Free Fallout by Todd Strasser Page B

appears that most of you figured out you could do it.”
    â€œBut then we had to figure out if we could keep doing it.” Ronnie grinned.
    â€œWas it worth missing recess?”
    No one answered.
    â€œScott?”
    I answered honestly. “Well, uh, just this once, yeah.”
    A couple of guys chuckled. Even Mr. Kasman smirked as if, deep down inside, he understood. Maybe it was good that we had a man teacher, because I had a feeling a woman teacher would never understand. “Okay, but this is the last time, right?”
    â€œDoes that mean we can go outside?” asked Ronnie.
    â€œNo, it means you’ll stay here today, and if it ever happens again, you’ll get a week of lunch detentions.”
    â€œSo we just have to sit here?” asked Freak O’ Nature. We’d never had lunch detention before.
    â€œWe can talk,” said Mr. Kasman. That was strange. Most teachers didn’t want to talk to us. They just wanted us to do our work and be quiet. Maybe Mr. Kasman was too new to know that yet.
    Ronnie whispered something to Puddin’ Belly, who raised his hand. “Are you a beatnik, Mr. Kasman?”
    â€œWhat’s a beatnik?” Mr. Kasman asked.
    â€œThey live in Greenwich Village and listen to jazz,” said Eric Flom.
    Dickie Keller raised his hand. “They play bongos and read poetry.”
    â€œAnd snap their fingers and say ‘Cool, man, cool,’” said Freak O’ Nature.
    â€œHow many of your parents listen to jazz?” Mr. Kasman asked.
    A few hands went up around the room.
    â€œAre they beatniks?” our teacher asked.
    The kids who’d raised their hands shook their heads.
    â€œWho knows what the word
stereotype
means?”
    Silence. If Paula had been there, she probably would have known, but it was only us guys.
    Mr. Kasman opened the dictionary. “To stereotype means ‘to characterize someone, usually in a negative or unfair way. To make a generalization about them.’ So saying that all beatniks listen to jazz and read poetry would be a generalization, but not necessarily in a negative way. But saying that all Russians are evil would be stereotyping them in a pejorative way.” Gazing out at a small sea of blank faces he added, “
Pejorative
means negative or unfair.”
    â€œBut the Russians
are
evil,” said Ronnie.
    â€œDirty Commies,” Freak O’ Nature said in a low tough-guy voice.
    â€œWhy are they dirty?” Mr. Kasman asked.
    â€œThey don’t believe in God,” said Eric Flom. “And the Russian people are starving because the Communists spend all their money on missiles and bombs.”
    â€œThey take away your freedom,” said Dickie Keller. “You can’t vote and there’s no freedom of speech and you’ll get sent to Siberia if you say something the leaders don’t like.”
    â€œWhy?” asked our teacher.
    Everyone went quiet.
    â€œWell, come on,” Mr. Kasman said. “Why would they do all those things?”
    Dickie raised his arm halfway. “Because . . . they’re evil?”
    â€œWhat if they just have different beliefs?” our teacher asked. “Communism is based on the ideas of a philosopher named Karl Marx, who believed that if all people were equal and were treated equally, they would live in a state of Utopia.”
    Mr. Kasman must have sensed our confusion because he said, “It’s not a state like Rhode Island. It’s a state of mind. Marx believed that if no one has more than anyone else and no one is better than anyone else, then everyone will be equally happy.”
    I raised my hand. “You mean, if no one has anything, then they don’t have more than anyone else?”
    â€œIn a way.”
    â€œWhat’s so great about that?” asked Ronnie.
    â€œMarx thought it was great. I’m not sure I do.”
    I raised my hand again. “If everyone’s equal, who