Flower Power (6 page)

“Mr. Guthrie is such a great guy,” the nurse added. “I hope those kids in his class at school appreciate him.”

Oh, we do,
Katie wanted to say. But of course, she couldn’t. After all, she
was
Mr. G. right now. Or was that G-Man the Clown? Well, either way, she had a show to put on. She hopped up onto her feet and…
HONK!

“Yay! Hooray!”

Katie could still hear the sick kids cheering for her as she left the sunroom of the hospital and headed down the hallway, toward the lobby. She couldn’t wait to get outside.

“Mr. Guthrie, don’t you want to change into your regular clothes before you leave?” one of the nurses asked.

Katie gulped. She didn’t want to be her teacher when he was in his underwear!

“No. Uh, that’s okay. I kind of like this outfit,” she said, quickly heading out the door.

It was cool and crisp outside. Katie took a deep breath of the fresh air. It sure felt good to
get a whiff of the trees and the grass.

Katie felt really bad for the kids that had to stay in the hospital. They probably would give anything to be out here looking at the flowers and feeling a cool breeze on their necks. That breeze sure did feel good. At least at first…

But then that gentle breeze began blowing harder and harder. In a flash, it turned into a wild tornado, blowing just around Katie. The magic wind was back!

The magic wind whirled and swirled wildly. Katie had to hold on to a nearby lamppost just to keep from being blown away.

And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone. Katie Kazoo was back.

So was Mr. G. And boy, did he look confused.

“Katie, what are you doing out here in the hospital parking lot?” he asked. Then he paused for a moment. “Come to think of it, what am I doing out here? I’m supposed to be in there doing a show for sick kids.”

“I think maybe you already did it,” Katie said.

“Did I mess up a joke?” Mr. G. asked her, shaking his head slightly.

Before Mr. G. could ask any more questions, the boy with short, short hair came running over with his mother. Katie remembered that the nurse had called him Darnell.“I forgot to give you this, G-Man,” Darnell said. He held out a card he had made.

Mr. G. took the card and opened it up. Katie looked over his shoulder to see what it said.

Thanks, G-Man the Clown. G stands for Great!

Your pal, Darnell

Katie grinned. She knew just what Darnell meant.

“I hope I see you again soon,” Darnell said seriously. “Only not in here, you know what I mean?”

Mr. G. grinned. “I know exactly what you
mean. I’m so glad you’re well now. Maybe one day
you’ll
come back and put on a show for the kids.”

“Maybe,” Darnell agreed. “But I’ll know all the jokes
before
I do my show.”

Mr. G. frowned. “I
really
can’t believe that happened.”

Oh, it did,
Katie thought to herself.
And other stuff, too.
But, of course, she didn’t say that.

As Darnell walked away, Mr. G.’s cell phone began to ring. “Hello?” he said to the person on the other end.

Katie waited patiently while Mr. G. talked on the phone. He did not look very happy.

“That was Mr. Kane,” Mr. G. said as he hung up the phone. “He was very upset about what happened in class today. He wants me to change things in our class. He wants 4A to be like every other classroom.”

“You mean with desks and tests and things?” Katie asked him.

Mr. G. nodded.

“No games? Or yoga? Or…” Katie continued.

Mr. G. shrugged. “He thinks I haven’t done a very good job of controlling you kids. He feels that the kids in 4A have no consideration for other people. You showed that by being so bad when there was a substitute teacher in the class.”

Katie frowned. “That’s not what we planned at all.”

“Planned?
What are you talking about, Katie?” Mr. G. asked.

Katie kicked at the ground with her toe while she told Mr. G. about how they had all thought he was leaving. And then she explained George’s idea for keeping him as their teacher.

“What made you think I was looking for a different job?” Mr. G. asked.

“Well, you cut off your ponytail and then you were absent from school, so Suzanne figured you were probably going on an interview,” Katie explained.

“And you listened to
Suzanne?”
Mr. G. asked. “You should have spoken to me. I would have told you that I cut off my ponytail so the hair could be made into a wig.”

“A wig?” Katie asked him, surprised.

Mr. G. nodded. “Some kids in this hospital have to take medicine that makes their hair fall out. They need wigs to wear until their real hair grows back. I donated my ponytail to an organization that makes wigs for sick kids.”

Katie frowned. “Gosh, Mr. G. That’s really nice of you.”

Mr. G. sighed. “Well, I guess class 4A is in for some big changes tomorrow,” he said slowly.

Katie thought about that. She didn’t want to be in a normal classroom with a normal teacher. She wanted everything to be the way it had been up until now. Mr. G. was a great teacher. He made sure the class ran smoothly without being strict or stern. If only there was some way to make Mr. Kane see that.

“Wait!” Katie told Mr. G. excitedly. “I have a great idea!”

“My sunflower is going to be the first one to pop out of the dirt,” George boasted as class 4A headed into their classroom the next morning. “Sunflowers only take a few days to sprout.”

“The kids at the hospital will love your sunflowers, George,” Katie told him.

“The kids
where
will love my
what?”
George asked, surprised.

“At Cherrydale Children’s Hospital,” Mr. G. told him. “We’re going to donate our plants to the children there. It’s all Katie’s idea.”

“Why would you want to give our plants away?” George demanded of Katie.

“Because
we
see trees and flowers every day,” Katie explained. “And the sick kids are stuck inside all the time. We have to be considerate of other people’s feelings.”

Mr. G. nodded. “That’s very important. Mr. Kane thought Katie’s idea was very nice.”

“It showed him what nice kids we are,” Katie told her friends.

“Which was important, since I heard you guys weren’t so considerate of Mr. Goodstein’s feelings yesterday,” Mr. G. added with a sigh. “Okay, everyone sit down now.”

Katie grinned as she plopped down in her beanbag chair. No desks for 4A! Her great idea had saved the day! Now things could stay the way they were.

Well, sort of…

“I still think you dudes need to brush up on your manners,” Mr. G. continued. “This morning, you are each going to write two letters of apology. One to Mr. Goodstein and one to Mr. Kane. And that’s just the beginning.”

Katie gulped. Uh-oh! Had Mr. G. decided to change things in the class anyway?

“Next week, we’re going to have a garden party in our classroom,” Mr. G. continued. “We’ll drink dandelion tea and have flower-shaped cookies.”

“Oh, yeah!” George exclaimed. “Parties rule!”

Mr. G. smiled. “Yes. At our garden party, you will all show perfect manners. That means saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘excuse me.’ There will be no fighting or joke-offs. No one will eat before everyone is served. And no making mushed-up food soup, George.”

“That doesn’t sound like much of a party,” George groaned. “Usually we run around and act silly at parties.”

“Oh, I think you did enough of that yesterday,” Mr. G. reminded him.

George didn’t say another word.

Katie breathed a sigh of relief. Throwing a party to teach manners. How Mr. G. was that?

That night, Katie had a little party of her own. It was a sleepover party for Suzanne and herself. The girls made popcorn, watched movies, and painted each other’s fingernails. No surprises. Just a typical sleepover. Until just before Katie’s mom came to turn off the lights…

“What’s that?” Katie asked as Suzanne pulled a pink pouch out of her knapsack.

Suzanne blushed. “N-nothing,” she said quickly. “I…um…I thought your mom was about to turn off the lights.”

“Come on. What’s in there?” Katie insisted.

Suzanne frowned. “If I show you, you have to promise you won’t tell anyone.”

“I promise,” Katie agreed.

Suzanne held up her little finger. “Pinky swear,” she insisted.

Katie crooked her finger through Suzanne’s. “Pinky swear.”

Suzanne sighed and pulled a thick metal wire out of the bag. It was attached to a cloth band.

“What’s that?” Katie asked her.

“My night brace,” Suzanne mumbled.

“Your what?” Katie asked, not sure she had heard right.

“My night brace,” Suzanne repeated. “I have to wear it on my teeth every night. To make sure they grow in straight.”

Katie couldn’t believe it! “You’ve been making fun of Miriam’s braces all week,” she said. “But you wear them, too?”

“Only at night,” Suzanne insisted. “And I hate it. I would never wear anything this ugly if I didn’t have to.”

“Just like Miriam wouldn’t wear braces if she didn’t have to,” Katie reminded Suzanne.

“At least she gets colored wires,” Suzanne said. “I have this plain silver wire with a tan strap. Imagine
me
wearing something bland tan!”