Authors: Suzy Kline

Horrible Harry in Room 2B (4 page)

BOOK: Horrible Harry in Room 2B

12.09Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

ads

Everyone did what Miss Mackle said except Harry.

“You wiggle forward when Squanto pulls you on the rope,” Miss Mackle said.

“I don't feel like wiggling right now,” Harry said.

“But you have to wiggle a little so that Squanto can pull you in,” Miss Mackle replied. “You're too heavy.”

“I'll wiggle a little,” Harry grumbled.

I could tell Harry wasn't his old self. He didn't feel like being a dead fish.

After school Harry came to my house.

He called Song Lee on my phone. And then he talked with her mother.

I wondered if Harry's bad mood had something to do with Song Lee's going home.

The next day at practice, Song Lee showed up. She whispered something in Miss Mackle's ear. Miss Mackle leaned back against the chalkboard. She looked shocked. Finally she smiled.

“Okay, places, everybody,” she called. “Pilgrims, you are in the field sowing. Squanto, you come in with your two fish.”

“Two?” I said.

“Two?”
the class said.

Miss Mackle cleared her throat. “Song Lee would like to be a dead fish also.”

The class looked down at Song Lee and Harry.

I looked down.

They were lying on the floor. Dead. Saying nothing.

“And Song Lee's mother made fish tails and fish fins for them. Isn't that wonderful?”

I could tell Harry thought it was wonderful. He was playing a dead fish that smiled.

“Places, everyone,” Miss Mackle called again.

Everyone did what Miss Mackle said. I said my line real well. And when I got to the part about fertilizing the corn with dead fish, I had a rope around Harry's waist and Song Lee's waist to slide them in.

They both wiggled forward.

So it was easy.

Sometimes Harry's horrible ideas help the class.

Horrible Harry and the Field Trip

H
arry and I made a promise. We said, “Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye,” that we were going to be partners for our field trip.

Three
weeks
ago!

The morning of the field trip,
just
when the bus pulled up in front of South School, Harry said, “Doug, I can't be your partner.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Song Lee doesn't have a partner. Her partner is home with the flu.”

“Great!” I said. “So now I get to be the one with no partner.”

“You can tough it out,” Harry said. Then he flashed his ugly white teeth and sat down next to Song Lee on the bus.

Harry
really
is horrible!

I sat in front of him next to Miss Mackle.

“Do you want the window seat?” she asked.

I shook my head. I wanted to sit on the aisle, across from Sidney.

Sidney leaned over and said, “Forget Harry. He's a canary.”

Harry looked over and held up a fist.

I made a face. “Harry is a canary.
Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!”

Now Harry had
both
fists in the air.

That's when I sat back and talked with Miss Mackle. “What do you have in your lunch?” I asked her.

“Cream cheese on date-nut bread, celery, and dried apricots.”

It sounded like something my teacher would eat.

“What do you have in your lunch, Doug?”

“Jelly sandwich, apple, and six giant
chocolate chip cookies.”
I said the last part real loud.

Harry leaned over the bus seat and drooled.

“Mom packed me
extras
for my partner,” I said.

Harry licked his lips.

“Do you like chocolate chip cookies?” I asked Miss Mackle.

“I love them,” she said.

“I do too,” Harry said.

“Sit down, Harry,” Miss Mackle scolded.

Harry made a face.

I noticed Song Lee was talking to Mary and Ida across the aisle.

Harry just kept staring out the window. He had no one to talk to.

When we got to the aquarium, Miss Mackle and I were line leaders. We led the class into the building and into the room with the big tropical-fish tanks.

Just when I was looking at the upside-down catfish, Harry said, “Do you want to be partners?”

I gave him a look. “I wouldn't be your partner in a thousand years.”

“I'll wait,” Harry said.

When I was through looking at the upside-down catfish, I said, “I thought you were partners with Song Lee.”

“She's with her two other friends, Mary and Ida. They're going to sit three on a seat on the way home.”

“I wouldn't be your partner in a hundred years,” I said.

“I'll wait,” Harry replied.

At lunch everyone sat at picnic tables. I sat next to Sidney.