Free A Star is Born by Walter Dean Myers Page A

him stealing wallets from the men’s department and they caught him outside of the store. The thing that bothers me is that Tyree is a good person. Sometimes a good person does bad things. I know this.
    What bothers me even more was that everyone at school knew what had happened on the same day that Tyree was arrested and nobody did anything about it. I don’t know what Mrs. Maxwell did or what Mr. Culpepper did, but I know the students did not do anything.
    I ask you this question. Did Tyree stop being Tyree? Do we stop loving people because they have made a mistake?
    I did not expect a story to appear in the pages of The Palette . The editor of that paper is very smart but does not feel much. I did expect a story to be in The Cruiser .
    I don’t know what I will do, but I will reach out to Tyree, because he is someone I care about, as I care about all the world.

    THE PALETTE
    Â 
    A Reply to Demetrius Brown
By Ashley Schmidt
    I have read the letter that Demetrius Brown published in The Cruiser , and while I sympathize with Tyree, he was caught stealing and stealing is wrong ! I am sorry that he stole, but I can’t bring my heart to feel for him. It is not that I am unfeeling, Demetrius, it is because I know the difference between right and wrong!

    THE CRUISER, SPECIAL EDITION
    A REPLY TO ASHLEY SCHMIDT
    By Zander Scott
    Hey, Ashley, lighten up! If you look at people only by what they have done in the last few hours or few days then you are looking at a very small part of each person. That might fit The Palette ’s idea of what a human being amounts to, but it doesn’t fit mine. As Demetrius says, sometimes even good people can do bad things at times. When someone does do something bad or against the law we want to walk away like we are perfect. The Cruisers will look into the matter and I’m sure Mrs. Maxwell, Mr. Culpepper, and Tyree’s teachers will as well.
    I’m glad that you know the difference between right and wrong. I guess having faith in your fellow human beings is not part of your “right” thinking.

S o this recipe is like a road map to get to a supper for twelve people,” Kambui said. “So me and LaShonda are in the backseat reading the directions and everybody else is following our directions, right?”
    â€œRight!” Mom said.
    Me, Mom, and Bobbi were going to do the actual cooking, which I liked, because if it came out good I wanted to get credit for it.
    â€œCut the ventrèche into one-half-inch squares,” Kambui said.
    The ventrèche looked like rolled-up bacon, and I started cutting it up. We had soaked the white beans overnight like the recipe said and boiled them until they were almost done, and they were in a big pot on the stove. I got the ventrèche all cut up and Mom put it in a bowl.
    â€œSeason beans with salt and pepper!” Kambui said.
    Bobbi put some salt and pepper on the beans. She looked serious. I liked that.
    â€œPlace half of the beans in the pot. Add the duck legs, the duck sausages, ventrèche , and garlic sausage, then pile on the rest of the beans,” LaShonda said. “This sounds good!”
    The kit we had bought had all the parts labeled, and Bobbi and Mom found all the duck legs and sausages they were talking about and put them into the pot.
    â€œMrs. Scott, I don’t have any idea how this is going to come out,” Bobbi said.
    Mom shrugged. She didn’t know, either.
    â€œMix tomato paste into dissolved demi-glace,” Kambui said. “Then pour it over the beans.”
    We did that.
    â€œDrizzle duck fat over everything.”
    â€œThis recipe is not politically correct,” LaShonda said. “You don’t drizzle fat over food and think you’re being cool.”
    I drizzled the duck fat. I didn’t think I was being cool. I wasn’t sure what I was being.
    But after a while I could see everybody settling into their attitudes. LaShonda started helping