'The Truth Doesn't Matter'

Leonora LaPeter Anton: The boy changed the name of his essay three times. It started out as The Clown That Made Nobody Laugh.

Then The Clown Man.

Now, as Anthony Savage stood nervously reading his story to his class, he called it The Truth Don't Always Set You Free.

One kid had read an essay about basketball. Another had told the class about his birthday party. Anthony's story was about something that he'd thought about almost every day for three years.

Chuck swung the bat and hit my brother . . .

Anthony kept his eyes on the paper.

My brother grabbed his pocketknife and stabbed him . . .

He couldn't look up.

After a while they came and told us Chuck had died . . .