Flying Feet (4 page)

Or how about a potato chopper?

Yes! He felt that buzz in his head.

An invention buzz!

He’d stick in a potato.

Out would come French fries. Or potato chips.

What an invention! He’d call it Pop Out a Potato.

Maybe his greatest one yet.

Charlie heard a clack-clack noise. Someone was coming.

“Uh-oh,” Sumiko said. “It’s Mrs. Farelli.”

Charlie leaned back into the mop.

“Did Charles tell you about Come as a Character Day?” Mrs. Farelli asked Sumiko.

“Um.”

“Good,” Mrs. Farelli said. “I’ll see you all in the art room in five minutes.”

All,
Charlie thought.
All?

Mrs. Farelli clacked away.

Sumiko slid into the closet. “No Olympics for me,” she said.

She gave Charlie a box of raisins. “It’s today’s snack.”

“Thanks.” Charlie tore open the box.

They sat there and chewed.

“Not much room in here,” Charlie said.

Mrs. Thomas must have thought so, too.

She gave Sumiko a quick scratch. She spit at Charlie.

They dived out of the closet.

Mrs. Farelli was standing at the end of the hall. “There you are,” she said.

They followed her into the art room.

“We have so much to do,” Mrs. Farelli said. “We have to make costumes and practice.”

She rooted through a box. “Nothing in here but …”

She held up a feather. She stuck it in her hair. She twirled around.

Mrs. Farelli looked a little like a rooster.

She was smiling. A big rooster smile.

Mrs. Farelli smiling?

Charlie could hardly believe it.

“I don’t know what this feather is good for.” She leaned over the box. “But look at this.”

She held up a fake carrot. “Perfect for our boy Peter Rabbit,” she said.

Charlie swallowed.

She dug a little deeper. “Where did these come from?” She held up a pair of fuzzy white pajamas. “An old costume, I guess. Perfect for a rabbit.”

Charlie took a step back.

Mrs. Farelli was still smiling. “Are you ready for more news?”

Trevor and Clifton, the kindergarten kids, popped in the door.

“We’re ready,” Clifton said. “Maybe I’ll be Jack the Giant Killer.”

“Something tough, anyway.” Trevor clenched his fists. “Graaaaaahhhh!”

Charlie jumped. So did Sumiko.

Mrs. Farelli tapped Charlie on the arm. “I saw your brother, Larry. He was outside the high school. I stopped the car and invited him,” she said. “He was thrilled.”

“I can’t believe it,” Charlie said.

“Grand, right? I called Zelda A. Zigzag. She’ll be coming, too.”

Charlie swallowed.

Zelda A. Zigzag and Larry would see him.

He’d be wearing fuzzy white pajamas. They’d watch him chomping down on a fake carrot.

E
veryone was going up to the library.

Almost everyone. Beebe and Destiny were knitting in the art room. The scarves looked like skinny red strings.

Mitchell waved at Charlie. “I’m staying for Homework Help. I’m writing the story of my life.”

Charlie nodded. Mitchell was the best writer in the Center. He’d won a prize for it.

“We don’t even have to think about Come as a Character Day until tomorrow,” Charlie told Sumiko.

“Whew,” she said.

Behind them, Trevor yelled, “Graaaah!”

No one jumped. It was the tenth time he’d graaaaahed in the last two minutes.

Clifton threw himself on the floor, laughing. “Great growl,” he told Trevor.

A sign was taped outside of the library.
CLOSE THE DOOR QUICKLY
.

Ms. Katz had brought her new dog, Tree Stump, with her.

He was little and round. Just like a tree stump.

Mrs. Thomas, the cat, would eat him ears to tail in one gulp.

Charlie opened the library door a couple of inches. He and Sumiko slipped through.

Tree Stump was safe.

Charlie liked being at the library. Especially during Afternoon Center.

Ms. Katz was the best teacher in school. She wore blue glasses. Her hair was straight as a stick.

It was read-aloud time. Everyone sat on the floor around Ms. Katz. Beebe sat closest. She could read Ms. Katz’s lips. Wow!

Ms. Katz passed out carrot cupcakes. They had swirls of icing on top like orange hats.

No one had to worry about crumbs on the rug.

Tree Stump loved crumbs.

Ms. Katz read to them…

 … with all the sound effects.

Last month she had read about a girl named Mary. Mary had found a secret garden.

This month she was reading about Dorothy and a wizard.

Dorothy and her dog, Toto, had been twirled away in a twister, or a rainstorm. One of those things, anyway.

“Swishhhhh, crackle, boooom,” Ms. Katz thundered.

“Kiken.”
Sumiko’s eyes were wide. “That’s ‘danger’ in Japanese.”

“Graaaaaahhhh!” roared Trevor.

Clifton tried a roar, too. It sounded more like a squeak.

But Tree Stump dived under the table.

Charlie listened. Dorothy had met three guys on the Yellow Brick Road. They all wanted something. They needed a wizard to help.

Charlie heard a noise in back of him.

Habib was juggling with cupcakes.

Splat!

What a mess.

Charlie scooped up icing from the table leg.

Delicious.

Tree Stump scarfed up a chunk from the rug.

He probably thought it was delicious, too.

Ms. Katz read more. She told them that Dorothy wanted to go home. It was lucky she had red shoes. She tapped them together three times. Then she was home.

Charlie liked being home, too.

He had started a new invention in his room.

He’d felt that buzz in his head. It was like a bee buzzing around in there. A thinking bee.

The invention was a Junker Cruncher.

It was a machine to crunch up junk.

If only it would work!

It would help Jake.

It would help the whole world.

All Charlie needed was a motor. And a cruncher. A big cruncher.

So far he had a mousetrap from the garage.

Snap!

It had cut a pen in half.

He’d get the small cruncher going. Then he and Jake could build a gigantic one.

Out in the hall, Ramón blew his whistle. Time to go.

Charlie and Sumiko walked to the bus.

The bus driver was waiting for them. She had a bandage on her foot.

“What happened?” Charlie asked.

Mrs. Dover didn’t look happy.

“Snap! I stepped on a mousetrap.” She looked at Charlie. “It was in my son’s bedroom.”

Terrible news! Her poor foot.

And almost as bad—

His Junker Cruncher was ruined.

T
his afternoon it was about to rain. Charlie could hear thunder.

“Swish crackle boom,” he said to himself in a Ms. Katz voice.

He went downstairs to the Center.

“How about knitting with us?” Destiny asked.

Beebe was standing next to her. “I’ll teach you.” Beebe sounded just a little loud. Ms. Katz said that was because she couldn’t hear her own voice very well.