“Near the start [of the note], there’s two words I never saw before, Ma says they’re her names like TV persons have, what everybody in Outside used to call her, it’s only me who says Ma.”
“ ‘I can’t read this,’ said the Principal. ‘It looks like SHIRKING. You’re not SHIRKING, are you, Treehorn? We can’t have any shirkers here, you know. We’re a team, and we all have to do our very best.’ “