Mr. Black liked to bride us for a good answer and a good effort but
what he chose seems like it shouldn't have worked. He had bought a
huge box of worthless baseball cards that were of the cheapest
variety and we were several years past even the feigned passion for
card collecting. But when he dangled them, boy or girl, smart or dumb
we all sat up strait and tried extra hard. It was really inexplicable
because after the class was over and the passion of the possible
reward of a small card with a picture of an athlete that I had no
interest in was passed their talismanic powers evaporated and they
became useless again unless you needed a lot of book marks for some
reason. The next day when we were in his class the magic would return
and once again we would give our all for a single baseball card or
absolutely lose our minds for a small stack.
