Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper Page B

them, sliding close to her father.
    Mr. Pineville was clearly perplexed. “I’m extremely busy today,” he said.
    â€œWe understand. We’ll wait,” Mr. Spencer said. “Don’t mind us.”
    â€œYou’re gonna be real sorry you did this,” Mr. Pineville warned.
    â€œSorrow is part of life,” Pastor Patton replied. Then he started to sing, ever so softly.
    â€œNobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
    Nobody knows my sorrow
    Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
    Glory hallelujah!”
    Her father and Mr. Spencer soon joined in—low, quiet, respectful. Gradually Stella added her own voice—higher, sweeter.
    â€œSometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down
    Oh, yes, Lord
    Sometimes I’m almost to the ground
    Oh, yes, Lord
    Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
    Nobody knows my sorrow
    Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
    Glory hallelujah!”
    When the song ended, they hummed the tune quietly, over and over and over.
    Finally Mr. Pineville threw up his arms. “All right! I’ll grade ’em. Just quit that awful singing!”
    As they fell silent, Stella heard rain plinking steadily on the tin roof of the building.
    She also observed that it seemed to take Mr. Pineville a long, long time to read each question and response. He squinted, put on a pair of glasses, then took them off again. He looked at each test paper over and over, moving his lips as he read. And it dawned on Stella that he couldn’t read very well!
    She took turns watching the clock and watching Mr. Pineville. Forty-seven minutes passed—thirty-five more than it had taken to take the test!
    He finally looked up. “Y’all passed. All of you. Now get out of here!”
    Stella helped her father up from the floor. The three men exchanged glances—the looks were brief, but loaded. “Thank you, sir,” Pastor Patton said.
    As they reached the door, Mr. Pineville called out, his voice low and ominous, “You know that song you was singin’ about trouble? Be on the lookout for it, ’cause it’s comin’.”

23
A True Story
    Scattered rain followed them all the way home, but even though she was damp and her backside was a little sore from sitting on the wagon seat, Stella was in a good mood. At supper she chattered on to Jojo and Mama all about the trip. Papa remained quiet and thoughtful.
    After helping her mother clear the kitchen, Stella hurried to find her notebook. For the very first time, she wanted to write something, and it wasn’t an assignment. It wasn’t required. She just wanted to remember what Papa had told her.
    THE MAN WHO WANTED TO BE A SOLDIER
    A TRUE STORY
    Today I rode into town with Papa, and he told me a story I never heard before. When Papa got old enough, he wanted to decided to join the army. It was 1914. There was a war. Young Jonah wanted to serve his country and go fight the emeny enemy, whoever that was.
    The local folks made a big deal about wanting boys from around here to sign up. Somebody said newspaper reporters with cameras would be at the sign-up recruiting office to snap a picture of the first boy young man from our area to sign up to be a soldier enlist.
    So my daddy, who had just turned 18 eightteen eighteen years old, got up early before daylight and walked all the way to Spindale to town. He was the very first in line. Lots of Twenty-two young men showed up that day, but Papa got there first.
    When the reporters saw that a colored boy stood first in line, they pushed him outof the way and said he was in the wrong line. and told him to go home.
    The newspaper people snapped their bright camera bulbs and took lots of dozens of pictures of Jimmy Winkleman, a white boy, instead. He had stood second in line behind Papa.
    They wood would not let Papa be in the army. So he walked back home, so very sad. It’s strange to imagen imagine my father being so young, and hard to think about him being so