Bram turned his head and looked at Ed, half fighting the urge to laugh, and half scared for him. Ed was going to get killed. But Master Meijer stayed calm in his response and Bram laughed along with some of the other children when he called Ed beanpole. Bram took out his chalkboard. He could do sums alright. He was just terribly slow, and his mind tended to wander. He turned once more to look at Ed, to see what he was doing.