I had a feeling that the acorn kid would have been able to tell that I was lying, but the acorn kid wasn’t there of course because he avoided crowds. He was like how I used to be before I was so super-popular. He was flanged. Too bad for him. I smiled sadly in a generous way because he was an oppressed minority and lucky for me I wasn’t. Everything was going so well, it just kept getting better and better and I could see the kids almost be like, Sweet, can I come over? Almost, almost, they almost said it, but then I saw my nice teacher Ms. Carroll on the edge of the crowd, and she pushed her way in, and then she beckoned to me is what I would call it. She beckoned to me so she killed my dream of being carried on the shoulders of the other kids, like the conquering hero, Friend of Snake. Instead I was beckoned through the crowd of kids, and they watched me go like I was Tyldak gliding to Blue Mountain which was the principal’s office.

You don’t have to be afraid, honey, Ms. Carroll said. What really happened to your face? And the principal was like, Yes, honey, no messing around, what’s going on here, you can tell us. It was weird because no one had ever called me honey before and all this talk of honey made me want some honey so I was like, Can I have some honey? Oh, honey, said Ms. Carroll, and she gave me a Tootsie Pop. So I felt extremely powerful and I didn’t say anything. Are you worried about being in trouble because you won’t be in trouble, Ms. Carroll said. You can trust us. But I just chewed through the first Tootsie Pop and asked for another one, and then when I had another one I was ready to talk. It’s a snakebite, I said which was easy to say because it was true.

How did you get a snakebite? Ms. Carroll asked.

A snake bit me, I said.

Were you unsupervised? the principal asked. That one made me pause for a second because it sounded like a trick. I was supervised, I said because from the way they said it I could tell that you were supposed to be supervised. I said, It’s just that I was asleep and the snake was in my bed with me, and it was my fault because I rolled over on it. I think that’s what I said or pretty close. I have replayed it many times in my mind. I have replayed it like reading and rereading my comics to find out what made Ms. Carroll and the principal have those looks of disbelief and sorrow but also of what I would call satisfaction on their giant friendly faces.

9

LILY