Last Question

Ages 12-15

Dobie answers the first practice question.

At the board, the examiner points to a sentence. Its last word is partly erased.

She asks the next question. Dobie hears the beginning, then the scrape of a chair behind her.

The examiner waits.

Dobie looks at the partly erased word. It could finish the question two different ways.

She puts her answer pencil down.

"Can you repeat the last part?"

The examiner says it again, with the same words.

The examiner fills in the erased letters.

Dobie answers the first part. At the second, she stops.

"That part I don't know."

The examiner moves to the next question.

Dobie picks up her pencil. Above the completed word on the board, the old eraser streak remains.