A Growing Season

"Just calm down. Take a deep breath," Emma thought. This is no time to panic."Read it again," she told herself.She scanned the note a second time, this time carefully studying each word. Halfway through she began to feel sick to her stomach. Emma had come a long way in conquering her timidness, but the thought of somebody threatening to hurt her was terrifying. She had seen other kids picked on in school. It was upsetting even to watch people being teased. They looked so helpless and embarrassed.When a fourth-grader was beaten up last year on the playground, Emma had pleaded with her mom to let her stay home the next day. Her mom had assured her that most kids were kind and wouldn't hurt other children. "Yeah, most kids," she thought now." What about the rest? Most doesn't mean all."Excerpt from "A Growing Season