فصل سی و چهارم

Chapter 34

Life was too weird for Jeff to return to class.

Anytime you want to talk again, Carla had said, please feel free to come and see me. Even if you just feel like getting out of class for a while.

He hoped she had really meant it. He had a lot he wanted to say to her, beginning with “I’m sorry.” He slowly walked to her office. He hoped she wasn’t with somebody else. He knocked.

Carla opened the door and smiled when she saw him. “Hello, Jeff.” He smiled. “Hi, Carla. I’m—”

He stopped because he saw somebody else sitting at the round table.

“I believe you two know each other,” said Carla.

Jeff lowered his eyes. “Hello, Colleen,” he muttered.

Colleen Verigold covered her face with her hands.

“You don’t mind if Jeff joins us, do you, Colleen?” Carla asked.

Colleen shook her head with her hands still over her face.

Jeff awkwardly sat down. “Mrs. Ebbel doesn’t know I’m here,” he said.

“I’ll write you a note,” said Carla.

Colleen peeked out from between her fingers. “I’m not supposed to be here either,” she said.

Carla turned to Colleen. “So what’s the big emergency? Can you say it in front of Jeff?” “He already knows,” said Colleen. She looked at Jeff. “You better not tell anybody!” “I won’t,” Jeff promised.

“Tell anybody what?” asked Carla.

“Colleen walked into the boys’ bathroom,” said Jeff. “I was there washing my face.” “Jeff!” Colleen exploded. “You just promised you wouldn’t tell!” “Oops,” said Jeff. He blushed. “It was only Carla. You were going to tell her anyway, weren’t you?” Colleen smiled at him. “I didn’t go there on purpose,” she explained to Carla. “It was an accident.” “I don’t believe in accidents,” said Carla.

Colleen stared at her in amazement. She wondered how Carla knew she had gone in after Jeff on purpose. She turned to Jeff. “I’m sorry for saying hello to you when you didn’t like it.” “That’s okay.”

“Anyway, how was I supposed to know you didn’t like it? You always said hello back.” “I know. I can’t help it. Whenever anybody says hello to me, I always have to say hello back.” He looked at the picture of the green monster with six hands hanging on the wall. “If a big scary monster said, ‘Hello, Jeff,’ I’d probably say hello back to it, too.” Colleen laughed.

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” demanded Carla. “If a monster says hello to you, you should say hello to it. If you don’t, then I have to wonder which one of you is really the monster.” Colleen frowned. She suddenly remembered that Bradley Chalkers had said hello to her at the beginning of the lunch period and she had walked away without saying hello back. It made her feel terrible.

“You can say hello to me whenever you want,” said Jeff.

She smiled again. “Hello, Jeff,” she said.

“Hello, Colleen,” said Jeff.

“I read somewhere,” said Carla, “that in Zen, the most important rule is that when one person says hello to you, you have to say hello back.” “What’s Zen?” asked Colleen.

“A religion,” answered Carla. She got a book from her bookcase. “Here it is.” She read aloud from Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J. D. Salinger: “ ‘In certain Zen monasteries, it’s a cardinal rule … that when one monk calls out “Hi” to another monk, the latter must call back “Hi!” without thinking.’ ” “Jeff should be a Zen monk!” Colleen exclaimed with delight.

Jeff laughed. “I already say hello to anybody who says hello to me,” he said proudly.

“Can girls be Zen monks too?” Colleen asked.

“Why not?” asked Carla.

Colleen laughed with delight. Then she said, “Jeff, do you want to come to my birthday party next Sunday?” “Yes!” said Jeff. “That’s the second most important rule about being a Zen monk. Whenever another Zen monk invites you to a birthday party, you have to say yes!” Colleen laughed again. “You’re the only boy so far,” she said. “I’ll invite one more, but only one. I can’t invite too many boys.” Suddenly she looked very serious. She knew what she had to do.