Baartock Part 15

For the rest of that week and for several weeks after, Baartock spent his days in school and his afternoons and weekends working on the bridge. For a while, trucks came, bringing blocks of stone, and big timbers they would use for supports, building the bridge. They brought enough stone to make a hill of stone, until his father said that was enough.

In those weeks, the crowd that came to watch the bridge being built grew bigger, and there were more men in uniform to keep them back. The pile of stone got smaller and the bridge got closer to being finished.

Somehow, word had gotten out that trolls were building a bridge. A lot of people didn't believe it, and others didn't care. Other people heard that a man, a woman, and a boy were building a bridge by themselves, and came to watch. A few people tried to push their way past the men in uniform to talk to Baartock's parents while they were working.

Then one afternoon, right after lunch, Mrs. Jackson came to get Baartock from cla.s.s. He was surprised when she said that they were going to the bridge. He usually didn't go until school was over. As they went out to the parking lot, they went past several school busses parked in front of the school. He thought one of the busses was Mr.

Barnes's, but they didn't go to it. They went to her car and drove to the bridge.

When they got there, there was a big crowd just standing around one end of the bridge. Baartock's parents were standing in the middle of the bridge, but they weren't working. Baartock looked at the bridge. It looked finished, but as he walked over, he saw that there was one block missing from one side, and that block was lying on the sidewalk.

He walked over to his parents to find out why they hadn't finished the bridge. His mother just said, "wait," and kept watching Mrs. Jackson.

Soon the school busses drove up and a lot of kids got out. There was all of Mrs. s...o...b..chner's cla.s.s, and a lot of other kids besides. They came over to the bridge, but they didn't come across it, they just stood there with the rest of the crowd. They were all talking quietly, and watching Baartock and his parents. After a while a man got up on a little wooden platform and started talking. He talked for a long time, but Baartock wasn't listening to him. He had gotten an idea. A wonderful idea.

Baartock's mother had been watching the man on the platform. When he finished taking, she said, "Put stone in."

Baartock went over and picked up the last stone to put in the wall. He slid it into place, and the crowd started to cheer. When he stepped back, he saw the writing on the block. It was his special mark, and the letters 'BAARTOCK'S BRIDGE'.

The crowd kept on cheering, and Baartock felt embarra.s.sed. Then he looked at his father. And his father looked at him. His father must have had the same idea, for suddenly they both started yelling at the top of their lungs, screaming, bellowing as loud as they could, as they ran at the crowd standing at the end of the bridge.

At the first sound, the crowd was frozen in place, and as Baartock and his father kept yelling and running at them, the crowd turned and ran away from the bridge as fast as they could. All the humans kept on running until they were out of sight. Baartock and his father stopped at the end of the bridge and they turned and walked back, laughing, to his mother in the middle of the bridge. She looked at them.

"Good bridge," she said. "Good troll bridge."

Here is a short message from the author of Baartock:

This book is directed at children, up to about third grade, though it should be read to them by an adult.

End of Baartock, by Lewis Roth (C)1989