Free John Fitzgerald GB 04 Great Bra by Great Brain At the Academy

go first,” he said.
     
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    He got down on his hands and knees and began crawl-ing between the legs of the eighth graders. Each one whacked him on the rump with a textbook. Jerry came next. And then one by one the rest of the seventh graders crawled through the torture tunnel. Fun was fun but Tom thought some of the eighth graders, especially Rory, could have taken it a little easier. Three of his classmates had tears in their eyes as they came out of the torture tunnel.
    If Tom thought that was the end of the initiation he was mistaken. Rory put a chair at one end of the dormitory and sat down on it.
    “We will now prove that all seventh graders are dummies,” he said. “Line up and come one at a time to sit on my lap.”
    All the seventh graders looked at Tom as if expecting him to go first. He walked over and sat on Rory’s lap, wondering what this was all about. He didn’t have to wonder for long. Rory grabbed hold of the back of his neck as if Tom was a ventriloquist’s dummy.
    “I’ve got a dummy on my lap who thinks he is a rooster,” Rory said- “Crow like a rooster, dummy.”
    “Cock-a-doodte-doo!” Tom pretended to crow like a rooster, as both eighth and seventh graders laughed.
    Jerry was next on Rory’s lap.
    “I’ve got a dummy who thinks he is a cat,” Rory said. “Show me you are a cat, dummy.”
    “Me-ow, me-ow,” Jerry said.
    One by one the other seventh graders had to sit on Rory’s lap. He made them bark like a dog, moo like a cow, whinny like a horse, caw like a crow, roar like a lion, croak like a frog, cry like a baby, and howl like a wolf.
    Then Rory stood up, “I guess that proves that all lit-
     
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    tie seventh graders are dummies,” he said. “Os habent, et non loquentur.”
    Sweyn laughed. “Oculos habent, et non videbunt,” he said.
    Billy Daniels nodded his head. “Ares habent, et non audient,” he said.
    “And,” Larry Williams said, “Nares habent, et non odorabunt.”
    Then all the eighth graders began to laugh like all get out,
    “And don’t forget, fellows,” Rory said, “when we want to say something we don’t want these little seventh graders to know about, all we have to do is to speak in Latin.”
    Tom didn’t like the idea of anybody saying anything he couldn’t understand. He walked over to Sweyn.
    “What did you fellows say in Latin?” he asked.
    “After proving all seventh graders are dummies,” Sweyn said, “Rory said they have mouths and speak not. I said they have eyes and see not. Billy said they have ears and hear not. And Larry said they have noses and smell not-But don’t ask me to translate any more Latin for you. Like Rory said, when we want to say something to each other we don’t want you seventh graders to understand, we will speak in Latin.”
    Tom admitted this was one time when even his great brain couldn’t help him. He knew he couldn’t learn Latin any faster than Father O’Malley taught it to him. Sweyn told him that was the end of the initiation but seventh graders would be forced to wash up twice and stand at attention in the mornings for the rest of the week.
    It was a good thing Tom had a great brain. There was
     
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    no time to do any homework before supper. And after supper he had to spend almost an hour in the chapel doing the penance Father O’Malley had given him. This left him Just one hour to do all his homework.
    During his third and fourth mornings of peeling spuds Tom was surprised that Father Rodriguez didn’t come to check on him. But he got an even bigger surprise on his fifth and last day. When he and the superintendent arrived in the kitchen at four o’clock that morning he found Father Petrie waiting for them.
    “This morning, Thomas,” Father Rodriguez said, “you are going to have an audience. Father Petrie and I are going to sit right here and watch you peel all those potatoes in less than an hour.”
    Tom knew he was cornered and only his great brain could save him. But