Excerpt From the short story Valentine From David Rice’s short story collection Crazy Loco
I became nervous, but I tried to shake off my old bullies. After all, we were graduates now, not schoolboys. “Hey, guys, how you doing? Oh, you want some cake? Here, let me get out of your way.”
I turned to make a fast exit, but there she was, coming towards us: Nina in a red satin dress. Bobby and Marco beamed with smiles and not enough innocence. I had thought I was over Nina. There were far prettier girls in San Antonio, and I’d even dated a few. But Nina was a girl from the Valley, sweeter than chocolate cake.
As she joined us, I tried to position myself as closely to her as possible, but she chose to stand between Bobby and Marco. We all talked about our plans for the fall. I was going to college in San Antonio, and Bobby, Marco, and Nina planned to attend the local college. Bobby and Marco were being surprisingly nice to me, until I brought up Valentine’s Day.
“Hey remember the time in first grade,” I said to Nina, “when these guys picked up your dress and you thought it was me?”
Nina looked confused, and the guys scowled and said, “Man, what are you talking about?”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, remember? We were in first grade, Ms. de los Santos’s class, and you guys lifted up Nina’s dress with your pencils.” I turned to Nina. “And you thought it was me, but it was them. Remember?”
“What?” Nina said. “I know we were all in Ms. de los Santos’s class, but I don’t remember that.” She looked at Bobby and Marco, and they shrugged.
I turned to the guys. “Remember? It was Valentine’s Day. You two lifted Nina’s dress, and I saw you do it. And I told Ms. de los Santos and I got your chocolate cake and you guys got nothing. Don’t you remember?”
Nina began laughing. “Oh, Luis, you’ve always had an imagination.”
“But it’s true,” I said.
“So what if it’s true?” she answered. “Hello, that was elementary school. We’re not kids anymore. We’re high school graduates now.” And she walked off, shaking her head.
Once she was out of view, Bobby and Marco both turned to glare at me. They were the same glares I’d gotten before they knocked me off the monkey bars. They both let their heavy hands drop back on my shoulders, and they leaned towards me. Marco stuck his finger out and tapped my chest. “Hey, vato,” he said, “why don’t you have some chocolate cake for us? We haven’t forgotten.”
I choose this book because personally, it’s my favorite collection of short stories. It’s a collection that students from Texas, mostly south, and students of Mexican-American heritage can relate too. The stories are loosely based on Rice’s own childhood. Therefore, students can find similarities to their lives in the stories. I also choose this book because I had the chance to meet David Rice when I was a freshman in high school. He read us some stories and told us about the writing process he went through and I would like to share those stories with my studentsCrazy loco is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a 2002 PEN USA Children’s Literature Award Finalist. I believe a collection of short stories is a important type of text. They can be used before students write their first story. It can be used when students begin to collect their portfolios..Most short stories have a theme, POV, morals, we could use a short story when students are learning about these topics. There are endless possibilities, i think, and I would like to learn some!
