Mrs. Carter says we’re playing the quiet game now. 

She changed her mind while we were sitting in our squares for reading time. Now, we’re sitting in our cubbies with our knees tucked in tight! My backpack is squishing my legs, but I don’t move because she said the quiet game means no sounds at all. Not even zipper sounds.

But the loud noises outside made some kids gasp a little. So now she’s reading again. She says we have to be quiet to hear the story over all the construction noises.

There’s a girl in the story who finds a giant box of crayons that can draw anything into real life! When she draws a door, it opens to a bright field. When she draws wings, she can fly over trees and rivers.

I like that part. If I had those crayons, I’d draw a roller coaster in the playground!

Outside there is a loud noise, like someone dropping the biggest stack of books in the world.

Then another one.

Someone near me sniffles. Mrs. Carter stops reading for a second. I can see her shoes from my cubby. They’re the yellow ones with tiny flowers. One of her feet keeps tapping the floor.

“Loud construction today,” she whispers. “Let’s keep listening.” Her voice sounds like my mom’s when she reads a sad part of a book.

In the story, the girl draws a house with music inside. She draws a school where kids paint on the walls and plant gardens and run as fast as they want!

I hold onto my backpack strap and listen very carefully. My cubby smells like crayons and peanut butter from lunch. I try to think about the roller coaster I would draw.

Mrs. Carter turns the page.

“The girl keeps drawing,” she says softly. “Because the future is a big, open page.”

Her voice is very shaky now, but she keeps reading anyway.