McGraw©Hill/Focus/Big Shot p. 210////R7N13/ ***** Robbie Landis and his mother lived a quite small house on

Crum Street, not far from a big highway. Robbie's mother, Sara,

was a thin, small, mournful woman who worked as hard as she was

able to earn their living. Robbies father had left his mother

some years before, for no reason on earth except boredom. He

left town and they saw no more of him. Robbie and his mother were poor but they did manage. She

made a meager living by addressing labels for the county paper's

rural©route list, by doing some plain sewing, and by staying with

children at night. They always had something decent to wear on

Sunday, and she kept Robbie clean and orderly for school. She

managed to put food on the table. Since her own food

requirements were very small, it is doubtful if she realized his

needs. At thirteen, and in the eighth grade, Robbie was no

bigger than a ten© or eleven©year©old©boy, and he had no fat on

him at all. His mother said that he would grow later, that his

father had been smaal until he was sixteen and had then grown for

about five years. Robbie looked forward to the time that he

would begin to grow. Robbie loved his mother. He loved her partly because of a

deep, instinctive boyish chivalry; she was downtrodden and

unfortunate, and he knew it. He loved her, too, because she was

tender and kind to him and did the best she could for him.