Feature
Strike
K. Reiter
The rowdy students rushed out the front doors. The messy classroom that they left behind was quiet for the first time all day. The aroma of smelly teenagers and pencil shavings still filled the room.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted,” said a tired voice from underneath the table. The chewed-up pencil barely hung on to what lead was left. Its eraser was but a memory now. He managed to drag his tired yellow body over to see about the crayons.
“Red crayon?” he yelled.
“Here!” replied the red crayon dangling from inside the pencil sharpener.
“Let me help you,” the blue marker offered. “Anyone see my lid over there?”
“Over here,” yelled the green naked crayon. “Anyone see my wrapper?”
“I just don’t get it,” started the blue marker.“ Students these days just don’t care about us. Is it too much to ask to just put us away after a long day?”
“I hear you. Kids these days are like wild animals,” chimed in the pink eraser filled with holes.
“I wonder if they would even notice if we disappeared,” pondered the yellow highlighter. All the tired supplies sat in silence.
“I got it!” shouted the blue marker. “Let’s teach them a lesson.” All the supplies let out a big cheer.
“Wait, how are we going to do that?” asked the yellow highlighter.
“We are going on strike!” explained the blue marker proudly. “The days of being disrespected are long gone. We will show them!”
The supplies all huddled in the middle of the classroom while the blue marker explained his plan in detail.
The next morning, the students came in the classroom as usual. They hurried to get their supplies that are usually waiting for them neatly on the counter. However, this time, they were nowhere to be found. The students looked around the room, but the supplies were nowhere to be found. The supplies snickered in their hiding places.
It wasn’t long before one of the students noticed the message on the board that said, ‘Supplies on strike! We deserve to be treated better.’ The students were astonished and didn’t know what to say. Finally, one of them blurted out, “We are sorry. We will treat you better. We promise.”
Slowly, the supplies started to reappear. The supplies were all put back in their proper place when the school day ended, and all were very happy.
What does the figurative language in paragraph 2 help the reader understand about the pencil?
Responses
A The pencil is looking for its eraser in the classroom.The pencil is looking for its eraser in the classroom.
B The pencil is remembering back to when it had an eraser. The pencil is remembering back to when it had an eraser.
C The pencil longs for the day when it gets another eraser. The pencil longs for the day when it gets another eraser.
D The pencil no longer has an eraser on the end.