He reached inside his pocket and produced a ring, a toy one of paste and plastic that he had conjured from a gumball machine after spending five nickels and receiving for them nothing nearly so valuable as this treasure; and the sparkle of that ring, he never doubted for a moment, was due to silver and diamond rather than to paste and plastic. He shined it on his sleeve, knelt down, and placed it beneath the seat, where textbooks and school supplies were kept.

Then he went to the auditorium and joined the rest of the early students to wait for the bell for first class to sound. When the bell finally rang--an eternity later, as far as Jimmy was concerned--he hurried to his classroom.

Soon she entered--Darla, his love, queen of the first grade. He turned away and would not stare at her the way he usually would; he mustn't give her any reason to suspect him as the leaver of the ring. But then it wasn't necessary for him to stare at her, for there she always was, right in his mind's eye, as she had been since the first time he had noticed her at recess on the first day of school that past fall--standing there watching the bigger boys playing dodge ball, dressed in a blue dress and little white socks inside brown suede shoes, the wind rustling that soft brown hair of hers.

She had never turned and noticed him that September day, so he had been able to drink her in and absorb into his memory the angelic image she presented from head to toe. And it made no difference what she wore every day those months since then, because in his mind, there she stood in that blue dress, her little white socks inside brown suede shoes. He loved her.

Lately, more and more, he wondered if she knew of his love, for he had no way of knowing; after all, the two of them had never spoken. Well, that wasn't exactly true; there had been that one strange episode at lunch one day in the cafeteria.

Jimmy had, on that strange day, been conversing boisterously with the boys seated near him. All of the tables were butted-up lengthwise, one to the other, in two long rows in that long, narrow cafeteria. And just when the laughing voices had reached a crescendo, the boy sitting next to him tapped Jimmy on the shoulder and shouted, "Darla loves you, Jimmy!"

Upon hearing that, Jimmy's heart soared. He reflected for a moment upon what a lucky day it was for him. When he had gathered back some of his wits, he looked down the length of those joined tables until his eyes locked with Darla's.

"Do you really, Darla?" he hollered.

After glancing over at her girlfriend and smiling at her, Darla nodded enthusiastically and then lowered her head to that of her girlfriend sitting next to her, and then the two of them leaned backward, out of Jimmy's vision.

His no longer being able to see her wasn't a problem for Jimmy; for the rest of lunch he need only picture her in his mind's eye--standing there in her blue dress, her little white socks inside brown suede shoes; but now his image of her displayed a look of love and devotion all over her face, love and devotion for Jimmy.

"What's wrong with you, Jimmy?" asked George, the boy seated next to him, later, when everyone had left, and Jimmy sat there with a warm smile of satisfaction on his face.

"What's wrong with you, Jimmy?" George repeated, finally jostling his friend out of his trance.

"Oh, Darla said she loves me!" said Jimmy with great delight.

"What of it?" said George. "She said the same thing to me, and to Scottie, and to Marty. She told all the boys she loved them. The girls and her were all playing some game about that today."

Lost in his reverie over the girl, Jimmy hadn't heard Darla profess her love for every other boy in the class after she had done so for him. His joy vanished, Jimmy slowly rose and accompanied George back to class.

But that strange episode had happened weeks ago. That minor miscommunication was no longer important. All that mattered now was that their eyes had met yesterday, and Darla had smiled at him. That was why it was with confidence that he had secured a ring for her, a valuable one of silver and diamond, he was certain.

At noon the teacher herded the students into two rows in order to march them to the cafeteria. Darla stood opposite Jimmy. He could almost extend his hand and touch her. All at once their eyes met, and she smiled at him again.

Emboldened by her overt show of affection for him, Jimmy's confidence climbed another notch and, in order to strike up a conversation with her, he said, "I heard you found a ring, Darla." (Her finding the ring had been the talk of the classroom that morning.)

"Yes," she said, "I found it in my desk."

"May I see it?" he asked.

Just before turning back to her girlfriend, Darla said absentmindedly, "It's on Dale."

Jimmy was stunned by this information. He didn't know how to respond to it. His eyes moved down the rows of students until they rested upon Dale--Dale King, the tallest, tannest, handsomest boy in the class--Jimmy's mortal enemy.

He just stared at Dale standing there, the ridiculous ring plain against his dark finger, his regal bearing making it easy to pull off wearing such a ridiculous thing, and only someone like Dale could pull off such a thing.