“And you’re going to tell jokes, right?”
He nodded.
“I hope you don’t need any props.”
“Got everything right here,” he said, kicking his paper bag.
“No special lighting or anything?”
“Nope.”
Miss Langley shook her head, then smiled. “Why is it always you?”
He shrugged.
The auditorium filled with people, kids and adults. Every chair was occupied, and people were standing along the back and side walls. Gary and the other contestants waited on benches just off stage.
Miss Langley welcomed everyone to the talent show. “Before I introduce Mrs. Ward, I have an announcement. One of our very talented students has inadvertently been left off the program. The final contestant will be Gary W. Boone.”
From the left side of the room, about halfway back, Melissa, Abel, and Gus cheered and whistled loudly.
23.
Everyone spoke together. “I pledge allegiance to the …”
“Hey, Goon!” Joe whispered sharply. “Take off your hat!”
Gary pretended not to hear him.
“… of America and to the republic …”
“Take off your hat, Goon!” whispered Matt.
“No!” he whispered back, one hand on his heart, the other on his hat.
“… one nation, under …”
“Show some respect, Goon!” whispered Joe.
“He doesn’t have to,” said Fred Furst.
“… with liberty and …”
Julie Rose turned around. “Don’t you love America?”
“Sure, I love America,” said Gary. “I just don’t want to take off my hat.”
“There’s no law saying you have to take off your hat for the Pledge of Allegiance,” said Fred Furst. “In fact, you don’t have to say the Pledge if you don’t want to. What’s the matter? Don’t you believe in freedom of speech?”
The hat stayed on.
The title of Mrs. Ward’s opening address was “Inspiration and the Arts.”
“Perspiration and the Farts,” whispered Matt Hughes.
Brenda Thompson laughed. “Sounds like the name of a punk rock band,” she said.
Gary was too nervous to pay attention to the principal’s speech. From what he heard, it had something to do with how she wanted to be a ballerina when she was thirteen years old but was too fat.