Bisson_rucker_billys.. - Rudy Rucker

“It is not,” said Billy.
“It is so,” said the substitute. “Now you have to stay after school for being wrong.”
She wrote his name on the blackboard: BILYL.
“That’s not even my name,” said Billy. ”So I don’t have to stay after school.”
“Yes you do,” she said.
§§
“My new teacher is a witch,” said Billy. It was supper time. “She even has a broom.”
“What about a witch hat?” said Billy’s father. “Brooms don’t prove anything. ”
“They do so,” said Billy. “It is parked in the corner.”
“They do not,” said Billy’s father.
“Do so,” said Billy.
“Go to your room,” said Billy’s father.
§§
Billy missed his old teacher. She had given him an A in spelling. It was the only A he
had ever gotten.
“You can’t even spell,” Billy said the next day at school. “You’re just a substitute.”
“It’s susbitute,” the witch said. She shook her broom at Billy. “Now you have to
stay after school.”
“The broom proves it,” Billy said to the other kids during recess. “She’s a witch.”
“It’s withc,” said the other kids. “And brooms don’t prove anything. They are for
sweeping up.”
They would believe anything.
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