Darnell Rock Reporting (3 page)

The Corner Crew had been started the year before when Mr. Thrush, the gym teacher, had caught some kids, including Darnell, hanging out on the corner after the late bell had rung. They were all put on detention, but the next week, when the same kids were on the same corner, they were sent to Mr. Baker's office. Mr. Baker really got on their case.

“You young people have to learn to participate in school activities,” he had said. “You won't get anywhere in life hanging out on the corner.”

But it was Miss Seldes, the school librarian, who had first called them Oakdale's official Corner Crew.
When she found out that the kids were friends, she had asked Mr. Baker for permission to have them meet in the library.

For Darnell, the idea of an official Corner Crew and having meetings was strange. They weren't having meetings on the corner, they just happened to hang out there sometimes. They tried to explain that to Miss Seldes, but she didn't seem to catch on. Or maybe she did. She arranged with Mr. Baker that they would be allowed to meet in the library anytime after school and told them they could do anything they wanted as long as they didn't hurt school property. She had even had T-shirts made up for them that read “SOCC,” for South Oakdale Corner Crew.

The thing about the Corner Crew was that mostly they weren't into anything special. Darnell thought they were just ordinary, but Mr. Baker said that they were the kind of kids who fell through cracks. Darnell hadn't liked the remark, but Mr. Baker didn't seem to notice. It wasn't that he was trying not to participate in anything, he thought; it just turned out that way. Chris McKoy, on the other hand, just didn't like anything; that was the way he was. Darnell didn't even think he liked himself. The other members of the Corner Crew were Tamika; Sonia Burrows, who was cool but stayed out of school a lot; Darnell's best friend, Larry; and Benny Quiros. Benny was dark Spanish and had shaved his head on one side. He wore an earring for a while, but then Mr. Baker made a rule against it.

Another thing about the Corner Crew was that
most of them, including Darnell, weren't doing that well in school. Miss Seldes said the fact that they didn't participate in much around the school was one of the reasons they didn't get good grades. Miss Seldes wore small granny glasses, long skirts, and an array of ribbons in her dark hair that changed the way she looked, depending on what ribbons she had found that morning. She seemed always to have something on her mind that she couldn't put aside. She asked Darnell to stay with the Corner Crew for a while.

“I don't want to join nothing stupid!” Tamika had said on the way home.

“You could get some better marks,” Darnell answered.

“A Corner Crew sounds like you're supposed to be picking up garbage or something,” Tamika had said. “Why do you want to be on it?”

“She said she can get us out of detention,” Darnell said. “That's something.”

“I'd stay in it permanently,” Tamika had answered, “if she got me a lavender blolise.”

“That is so stupid,” Darnell said.

“Ain't it?”

“So why do I have to do it?” Darnell asked, looking at Kitty. It was the day after the first meeting of the
Gazette
staff, and Darnell had met some of the other staff members in the hallway.

“Because I assigned you to do it,” Kitty said. “If the editor in chief assigns you to a story, you have to do it.”

“Hey, as much time as you spend in the principal's office it should be easy for you to interview Mr. Baker,” Mark said.

“Yo, Mark, shut up!” Darnell gave Mark a look that let him know he meant business.

“And you're not doing it alone,” Linda said. “You and I are going to interview him.”

“Yeah, well, you better ask all the questions,” Darnell said.

Interviewing Mr. Baker was not what Darnell thought being on the newspaper was going to be about. And having to do the interview with Linda Gold was no big deal. Linda was the kind of girl who seemed to do everything right. Darnell could easily imagine her getting out of bed early in the morning
and answering math questions as she brushed her teeth.

His next class was English, and he had to listen to Mrs. Finley talk about a story about an old man who went fishing. Chris McKoy was in the class, being stupid as usual.

“So how come”—Chris was looking around the class to see who was looking at him—”he wrote a story about this guy when he didn't do anything?”

“He caught the fish,” Lee Chiang said from the back of the class, “but then the other fish got it.”

“So he should have written about the other fish,” Chris said.

“It's his story,” Lee said. “He can write about what he wants to.”

“But Chris wants to know why he chose to write about the old man losing the fish,” Mrs. Finley said. “Why do you think the author wrote this story?”

Mrs. Finley's question sounded like something she would have on a test, and Darnell thought about writing it down.

“Maybe the old man was a chump,” Chris said. “And he wanted to show up a chump.”

“Do you really believe that, Chris?” Mrs. Finley asked.

“Yeah,” Chris answered as the bell rang.

Mrs. Finley told the class to read the next fifteen pages in the book. Darnell noticed that Chris was the first one out the door.

There were two kinds of classes at Oakdale: Plateau and Ladder. The Plateau classes were for kids who were on the right reading level. The Ladder
classes were for kids reaching toward their reading level. Darnell was in a Ladder class, but he was pretty sure that he was going to be in a Plateau class the next year. Mrs. Finley had told him that he was already close.

There were two lunch periods, and usually Darnell ate in the first one, but Mr. Derby had arranged for the interview with Mr. Baker now. He went to the principal's office and stood outside.

Tamika was going by and stopped. “What did you do?” she asked.

‘ ‘Nothing/’ Darnell said.

“Again?” Tamika shook her head and started down the hall.

A moment later Linda Gold showed up with a notebook and a pencil in her hand. Darnell wished he had thought to bring along a notebook.

“Fll introduce us,” Linda said, “then you ask him how long he's been principal, and Fll ask him the rest of the questions. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Darnell felt unsure of himself as they walked into the outer office.

There was a long counter just inside the office. Behind the counter there were two desks. Miss Green sat behind one of them, and Mr. Thrush used the other one when he wasn't doing his gym stuff.

“Hello, Linda.” Miss Green smiled at Linda. “Sit on the bench, Darnell—and keep quiet.”

“Hey, I'm not on suspension,” Darnell said with a scowl.

“We're here from the school newspaper to interview Mr. Baker,” Linda said.

“Oh.” Miss Green looked at Darnell and shrugged.

She dialed Mr. Baker and then told Linda and Darnell to go into his office.

Mr. Baker's office was large. His desk was big enough, but he also had a couch on one side with a small table in front of it. When parents came in he sat on the couch with them.

“We're from the
Gazette
staff,” Linda started. “I'm Linda Gold, and I guess you know Darnell Rock.”

“We've met,” Mr. Baker said, leaning back in his chair.

Linda nudged Darnell with her foot.

“How long have you been a principal?” Darnell asked.

“This is my seventh year,” Mr. Baker said.

Darnell watched as Linda wrote down Mr. Baker's answer.

“What do you like about being a principal?” Linda asked.

“Well, I like the opportunity to help young people achieve their educational goals,” Mr. Baker said. “There's nothing better than the introduction of the young to the pleasures of education. And when I say ‘pleasures’ I mean exactly that. A Greek philosopher once said that education is the purpose of the wise man, not just its use. When I was a young man, not much older …”

Mr. Baker's voice droned on and on and Darnell saw Linda writing furiously. Now he was glad he had forgotten to bring a notebook.

There was a fly in the office, and Darnell tried to keep track of it without Mr. Baker or Linda knowing
what he was doing. The fly buzzed along the top of the window and then went to the flag behind Mr. Baker's desk.

“What goals do you have for the school?” Linda asked.

“Basically, my goals are for the individual students,” Mr. Baker said. “I want each child who goes to South Oakdale Middle School to be excited about learning. School should be something they see as a pleasure, and also as a challenge.…”

The fly was on the wall, then made a lazy circle around Linda's head and then landed on Mr. Baker's arm. Darnell covered his mouth to hide his smile, but Mr. Baker saw it and gave him a stern look.

“Is there anything that you would like to say to the student body in the
Gazette?”
Linda asked.

“Only this”—Mr. Baker had the palms of his hands together and was looking up toward the ceiling—”that we are going through a partnership, a process, a celebration of exploration …”

The answer seemed as long as the others, and Darnell looked for the fly. He saw it on the corner of the desk. The fly wasn't moving, and Darnell thought that maybe it had been bored to death.

“Well, thank you for the interview.” Linda was standing, and Darnell jumped to his feet.

“I'm always pleased to participate,” Mr. Baker said. “And I'm glad to see Darnell in my office for a reason other than his behavior.”

Outside in the hall, Linda said she was going to write up the interview.

“You wrote the whole thing down?” he asked.

“Not every word,” Linda said. “That's not what reporters do. You just write down the high points.”

“Like when we said good-bye?”

“Darnell, grow up!” Linda sucked her teeth as she went out the door.

“Hey, he didn't say nothing you didn't know he was going to say,” Darnell said.

“That's not the point,” Linda said. “He said it to the staff of the
Gazette,
and that makes it official. Now I have to go write the story up.”

Official or not, Darnell knew he didn't think much of the interview.

Darnell followed Linda to the room the
Gazette
was using for its office. She plopped down in front of the computer and switched it on.

“What do you think I should use as a title?” she asked.

“How's about ‘Boring, Boring, BoringT, Darnell sat at the teacher's desk and opened the side drawer. He tucked one foot in the drawer and the other on top of the desk.

“I'm probably going to have to do this all alone, so you might as well leave.” Linda began to type up the interview.

“You might be right,” Darnell said. He got up and looked over Linda's shoulder as she wrote.

“Darnell, I don't need your pizza-and-root-beer breath on my neck,” Linda complained.

The door of the classroom opened, and Mr. Derby came in. “How did the interview go?”

“Darnell thinks our interview with Mr. Baker was boring, but he didn't ask any good questions and he's certainly not helping now,” Linda said.

“Darnell …” Mr. Derby looked at Darnell and then away. “Linda, do the best you can,” he said.

“I'll have it finished by tomorrow morning,” Linda answered.

When Mr. Derby left, Darnell sat back down at the desk. He watched as Linda typed, taking her eyes from the keyboard to the monitor. He had a familiar feeling, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but it was there nevertheless. Maybe, he thought, the newspaper wasn't for him after all. It was easy for someone to say that he should participate in school activities, but it wasn't easy to do. He looked at the window. It had begun to rain lightly, and small droplets of water made barely visible streaks on the dusty windowpanes.

“Later!” Darnell swung his feet to the ground and headed for the door.

On the corner, Chris was standing with Sonia. Darnell saw that Sonia had her books.

“You going home early?” he asked as he got near them.

“She hasn't been to school yet,” Chris said.

“My mother had to go to court this morning,” Sonia said. “So I had to baby-sit my brother. What are you doing out here? I thought you had turned over a new leaf.”