living room with a smiling Dina on his knee. As the photo was passed around the class, students said, “Wow!” and “Neat!” and tried to grab the picture from one another. When the photograph had circulated around the class and was returned to Dina, Mark Seasons said, “Can you tell him to come to our class?”
        Dina shrugged. “I don’t know.”
        Mrs. Henderson stepped forward and spoke in a stern voice. “No, Jimmy O’Hare won’t be coming to class. That’s a home-time activity, not for school.” She turned to Dina.
        “Show-and-tell should be about things you did, not things your parents did. I know you’re proud that Jimmy O’Hare came to your house but that’s really because he came to visit your father. Show-and-tell should be about activities or hobbies that you have. Now when you do your next show-and-tell, it better be about something more appropriate. Do you understand?”
        Dina nodded, even though she really didn’t understand, and walked quickly back to her seat and sat, her eyes red. She gulped hard and resisted the urge to cry as Dwayne Hoosler stepped to the front of the room and opened a shoebox, revealing dozens of nuts. He explained that most people aren’t aware that there are 53 different varieties of nut. He had collected 32 so far but was trying to collect all 53. He held each one up for the class to see and identified it: peanut, hazelnut, almond, pistachio, pecan, walnut, cashew, chestnut, macadamia, English walnut, black walnut, acorn, cacao nut, nutmeg. When he held up and identified a filbert nut, Mrs. Henderson said to him, “Do you know the other name for filbert nuts?”
        Dwayne shrugged.
        “Class?”
        No one answered.
        “Nigger toes,” she announced in a firm voice.
        Dwayne looked uncomfortable and the class went silent.
        “Did you know that?”
        He shook his head.
        She looked at Dina. “Dina, did you know that?”
        Dina shook her head no, though in truth she did know. She knew all the unkind things said about black people, and she knew it was better not to protest them. But that night when she rode the school bus, she was sullen, and when she got home, she cried inconsolably. When her mother Helen asked why she was crying, she said the teacher was mean to her and said filbert nuts are called nigger toes. Upon hearing this, Helen looked weary, then spoke impatiently. “Baby, that’s nothing. People will always say unkind things like that. Now if you can’t take it,