Katharine the Almost Great: The Artsy-Fartsy Auction
She pointed to Vanessa’s painting Let’s say Matthew wanted to buy this for one dollar He’d write his number and 1 00 on the card Someone may come along and write 2 00 on the next line with his number If anyone else wanted it the bid would need to be more than two dollars At the end of the week the highest bidder wins Here’s a sample from a fi rst grader She held up a collage with pieces of tissue paper mashed together it pretty Isn’t I wasn’t impressed Not one itty-bitty bit And I wasn’t the only one Who’d pay for that asked Miss Priss-A-Poo Even Ka She smooshed her lips together Then 9
she fi nished by saying Even I could make it Mrs Dee read the name on the back Someone who wants to own a Dylan Thomas original will pay for it Dylan was my reading buddy I shouted Maybe I’ll bid on it I hope you do Katharine said Mrs Dee All money will be donated to charity She wiped her painty hands on her painty pants This month fi ve students from each class will donate something to the auction Vanessa sat up extra tall I’ll donate my painting Then she frowned I’ll have to fi x my kiwi fi rst Mrs Dee patted Vanessa on the shoulder I’ve already picked fi ve names out of a hat As she rattled off the names I crossed my fi ngers Diego Drew 10
Two down Three to go Since my fi ngers weren’t bringing me luck I crossed my legs too Tamara Rebecca and I sucked in my breath and crossed my arms and eyes Katharine I won I won I shouted Mrs Dee laughed Everyone’s a winner All students will have a turn to donate to the auction this year Vanessa huff-a-puffed I didn’t want to be in this artsy-fartsy auction anyway Ha She couldn’t fool me I added more grapes to my bowl Now I had green grapes red grapes and purplicious grapes But Vanessa had grapes I didn’t have sour grapes 11
