The Adobe House
We had a class project on Indians. And I decided to make an adobe house like the Western Indians have. Miss Toohey didn’t tell us to make something. I just got the idea to make it. I dug up some clay in the lot behind our house. I saw the clay when we were digging a hole one day for a fort. You can tell clay. It’s smooth and sticky, unless it is dried out. Then it is real hard. Regular dirt is crumbly, and it has tiny pieces in it.
I got a little board about a foot square and made the adobe house on it. It has two stories. And little sticks come out like on real adobe houses. I made it real nice.
When I brought it to class, Miss Toohey was happy. She took it from me and showed it to the class. “Look at what Henry made for us,” she said. “A model of an Indian adobe house!” She put the model on the big table with the other Indian things.
That was at the beginning of the semester. I would go and look at the house every so often, but I didn’t for a while. Now I look at the clock on the wall and see it is nearly three o’clock. Almost time to go home. Mrs. Toohey says, “Henry, could you stay for a minute after class?”
I see some of the kids looking at me with little smiles. Herman, who sits next to me, says, “You’re gonna get it!”
I get worried. “Why am I gonna get it?” I didn’t do anything wrong that I knew. I wait for the other kids to go.
Then Miss Toohey goes to the big table. She says, “Henry, I really liked that you made the adobe house…” She stops. I walk up to see it. I look. It has ants crawling on it! I feel real hot and funny. I did a stupid thing. I brought ants to school. I look at her.
She says, “Don’t feel badly. You didn’t know there were ants in your clay. But it is time to take it home. Our Indian project is almost over.” She is nice, and she didn’t holler at me. But I felt real bad anyway. Stupid. I’m always doing stupid stuff when everybody is watching.
I take it and start going home. I can feel an ant starting to crawl on my hands. I want to throw it on the street. But there’s other kids around. One did comes over. “Got some ants in your pants, fat boy?” I just walk faster. I can’t wait to throw the stupid adobe house back in the stupid empty lot.
Heniu is not good at handling rejection, whether intended or not. We might trace his hurts back to Mama’s inability to express affection. But doesn’t that blame her and absolve the way of the world? There’s more to the issue.
Heniu also has evidence that his talents can bring him approval and warm attention. He has something to offer the world. So he keeps coming back, again and again and again. His spirit maintains that there is justice. And, if he perseveres, the rewards will come.
Happily, his spirit is not constantly tested. Occasionally, rewards come without any effort.