Read Aloud)

the junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco my heart's saying as I walk to school with all of the kids on my grandma's block on the first day of school my mother and father had decided that I could stay just for one year there with my father and grandma in Michigan in my old school in California the kids all knew that I had just learned to read that I used to be dumb everyone knew that I was always in special classes here no one would know no one would tease me and I already had a new friend

k but when I got to the front steps of the school all of the neighborhood kids ran off to their classes and when I saw Kay and waved to her she didn't wave back I just stood there not knowing where to go and when I showed two strange girls my class card they got funny looks on their faces ear and Mrs Peterson's class they said upstairs room 206. room 206 I found it in the classroom a gawky boy I'd never seen before yelled out hey the name's thumb not spelled Tom but t-h-o-n sit here next

to me he had huge dark rimmed glasses that magnified his eyes I sat down and looked around everyone seemed really different in one way or another I couldn't put my finger on it suddenly everyone snapped to Attention our teacher was standing in the doorway short and stout she seemed a little scary Brusque but her eyes her eyes were friendly I was sure of that she walked up to the podium at the front of the room and slammed an enormous dictionary on top of it then she adjusted her glasses and without saying hello or how are

you she started reading in this no-nonsense voice the definition of genius she began genius is neither learned nor acquired it is knowing without experience it is risking without fear of failure it is perception without touch it is understanding without research it is certainty without proof it is ability without practice it is invention without limitations it is Imagination without boundaries it is creativity without constraints it is extraordinary intelligence then she took a deep breath and slammed the book shut so hard it sounded like a gunshot welcome to the junkyard I am your teacher Mrs Peterson she

started walking around the room looking at each of us I want you all to write the definition on the Blackboard post it on your mirrors look at it every day memorize it the definition describes every one of you at recess that day I couldn't wait to ask Tom why is our class called the junkyard because we are didn't you notice all of us are different you know odd like stuff in a junkyard he turned toward the playground see that super tall kid over there that's Jody Beach he's got some disease that makes him grow too

fast he's My Bodyguard no one picks on me when he's around he smiled over there that kid that's Gibby McDonald he is Tourette's there's Stuart Bean he has diabetes me well I have trouble seeing they call me boy because even so I love ballet It's My Life I take ballet too at least I did in California I knew there was something about you I liked Tom said I felt I had found a soul mate in Tom and since he thought Jody was Nifty so did I but it only helped a little when I got home

that night I told dad and grandma about my day I tried to be brave and not let them know how sad I really was but just as dad was tucking me in at bedtime I finally burst into tears Oh Daddy I've been put in a special class again it's called the junkyard junkyard what junkyard my dad asked that's what everybody calls our class darling my dad said you are not a quitter stick it out for a month if the class doesn't get better I promise I'll send you back to California I didn't tell him that

when I tried to sit with Kay and her friends at lunch she said that junkyard kids couldn't sit at their table the next day Mrs Peterson arrived in class with a basket full of small glass bottles today she said we are going to determine your tribes she gave us each a vile tip some of the liquid on your wrist hmm smell some of you smell like lemons some cinnamon some almonds now can you smell someone who has the same scent as you they will be part of your tribe for the year I sniffed my own

wrist vanilla we all strolled around the classroom sniffing each other's wrists I sniffed a boy's wrist who was wearing a home sponge shirt and he sniffed mine vanilla we both said my name's Gilbert McDonald call me Gibby then the two of us fanned out I found a girl who smelled like vanilla looks like you were in my tribe I chirped she just smiled but didn't answer me Gibby came over with Tom vanilla he announced My Bodyguard Jody is too so Tom Gibby Jody and I were a tribe I asked the shy girl her name she

wrote it down on a piece of paper Revan saltz Tom told me later that she had spoken as long as he had known her from then on Whenever there was a project to be done Mrs Peterson had the tribes work together ravan never talked but she was a whiz at math Gibby had ticks and shouted for no reason sometimes but his father was a professor of engineering and Gibby loved to build things boy was he smart Jody loved reading everything particularly poetry he even wrote poems of his own Tom made us all laugh he was

so clever me of course I could draw so I became the official Journal keeper the borders were filled with my drawings it wasn't long before Tom Jody Gibby rivan and I were best friends we did almost everything together even after school we visited Jody who lived out on a farm east of town his mother decorated cakes and she was working on the tallest wedding cake I'd ever seen we all helped her one night Gibby's dad set up a telescope in his back field and invited the whole class over to look we could see Saturn with

our Naked Eyes but with the telescope we could see Saturn's rings we never did go to ravan's house she lived in a foster home and I don't think she was too happy there but her foster mother let her paint beautiful designs on silk from an Old World War II parachute which she brought to school to show us my dad arranged for the whole class to go to a neighbor's farm and have a hayride that took us way off into the fields our class was special all right the junkyard kids were pretty amazing to begin with

and Mrs Peterson showed us how to shine she even helped us make badges that said the junkyard wonders so you can be proud of who you are she said that day we got the badges this mean boy came running up to us weirdos retards now you even wear dumbbell pins a boy named Barton Poole grabbed the pin off my shirt I started to cry but then Tom and Gibby ran at Barton and his friends right one of his friends said now twinkle toes and the jerking fool are going to hurt us we are so scared

just about then Jody big wonderful Jody appeared from nowhere the mean boy sure backed off someday you aren't gonna have this freak to guard you Barn snarled as he stalked away that day Mrs Peterson could see that we were badly shaken Gibby finally spoke up Mrs Peterson he said we're all junkyard kids even though you try to make us feel better about it we're throwaways junk and everyone knows it oh my dear that's where you are wrong she said wistfully every one of you is my Wonder Don't You Realize what a junkyard really is a

place for things that nobody wants Jody answered oh it is a Place full of wondrous possibilities what some see is bent and broken throwaways are actually amazing things waiting to be made into something new something unexpected something surprising we all looked puzzled all right class Get your coats we are walking to the Melvin Beach junkyard right now and she exclaimed at the junkyard Mrs Peterson stopped us now forming to your tribes then collect everything that you think could be made into something new remember wonders here's your chance forget what the object was imagine what it

could be each of the tribes set off across the junkyard collecting Wheels doors handles latches we vanillas hadn't gotten just the right junk though until almost the end of our visit as Jody Revan Tom and I were climbing over our last pile of assorted junk Gibby called to us he was standing under a shed roof looking up they're hanging from the rough strut was an old record model airplane give that's just an old torn up plane Tom said turning to leave no Gibby said it's a beauty I see it we're going to rebuild it into

something bigger better something wonderful something that will defy gravity itself this plane is going to fly all the way to the Moon there was such Wonder in his eyes that we knew we had just what we needed for the next few weeks during the last hour of our class time we worked on our new inventions as we hammered and sawed and cut Mrs Peterson read to us Great Expectations David Copperfield and sometimes poetry but every day Mrs Peterson reminded us some people look at things the way they are and cry why but I want you

to look at things and see what they could be and ask why not Gibby was the boss of our plane project we removed all the outer skin built in New Boston struts and repaired a lot of the skeleton Revan replaced the old skin with pure silk finally we painted the rebuilt plane with low resistance lacquer but would it fly the day came when we were to present our stupendous projects the cinnamon tribe was first they unveiled a tangled sculpture of hollow tubes well Mrs Peterson asked the sentiments what is your invention a vibraphonium the Cinnamon's

called out it took three people to play it fabulous the almonds made a hanging wall maze full of levers fulcrums and counterweights when ball bearings were loaded into the top they clattered down bounced shivered and jumped as they ran through the maze stupendous when the lemons uncovered their device none of us could figure out what it was this is Perpetual movement Dallas Shaffer gave his invention a shove it leaned Way Forward ringing Bells pulling at Springs and twisting back and forth we must have watched that thing for 15 minutes it just did not stop when

it was the vanilla's turn Gibby pulled the covering off but that's just an old model airplane both Schiffer called out wrong Gibby shouted back this here airplane is going to defy gravity this baby is going all the way to the Moon everyone laughed Mrs Peterson spoke up if Gilbert says it is destined for the moon I for one believe him come on Gibby will that thing fly someone shouted oh it will fly all right we flew it like a kite off of putnam's Hill Jody trumpeted we had that was off a hill for it to

fly by itself though we need a propulsion unit he means a motor I added and we found the perfect one it will take the plane right into the sky the trouble is it's expensive that's when the tribe stepped in all of them Mrs Peterson asked the whole class if they'd help raise money for the motor everyone cheered it was unanimous they would for the next few weeks all of the moms made cakes and cookies and sold them at bake sales our dad sponsored car washes all of us junkyard kids used things we had gotten from

their beaches and made gadgets to sell by that spring we had made enough money to buy that perfect motor the next thing to do was set a date for launch we wanted everyone in school to see it that's when Gibby thought of the school science fair perfect Jody said he had started missing a lot of school not feeling well when he was there ravan was at his side sometimes she even helped him climb the stairs we could launch it from the school roof and it would fly right over the field where the fair is the

class cheered maybe Mrs Peterson said but wait This Magnificent Airship has to have a name everyone started calling out names like fabulous flyer and windy wings Jody stood up he sure looked pale I think she needs to be called the junkyard Wonder because we made it out of junk and because we junkyard wonders made it that plane is us it was just a week later when Mrs Peterson was late she was never late her eyes were red and she looked sad please sit down I have some very bad news there was silence we have lost

Jody Beach he passed away last night in his sleep she put her face in her hands and cried how I managed to sputter her van and I held hands Jody had a disease that made his body grow faster than it should it just kept growing and growing so fast that his dear heart couldn't keep up it just gave out Mrs Peterson answered later that day the whole class went to the woods behind the school to collect flowers and to remember Jody now I know what the plane has to be called a voice called out at

first we couldn't figure out who was talking thin to our shock we realized it was Revenge none of us knew she could talk he wanted it to be called the junkyard Wonder that's what it has to be tears rolled down her cheeks all of us agreed Gibby's dad mounted the motor on the machine and placed it on a table at the back of his Workshop when we saw it we all gathered around it was so beautiful we tried it out more than once from the hill and back of Gibby's house it it seemed to work

but what it worked from the roof of the school on Fair Day and would we even get a chance to try The Stairway to the roof was always locked maybe Mr weeks the janitor could help us get to the roof I think he will Mrs Peterson said but it will have to be a secret the day before the fair we could hardly contain ourselves would newspapers be there scientists from a nearby University we huddled together out on the playground chattering about our plans for the launch Cheez-It look who's listening Tom warned it was Barton pool

he'd heard everything he leaned into Gibby's face your Dad wears skirts then he sneered and no one's allowed on the school roof got it no one and I'm telling the principal about your stupid plans and sure enough when we got back to our school room the principal was waiting for us and Barton Poole was with him I've been informed of your plans for the science fair Mrs Peterson there will be no launching from the school roof and no fuel driven airplanes anywhere on the school grounds it could be very dangerous Mr weeks will keep your

plane in the janitorial closet until the end of the school year the principal turned on his heel and left the room Mr weeks looked very sad as he carried the Wonder out of the room sorry kids he said we were stunned her van started crying this was going to be for Jody she whispered Mrs Peterson said nothing for a time then she began we are going to launch the Wonder tomorrow just as we planned and from the roof Mrs Peterson told us to be at Mr week's closet tomorrow morning the morning of the fair our

secret weapon turned out to be Mr McDonald Gibby's dad if Mr McDonald stayed with us during the launch the principal was okay with it we couldn't believe the good news Mr weeks handed the Wonder to Gibby's Dad let's take her up he said to us on the roof we could see kids pouring onto the field to look at science exhibits that were being set up ravan pulled gorgeous silk streamers that she had hand painted out of a bag and let them stay rolled up at the edge of the roof then with Tom's help Gibby and

his dad put the Wonder in place they carefully connected the engine to a car battery then prime the pump to deliver the fuel from the tin sitting to to it into the engine then they pump the fuel into the plane we all stood back and watched maybe it'll go all the way to Lansing I speculated maybe even to Detroit Tom said maybe around the whole world or van whispered no can't be said with the grin this baby is going all the way to the Moon when the whole school assembled on the field Mrs Peterson signaled

Gibby's dad to begin the countdown to start the engine Mr McDonald knelt in front of it while Gibby held the plane still spinning the propeller over and over again but the engine didn't catch on we held our breaths pump the intake again Mr McDonald said to Gabby he asked some of the boys to hold on to the Wonder and you have to let it go just at the right moment or it will Bank left or right understand he spun the propeller a few more times and then with a loud bang and a roar the propeller

started spinning blue smoke puffed out someone in the field yelled and everybody looked up at the roof that was when Revan unfurled her banners down the side of the building almost a speed Gibby's dad hollered 10. nine eight when he got to one Mr McDonald Hollard Let Her Go the junkyard wander shot out of everybody's hands it was airborne first it went out over the field then as suddenly as it started it sputtered and seemed to stall then the engine roared to life again with a noise that was deafening the Wonders nose pointed straight up

up and up straight toward the Sun we all ran to the wall of the roof and watched breathlessly as it streaked through the cloud cover then appeared above ever Skyward straight to the stratosphere we all watched until it became a speck in the sky then we couldn't see it anymore even though the science department from the local University was there along with the school board and the newspapers for all of us it was only Mrs Peterson that mattered and Jody tears glistened in Mrs Peterson's eyes as she watched the Wonder climb into the heavens like

I said Gibby whispered that baby is going straight to the Moon