Mighty Monty

by Johanna Hurwitz

  “How many colors are there?” asked Monty’s mother.

  “White, yellow, orange, purple, green, blue, red, brown, black,” the two sisters recited in unison.

  “Black is the best,” said Arlene.

  Black might be the best for other people, but Monty was mighty happy to have been given a yellow belt. And he looked forward to wearing it on the following Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. After all, yellow was his favorite color.

  One day Monty got a letter in the mail. It was an invitation to his friend Joey’s birthday party. Since Joey lived just halfway up the other side of the street, he could have easily handed the invitation to Monty. Or he could have just asked him without a printed card. But Monty was glad to get an invitation in the mail. First-grade boys don’t get many letters, so it was special to have it waiting on the kitchen table when he came home from school. That was the good news.

  The bad news was that the party, which was next Saturday, would take place in Joey’s house. Monty had never been inside Joey’s house because his friend owned not one, but two, dogs. Monty’s asthma was always made worse by close contact with dogs and cats.

  “Couldn’t I go anyway?” Monty begged his mom.

  “It’s not a good idea,” said Mrs. Morris, shaking her head. “You’ll just have to explain to Joey that you can’t go. He knows about your allergic reaction to his dogs.”

  Monty felt miserable. What good was a birthday invitation if you couldn’t attend the party? What good was having a friend if you couldn’t ever visit his house?

  Joey was disappointed too when Monty told him the news.

  “My mom says I’ll still give you a present,” Monty said.

  Joey smiled. “That’s good. But I still wish you could come. I invited seven boys because it’s my seventh birthday. And we’re going to have lunch and play loads of games.”

  “I bet it will be lots of fun,” said Monty. “What’s for lunch?”

  “Hamburgers and French fries. And afterward, ice-cream cake. My mom is getting a chocolate one that we saw in a store.”

  “It sounds delicious,” said Monty. He sighed. He imagined all the boys playing together and then eating the birthday food. He loved ice-cream cake. Suddenly he had an idea. “Could I sit on the steps outside your house and eat the lunch there? I wouldn’t be able to come inside and play, but at least I could have the birthday lunch.” It would probably be terrible sitting outside all alone. But he would do it anyway. It would be better than nothing.

  “Sure,” said Joey. “I know my mom will say yes to that.” Joey began working out the details. “We can bring your food outside. And we can open the window so you can sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me.” Joey thought it would work out just fine.

  But when Joey’s mother heard about the plan, she disagreed. “I’m so sorry that I forgot about your allergy,” she told Monty. “I don’t want you sitting outside by yourself. We’ll just hold the party outdoors. Then you won’t miss any of the fun.”

  Monty smiled. Now he wouldn’t be weird celebrating Joey’s birthday outdoors while everyone else was in the house.

  “What happens if it rains?” asked Joey suddenly. It was an awful thought.

  Luckily it didn’t rain on Saturday. Promptly at twelve thirty, Monty crossed the street and went over to Joey’s house. He was holding a gift-wrapped package. It was a board game about going on a safari hunt. As he arrived at Joey’s house, a car pulled up, and two boys jumped out. Monty recognized them from school. They were Todd and Danny. They were each holding birthday presents too. As they stood looking at each other, still another boy arrived. He had a wrapped gift too.

  “Are you going to Joey’s birthday party?” Todd asked.

  “Yep. My name is Clifford. I’m on the soccer team with Joey.”

  “Hi,” Monty greeted Clifford. “Did you know the party is outdoors?” he asked the boys. “That’s because of Joey’s dogs.”

  “That’s weird,” said Danny. “What do you mean ‘because of the dogs’?”

  “I can’t go inside because I’m allergic to dog hair.”

  “Yuck,” said Danny. “I’m glad I’m not allergic to dogs.”

  “I’m not allergic to dogs,” said Clifford, “but I can’t eat peanuts. I’m allergic to them.”

  “It’s good you’re not a squirrel,” said Danny as the door opened.

  Joey greeted his friends. “Come around the back,” he said. “We’re going to play some games before lunch.”

  Joey’s father organized a game of Simon Says.

  Monty stood next to Clifford and raised his arms and clapped his hands according to the instructions. Before long, however, he’d been tricked into doing the wrong thing and so he went and sat on a lawn chair and watched the others. In the end, it was Danny who won the game.

  The next game was Hot Potato. The boys stood in a circle, throwing a real potato to one another while Joey’s father turned a CD player on and off. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the potato was out. Monty was the first one out. He just wasn’t very good at these party games. Still, he was awfully glad to be part of the party.

  He sat down again and waited for the game to be over. He retied the lace on his left sneaker. Then, because he had nothing else to do, he retied the lace on his right sneaker. He saw an ant walking near his right foot. Monty watched as the ant slowly moved across the step.

  “Do you know that you are at a party?” Monty whispered to the ant.

  The ant kept walking. Amazingly, he joined up with several others. It looked as if the ants were holding a party of their own.

  Danny came over to Monty. “These are baby games,” he complained. Monty guessed he was unhappy to be out so quickly.

  “You can’t win every game,” Monty said.

  “Why not?” grumbled Danny as he walked away. “I’m bored.”

  Monty began to worry that the party would have been more fun if it was indoors. It would be his fault if others like Danny weren’t having a good time.

  When the game of Hot Potato ended, Joey’s mother came out with a tray of hamburgers and buns. “Everyone, rinse your hands off,” she said, pointing to a hose nearby. Washing and splashing were more fun than any party games. A lot more than hands got wet, but the sun was shining and it didn’t matter.

  “I’m starving,” said Clifford to Monty.

  “Me too,” Monty agreed. All the boys took seats around the table.

  Suddenly the seven guests and Joey were silent. Everyone was busy chewing on the birthday hamburgers and drinking lemonade.

  When he was almost finished eating, Monty remembered the ants. He wondered what they ate for lunch. He broke off a piece of his hamburger roll and looked down at his feet. Sure enough, after a moment of searching, he saw an ant moving by. “Do ants like hamburgers?” he whispered to the ant.

  He broke the roll into small pieces and scattered them at his feet, then proceeded to finish eating. By the time he had eaten the last of his meal, he saw one of the ants investigating the crumbs.

  Monty held his breath. Would the ant pick it up and carry it away?

  “What are you looking at?” Clifford leaned over and asked Monty

  “You want to see something neat?” Monty responded.

  “Sure.”

  Monty pointed out the crumbs and the ants. One of the ants was walking away carrying a tiny piece of the hamburger roll.

  “Wow,” said Clifford. He sat down on the ground to get a closer look at the ants.

  “What are you doing?” Joey asked Clifford and Monty.

  “We’re watching the ants.”

  Joey bent to examine the ants. “Cool,” he said.

  Todd came over next. “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Look,” said Joey.

  Todd bent to look as now three ants were carting away bread crumbs.

  “I’ll get them,” said Todd, raising his foot to stamp on the ants.

  “No!” shouted Monty, and he found
himself blocking Todd’s foot with his leg. It wasn’t exactly a karate move, but it was close.

  Todd lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud. “What did you do that for?” he demanded. “They’re just old bugs.”

  “They have a right to live too,” said Monty.

  “Yeah,” agreed Clifford and Joey together.

  All the boys had finished eating by now. “What are you doing?” asked one of them. “Can we play too?”

  “We’re not playing. We’re watching these little ants,” said Joey, pointing to the insects crawling across the ground.

  “Boys,” Joey’s mother called out. She’d been clearing the plates and cups from the table. “It’s time to play some more games.”

  “Yuck,” said Danny.

  “Do we have to play games?” asked Joey. “This is more fun. Monty found some ants, and they’re really interesting to watch.”

  “These ants are very smart,” said Todd, who was now admiring the same insects that he’d tried to smash just a few minutes before.

  “Well, what about the birthday cake?” asked Joey’s mom. “Don’t you want to have your cake?”

  Of course everyone wanted birthday cake.

  In a couple of minutes, Mrs. Thomas returned carrying a platter with the ice-cream cake. Behind her followed Mr. Thomas. He held a pile of paper plates and plastic spoons.

  Eight candles were in the cake: seven were for each year of Joey’s life and one to grow on. Mr. Thomas lit the candles, and the boys all sang “Happy Birthday.”

  After Joey blew out the candles, his mom began cutting slices of cake for everyone.

  “It’s chocolate,” said Todd. “I can’t eat chocolate. I’m allergic to it.”

  “It’s made of ice cream,” said Danny. “I’m allergic to milk and anything made with milk.”

  “I’m glad there are no peanuts in the cake,” said Clifford. “Remember, I told you that I’m allergic to peanuts,” he said to Monty.

  Monty happily ate his slice of ice-cream cake while Joey’s mom ran back into the house. She returned carrying a box of vanilla cookies that weren’t made with chocolate, milk, or peanuts. Monty had a second slice of cake because it appeared there was more than enough to go around since not everyone could eat it. Having asthma wasn’t good, Monty thought. But at least he could still eat chocolate and ice cream and peanuts. He felt really sorry for the boys who had those allergies. He looked at them. Todd and Danny were eating the cookies and watching the ants. They even made a few cookie crumbs for the ants so they could celebrate Joey’s birthday too. It was like having lots of extra guests at the party.

  “I love watching the ants,” said Clifford. “I bet I have some around my house, but I never noticed them before.” He turned to Monty. “It’s great that you showed them to us.”

  The planned party games were forgotten as the eight boys crawled about on their hands and knees watching the ants. It was even better when Mrs. Thomas remembered something. She went inside the house and returned holding eight magnifying glasses, one for each. “These were in the goody bags,” she explained. “Isn’t that lucky?”

  Monty smiled. He’d worried that he might have ruined the party for Joey because it had to be outdoors. But it hadn’t rained and it had turned out to be wonderful. He was sure glad that he’d been able to come. No one is ever allergic to having a good time.

  Before he knew it, Monty had been taking karate classes twice a week for several weeks. A little while after he joined the class, there had been an exhibition. It took place in the evening, after supper, and that had made it extra special.

  Because Monty was a new student, he had not taken part. Instead, he had sat in the back of the room with Arlene and Ilene’s parents. All around them were other parents, siblings, and friends of the participants. Monty had been excited to watch the students show off their skills. Someday he would be able to do all the things that they did. Still, he was relieved just to be sitting in the back. He didn’t like to have lots of people watching him. He watched Arlene and Ilene and the other classmates perform. At the end of the evening, both girls had been awarded new belts as a sign that they had improved their skills significantly. They showed off their orange belts proudly to Monty. And on the way home, Mr. Kelly stopped at the ice-cream stand in town and bought everyone a double-scooped cone to celebrate his daughters’ achievement.

  Now it was time for another exhibition. This time Monty was expected to participate with the other karate students.

  “Aren’t you excited?” Ilene asked Monty. “It’s so much fun to go to the karate school at night.”

  Monty shrugged. He wasn’t excited about the exhibition at all.

  “Can’t I just watch like last time?” Monty asked Sensei.

  “You have been progressing nicely,” the teacher said. “Don’t you want your parents to see how well you can perform?”

  “They see me at home all the time,” Monty told the teacher. “I show them when I practice my positions and kicks.”

  “Good,” said Sensei, nodding. “Then you won’t be even a little bit nervous during the exhibition. You’re used to having an audience.”

  Sensei was right, and Sensei was wrong. Monty was not a little bit nervous on the evening of the exhibition. He was a lot nervous.

  Arlene and Ilene had told Joey about the exhibition. “Can I come with you and watch?” he asked Monty.

  “It would be boring for you,” Monty said. “You better stay home.” He didn’t want his friend to come. It would make him more nervous than ever during the exhibition.

  As Monty put on his white karate uniform and tied his yellow belt, he thought about the class play earlier in the year. He remembered how nervous he had felt then. But at least that time, he was able to hide behind his paper tree. This time there was nothing to hide behind. Monty thought about how awful he’d felt when he’d forgotten the last line of his part. No one had seen him blush with embarrassment, but he knew his face had turned very red. This time, if he made a mistake, everyone would see him. And this time, he didn’t have a pocket with his inhaler for comfort. He was glad Joey wasn’t coming with him.

  “I don’t feel well,” he told his parents in the evening as they were getting ready to leave the house.

  Mrs. Morris put her hand to Monty’s forehead. “You feel very cool,” she said. “You don’t have a fever.”

  “Are you having trouble with your breathing?” asked Monty’s father.

  Monty knew he was concerned about an asthma attack.

  It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say he couldn’t breathe. Then his parents would not expect Monty to go to the exhibition. In fact, they would have forbidden his going out at all.

  But Monty was honest. He didn’t want to upset his parents with worry about his breathing. So he didn’t take the easy way out. He shook his head. “I can breathe fine right now,” he said softly. “But I think I might have trouble during the exhibition. I just wish I could stay home and not be in the exhibition at all.”

  “Oh, Monty, you have stage fright,” said his father, smiling.

  “Well, I can’t have stage fright. There isn’t a stage,” Monty argued.

  “That’s true. But it would still be considered a form of stage fright. What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Mr. Morris asked his son.

  “I could do something stupid. I could kick the wrong way. Or I could shout out at the wrong time. People would laugh at me.”

  “No way,” said his father. “There are all those signs around the room reminding people about respect and consideration. No one will laugh. And no matter how you do, your mother and I will be proud of you.”

  “Why?” asked Monty. “Why would you be proud if I did something dumb?”

  “We’d be proud that you’ve tried something new this year.”

  Monty’s mother shook her head. “I don’t want him to do anything that’s going to upset him,” she said to her husband.

  Mo
nty smiled with relief. “So I don’t have to go?” he asked.

  “Why don’t we go, and you can sit in the back and watch. If you change your mind, you can get up and perform with your classmates,” his father suggested.

  It was good to know that his parents didn’t expect him to take part in the exhibition. Monty relaxed as they drove to the hall. He removed his jacket and took a chair in the back of the room, where the visitors were seated. The twins came over and asked why he wasn’t lining up with them.

  “Come on,” urged Ilene. “We’re almost ready to start.”

  “No,” said Monty firmly. “I’m just going to watch tonight.”

  He walked over and sat by his parents.

  Arlene shrugged and ran to take her place among the other students.

  Sensei came forward and bowed to the youngsters.

  All the children bowed back to him.

  The exhibition began. Sensei called some of the older students forward. He asked them to show off some of their skills. Ellie, Clyde, and Kevin did punches, both forward and reverse, and knife-hand punches. Then they began performing kicks. In the midst of a power side kick, Clyde lost his balance and fell down. A few of the children let out giggles, but Sensei looked around the room with a glare. All giggles were muffled at once.

  They had been taught that you should never laugh at your opponent. Clyde jumped up and attempted another power side kick. Sensei nodded in approval. This time, Clyde had done it perfectly.

  Then Sensei pointed to three other students. Arlene, Ilene, and Charlie moved to the front of the room. As Monty watched them show off their stances and their punches, he began to feel restless. Clyde had fallen down, but he had jumped right back up. If he fell down, he could do the same thing.

  Then Sensei was ready to have the next group of students show off their skills. Paul and Jamie came forward. Monty kicked off his shoes and removed his socks. Then he jumped from his seat in the back of the room and stood in line with the two other yellow-belted students. Out of the corner of his eye, Monty recognized Joey sitting in the back row. But instead of wondering how he knew where to come, he concentrated on Sensei Jack’s instructions. He bowed with his classmates and listened for directions from the teacher. Together the three karate students showed off their punches and their kicks. They called out in unison, “Kee-yi!”