Stand Tall: Chapters 1–9

“Who will be receiving the invoice for school trips?”

Some of its roots protruded from the ground—fat roots that wound around rocks.

Mrs. Stench yanked on the expanding leash, lurched forward.

Fang ran up to the white oak, lifted his leg, and peed on the noble gray bark.

Humor is one of the ways to diffuse feelings of alienation and frustration at the holidays.

Humor is one of the ways to diffuse feelings of alienation and frustration at the holidays.

His mother wrote, It’s certainly nice you’re learning such cogent ways of communicating at college.

In third grade when he got stuck in a desk and Mr. Cosgrove had to pry him out.

But his grandfather wasn’t into bellyaching.
Hadn’t been since the Vietnam War, when his leg got shot up with shrapnel when he was on a night patrol in the Mekong Delta.

Months later, he’d be fitted for a prosthetic leg—a leg specially made to take the place of the old one.

He’d never been too punctual, but since the divorce, he was so late for everything.

“It saved the Republic,” Wild Man whispered.

Tree tried to look brave and humble.

He hadn’t minded a drafty room as much when his parents were still married, but his room seemed colder these days.

He walked past the team. Stopped by the plaque the PTA put up after last year’s pitiful season—words of encouragement from Eleanor Roosevelt herself...

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Tree kept practicing and stayed mediocre.

Behemoth Boy, it read.

“‘Greased,’” Tree said solemnly, “meant killed.”

He talked about President Jimmy Carter, who gave amnesty to the draft dodgers, men who left the country instead of fighting in a war that they didn’t think was right.

He talked about President Jimmy Carter, who gave amnesty to the draft dodgers, men who left the country instead of fighting in a war that they didn’t think was right.

Sully was at the dining room table, researching sedimentary rocks on the computer for their earth science report.

It was out of commission now, like a warship in dry dock.

Conan didn’t appreciate this tree like Bradley, who would lie down in front of it in dog reverence. People said this oak had been there close to two hundred years.

Trees never stop growing; he’d read that somewhere.
To most people, that’s an interesting fact. To him, it was grim news.

“Then a chaplain came over, asked how I was doing. I told him. A nurse was calling him to come quick to the bed of a soldier hurt worse than me. But he grabbed my hand and said the shortest prayer: ‘Lord, let this man’s best years be ahead of him.’..."

She looked at his substantial feet. “What size are they?”

“I’ve been given a revelation that will have a lasting effect on this team.”

“Is there anything I can do to make Christmas easier, Dad?”
He put the bucket down, looked monumentally sad. “We’re just going to get through it.”

“Just crouch down and hold your arms out. There’s no finesse required.”
If Tree could have changed one thing about himself, it would have been that he was better at sports and shared that with his father.