Only today i wish i didn’t have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin band-aid box. today i wish i was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if i was one hundred and two i’d have known what to say when mrs. price put the red sweater on my desk. i would’ve known how to tell her it wasn’t mine instead of just sitting there with that look on my face and nothing coming out of my mouth.
“whose is this? ” mrs. price says, and she holds the red sweater up in the air for all the class to see. “whose? it’s been sitting in the coatroom for a month.”
“not mine,” says everybody. “not me.”
“it has to belong to somebody, ”mrs. price keeps saying, but nobody can remember. it’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope. it’s maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me i wouldn’t say so.
maybe because i’m skinny, maybe because she doesn’t like me, that stupid sylvia saldivar says, “i think it belongs to rachel.” an ugly sweater like that all raggedy and old, but mrs. price believes her. mrs. price takes the sweater and puts it right on my desk, but when i open my mouth nothing comes out.
“that’s not, i don’t, you’re not…not mine.” i finally say in a little voice that was maybe me when i was four.
“of course it’s yours, ”mrs. price says. “ i remember you wearing it once.” because she’s older and the teacher, she’s right and i’m not.
not mine, not mine, not mine, but mrs. price is already turning to page thirty-two, and math problem number four. i don’t know why but all of a sudden i’m feeling sick inside, like the part of me that’s three wants to come out of my eyes, only i squeeze them shut tight and bite down on my teeth real hard and try to remember today i am eleven, eleven.
1. go back to the passage above. highlight a quote that reveals something about mrs. price’s character in pink. what character trait would you assign to mrs. price? why does your chosen quote show that trait?
2. list and cite one simile that stands out in the story as a significant moment in relation to the story’s theme. try your best to explain the meaning of the simile and how it reveals the message of the story.
3. in your opinion, why does rachel get so upset about the sweater? what does that reveal about how she feels about herself? how do you think you would react if something similar happened to you?