Tomas was worried. Ms. Garnett had given the deadline for the paper three times when she had given the assignment. She had even made the class write it down. But he had still put it off. He could have done it without any trouble if he had used an hour a day after school to do the research, but instead he played soccer with his friends for two or three hours. At night, he watched TV and did his other homework assignments, which were shorter and didn’t require as much writing. He even did all his chores. The lead time Ms. Garnett had given had vanished, and the 500 words about the civil rights leader Cesar Chavez were due in two days. After school, Tomas went to the library to do some research, but every search terminal was taken. He went to the card catalog and found several promising books, but when he went to get them from the shelves, there was nothing there. Evidently, quite a few of his classmates had put off the assignment just like Tomas.
On the way home, he played with the Fulbright’s new dog and stopped by the soccer field. “Come play with us,” Hector called.
“I can’t, I have to write a paper,” Tomas said.
At home, he hit another brick wall. The family had lost its Internet connection because his mother had not paid the bill, and pay day wasn’t until after his paper was due. Now, he was really scared. “Mom, what am I going to do? Where am I going to find information about Cesar Chavez?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” his mother said. “Go talk to Mateo’s grandfather, he used to be a farm worker.”
“Was Cesar Chavez a farm worker? I thought he was a civil rights leader.”
“Maybe that’s why Ms. Garnett wanted you to write the paper,” his mother said. “Go find Mateo’s grandfather. I bet he can tell you.”
Tomas called Mateo’s house, and the grandfather answered. “Did you know Cesar Chavez?” Tomas blurted out.
“Yes, yes, I did,” he said. “Who is this?”
“Can I come talk to you about him?”
“Who is this?”
“This is Tomas Diego, and I have to write a paper about Cesar Chavez.”
“Okay, but bring plenty of paper,” the grandfather said.
5
Tomas solves his problem of finding a resource on Cesar Chavez by
A.
waiting in line at the library to get a computer terminal.
B.
helping his mother pay a past due Internet bill.
C.
going to a local farm to talk to the workers about Chavez.
D.
finding someone who had known Chavez personally.