1 BLACK AND WHITE AND TOUGH ALL OVER

LVY + BEAN TAKE THE CASE by annie barrows

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BLACK AND WHITE AND TOUGH ALL OVER Bean wasn't allowed to watch television. Or music videos. Bean's mom said she could watch two movies a week, but they had to be movies where everyone was good. There couldn't be any bad words. There couldn't be any mean people. There couldn't be anyone smoking a cigarette or wearing tiny clothes. There were only about ten movies that followed all these rules. Luckily, Bean liked all ten of them. She watched them over and over. Bean's mom said ten movies were plenty. She said kids Bean's age should be using their imaginations instead of watching TV. She said fresh air was more important than movies.

And then what did she do? She made Bean watch a movie. It was her favorite movie, she said. Everyone should see it at least once, she said. The movie was called Seven Falls, but it wasn't about waterfalls or even the leaf-falling kind of fall, which is what Bean had guessed. It was about a guy named Al Seven. Boy, was he tough! He was so tough he talked without moving his lips, and some of it was bad words.

He was also kind of mean. Everyone in the movie was kind of mean, plus they all smoked cigarettes. They didn't wear tiny clothes, but that was the only rule they didn't break. "I can't believe you're letting me watch

this," said Bean. "Seven Falls is a classic," said Bean's mom. "It's one of the greatest movies ever made." "Don't be a stooge," said Al Seven to another movie guy. That was pretty mean, but Bean pretended not to notice, because this was one of the greatest movies ever made. Al Seven was also in black and white, but Bean knew she was supposed to imagine he was in color. "What is it about dames?" asked Al Seven, walking slowly down a rainy street. "They break your heart, I guess," he answered himself. That was the end. Bean's mom let out a big, happy sigh. "Wasn't that amazing? Did you get it?" Get what? Bean wasn't sure, but she nodded. "I'm going to be just like Al Seven when I grow up." Her mother raised one eyebrow. "You'd better not be."