Mrs. Brock sighed. It hadn’t taken half the period, after all, to pull from her class the various items of the Sister Cities’ endless business and, she thought irrelevantly, the attendant smoke, fumes, slums, labor troubles and traffic congestion. She brightened. “Now, class, you’ve pretty well covered the lists in the book. We’ll turn to a more creative project. What industries can you yourselves list that are not in our geography book?”
Fewer hands rose. Nora thought poutily, She’s a sucker for anything she thinks is creative!
It was not far from the truth, though Nora’s momentarily low opinion of Mrs. Brock’s educational penchant was unjustified.
“Halleck?” Mrs. Brock beamed.
“Candy,” said Halleck Watrous, hardly rising and dropping back in his seat at once.
“Well-yes,” the teacher murmured dubiously.
“Mr. Papandrocopulis makes the best nougat in the West,” Halleck said defensively.
“It’s a small local business. Who else?” She looked. “Mary?”
A sleek, prettied-up sixth grader with very blonde hair said, “My own father is superintendent of the Acme Rubber Products Company.”
“Very good,” Mrs. Brock nodded. Then, catching a subdued snicker in the male section, she flushed faintly and hurried on. “I can think of dozens of things! John?”