Page 23 - Book one - Flipbook

“Well, I’m really glad you invented that shoe lasting machine Mr.
Matzeliger because all I wear are tennis shoes. Mom makes me wear my
dress shoes on Sunday when we go to church. But mostly I just wear
tennis shoes. So, thank you very much,” he chuckles, wondering when
he’ll get his tennis shoes back and if it’ll be any time soon.
“You’re very welcome.” Mr. Matzeliger stands up in front of Jaxon.
Jaxon looks up at him, “This is so awesome! I can’t believe that saying,
‘just imagine, what if there were no Black people in the world?’ while

wearing this necklace my gran gave me gives me the power to see and
speak to you guys. I’m gonna put this all down in my journal.”
He scans his room for his journal. He sees it and a pencil, but the pencil sharpener is missing.
“Did you happen to see a pencil sharpener anywhere in here?” he asks
looking around the room.
Mr. Matzeliger points to the man standing behind Jaxon, “You might
want to ask that guy behind you. I think he’s responsible for the pencil

sharpener.”
Jaxon turns around. The man, now standing in front of him wearing a
long, brown overcoat and brown boots, declares, “Yes, I am. My name is
John Love. I made the portable pencil sharpener. I made it small enough so that you can carry it
around with you in your backpack.”
Jaxon takes another breath. “Well, thank goodness for that ‘cause I
break a lot of pencil leads. I like to keep a journal of exciting things that
happen to me so that I can share with my class and my cousins.”
“Well, today you’ll have a lot of interesting things to write

about,” Mr. Love tells Jaxon, smiling. “I’m glad I could help. Keep up the
good school work. Word is you’re doing very well in fourth grade.” He
winks.
“How do you know that?” Jaxon asks still mystified by it all.
“We know everything, Jaxon. We are with you all the time. We’re
Mark your history, and history never goes away. And here’s another piece
Dean
of information—your laptop is missing because of Dr. Mark
Dean, a Black man who was instrumental in the invention of the
personal computer.”
“Yes, I was,” Mr. Dean is standing next to Jaxon’s bed, “along
with the color monitor. I also figured out a way for your
keyboard, mouse, printer, and laptop to communicate with each
other.”