No matter how much fun he was having, every night at 7:30, when the clock on the living room wall went ding-dong, Julian had to go to bed.
One summer evening, just before bedtime, Julian asked his mom if he could stay up late to watch a special TV show. "No, Julian," she said. "You need your rest more than you need that show. When the big hand gets to the six, it's off to bed with you." She left the living room to tuck in his little sister, AnnaRose.
Julian watched the clock's pendulum swing back and forth until the big hand slid past the five. Then he went to the window. Outside, his father was piling stones in the yard. And from his sister's bedroom he heard his mother begin a lullaby. Julian suddenly had a wonderful idea. He pushed a chair beneath the clock, then climbed up and opened the clock's face. He took a deep breath . . . and stopped the pendulum. A strange hush fell over the house.
He tiptoed down the hall to his sister's room. There in the shadows was his mom, leaning over AnnaRose's crib. Her mouth was open as if she were singing, and AnnaRose was smiling up at her. Everything looked perfectly normal, except his mom and his sister were both as still and quiet as statues. Julian backed out of the room, amazed at what he had done, and ran outside.
He found his dad with arms outstretched by the rock pile, his eyes fixed on a big rock he had just thrown. Julian called to him but got no reply. Looking at his dad made Julian feel guilty. He had not intended to have everything stop, only the clock. Maybe he should start the clock again, even though he would have to go to bed.
But on the way back to the house he thought of not having to go to bed. The more he thought about it the better he liked the idea. If he didn't start the clock he never had to go to bed again. So . . . instead of going inside he walked slowly around the house, fascinated by the eerie stillness.
Down by the creek that edged their land, he encountered a magnificent buck deer. It was twice his height, with a huge rack of antlers. Julian had to use a stepladder from the shed to reach its back. Up there he felt like the king of all he saw, and he wished he could make the deer move from the creek and race over the countryside. He looked at his house and his father by the stone pile. He could still go anywhere and do anything he wanted. He decided to take his bike up the driveway to the main road, where he was strictly forbidden to go.
Before leaving, he stopped at the house, gave his mom a secret kiss good-bye, and took some cookies for the trip. He pedaled fearlessly out onto the main road and didn't stop until he was almost a mile away, at the first intersection. He had never been this far on his own before. Julian stopped at the library. It was still
LessonTOC
PrintResources
this week's Leveled Readers. See pp. 354f–354g for the small group lesson plan.
