23
Ali did what his mother told him. He washed his hands and
face, and started his homework. But he was still excited. He was
thinking about how much fun they were going to have on the pic-
nic. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. He thought: "What if I'm
sick at the week-end? Then I won't be able go on the picnic. I will
have to stay home in bed while my friends are all playing ball." All
at once he became depressed. All his joy vanished. While he was
doing his homework he began to think.
Towards dinner time, Ali's father came home. Ali's mother
called them to dinner. They all sat down at the table together. Ali
was silent and gloomy because of the bad thoughts in his mind.
His mother was very surprised at this change in him. Ali's father
also noticed how gloomy he was. As always, they began to
have a conversation.
"What you did in school
today?" asked his father.
"We learned some new things,
Dad," answered Ali: "In math
class I went up to the blackboard
and solved the problems the
