Page 10 - Brave Bird at Wounded Knee - I Am America

alone after. Her mom used to work just one shift a week,

but now she worked full-time. Three days a week, Patsy
looked after herself in the afternoons until Dad got home

from the garage. Her mom didn’t get home until after

dinner. Patsy was proud that her parents trusted her. And

she knew they were saving the extra money to buy a house,
hopefully before the new baby came. Still, sometimes she

missed her mom.

Arriving at school, Patsy parked her bike and headed

to class. The first subject of the day was social studies. She
thumped her textbook down on her desk. She didn’t like

social studies, and “current events day” was the worst.

Once a week, Miss Ashman assigned a student to bring

a newspaper article to discuss. Patsy’s classmates usually
brought whatever was on the front page. That usually

meant something about the Vietnam War or the Watergate

scandal. Patsy hoped she would never hear another word

about either.
Maybe if their discussions accomplished something

Patsy would feel different. But her class just went round

and round, repeating the same things and getting nowhere.

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