Free EllRay Jakes and the Beanstalk by Sally Warner Page B

Shivers,’” Kevin begins. “But its other name is ‘The Boy Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Was.’ It’s real old. It’s about this boy who was never afraid,” he tells us. “So he got bored, because he wanted to learn what it was like to be scared. Someone pretended to be a ghost, but the boy wasn’t scared at all. He pushed the pretend ghost down the stairs. After that, the boy had to leave home—and leave his father and brother, too. Sometimes heroes have to do that. And then he had a bunch of scary adventures.
    â€œBadder and badder things happened to him,” Kevin continues. “Some of the things are too bad to talk about in front of girls. But the boy kept complaining that nothing scared him. Finally, the boy decided to spend three nights in a haunted castle. If he did that, he would get all the treasure there and also marry the king’s pretty daughter whether he wanted to or not. But he stayed there anyway.
    â€œThe boy had some really extreme adventures in the castle, but still nothing scared him, and he was bored even when some heads and legs fell down the chimney the second night! It was no big deal for him. That’s what my drawing is about,” he tells us, holding it up for inspection.
    By now, most of the girls and a couple of the boys—including me—are looking nervous about where this story is going. But Ms. Sanchez seems okay, I’m relieved to see, and she’s read it before.
    â€œThe last night in the haunted castle,” Kevin says, “there was even a coffin in the boy’s room, and the dead body tried to strangle him! But
still
he wasn’t scared.
    â€œSo the boy got all the treasure, which was cool, but he also had to marry the king’s daughter, even though they were way too young. But that’s when he learned about the shivers, because his new wife got so tired of him complaining all the time about being bored that she threw ice water on him one night when he was asleep. But he never did learn what fear was. And the lesson is, don’t get married too soon.”
    Kevin clears his throat again before reading the last part of his story, the personal part. “Here is why this story is special to me,” he says, sneaking me a look. “A lot of stuff scares people now, like war, or bombs, or terrorists, or being poor, or getting beat up, or even worse. That stuff scares me, too, so I’m not like the boy in the story who was scared of nothing. Also, I don’t get bored very often.
    â€œBut I decided I needed to have a few scary adventures, the same way that boy did. I wanted to keep my regular friends, but also hang with some new people, too. I wanted to try stuff even if it freaked me out. Because I think that’s how guys learn to be brave these days, since we’re not allowed to spend three nights in haunted castles. The End.”

    Oh
, I think, watching Kevin walk back to his seat, eyes down. Why didn’t he just say so? He could have told me what he was up to. I wouldn’t have liked it, because—
Jared
? And Kevin might never be friends again with Corey and me the same as before. But I would have felt a whole lot better if I’d known.
    I even
get
it, kind of. Maybe Kevin is scared of skating, even though his cousin is good at it, so he jumped at the chance to try something shivery and new. And he has
always
been a little scared of Jared and Stanley. Especially Jared.
    Maybe Jared was Kevin’s version of the beanstalk.
    Cynthia’s hand shoots up in the air. “What is the
point
of that story?” she asks before Ms. Sanchez even calls on her. “Because I don’t think the point is that you should never get married. That bad boy never learned any lessons, and he got all the money—
and
the beautiful princess. He didn’t deserve her! I don’t blame her for dumping ice water all over him.”
    â€œIdeas? Anyone?” Ms. Sanchez asks