Angela must have noticed them, because she stopped laughing. “I am sorry,” she said again.
“That’s all right,” said Ms. Colman. “It could not be helped. Anyway, here is Hunca Munca. We want to return him. And since we paid you for Hunca Munca and we lost Harriet we should be even now.”
Angela and Ms. Colman talked by the cash register for a few minutes.
Bobby barely listened to them. He was looking at the animals in Pet Time. And he was wishing he had a pet all his own.
BABIES!
The warm spring weather had lasted for a long time. School was almost over. On most days Bobby did not even need to wear a sweater or a jacket. But one morning he woke up to rain and fog and a chill in the air. “Better wear your raincoat,” said his father.
Bobby made a face. But he did not really mind wearing his coat. He knew he would be cold without it.
Bobby was not the only kid in Ms. Colman’s class who wore a raincoat to school. Nearly everyone was wearing a coat or a sweater or a sweatshirt. The kids trooped into the coatroom. They had not needed to use the coatroom lately. But now they took off their wet boots and set them on the floor. Then they hung up their things.
Bobby was hanging his coat when he heard Omar cry, “Hey!” Omar paused. Then, “Hey, look! Look, everybody!”
“What is it?” asked Bobby.
Omar was pointing at something in the back corner of the coatroom.
Bobby leaned over to look at it. It was an old shoe box. The lid was half off. Inside was a mess of shredded white papers.
“A mouse nest!” exclaimed Bobby. He leaned over for a closer look. In the mouse next he saw … Harriet and nine pinkish-white babies.
“A mouse nest?” said Karen.
“A mouse nest?” said Chris.
“A mouse nest?” said Hank.
“A mouse nest?” said five other voices.
“Yes! It’s Harriet!” cried Bobby. “She was here all along. And she had her babies. Nine of them, I think.”
“Really? Nine?” said Karen. “Let’s count.” Karen reached for the box.
“Wait. Do not grab it,” said Bobby.
“That will scare the mice,” said Omar.
“Well, we cannot leave her here,” said Karen. “This is not a safe place. Besides, Harriet might escape.”
“I will move the box,” said Bobby. “I will be very, very careful.”
Bobby put the lid back on the shoe box. Then he lifted the box gently. He carried it out of the coatroom and into the classroom. He tiptoed slowly to his desk, and set the box on it.
“Well, what do we have here?” asked a voice.
Bobby turned around. “Ms. Colman! Hi, Ms. Colman! Look, it is Harriet! Omar found her. She was in the coatroom. She had her babies!”
The rest of the kids were crowding around Bobby and the shoe box. Everyone was talking at once.
“She was right in the coatroom.”
“Let me see. Let me see.”
“Ooh, babies.”
“Why couldn’t Omar have found her before the science fair?” (That was Karen Brewer, of course.)
“Class, class. Settle down now,” said Ms. Colman. “Please go to your desks.” Ms. Colman lifted the lid off the shoe box. She peeked inside at Harriet and her nine squirming babies. “We do not want to touch the nest or the babies,” said Ms. Colman. She looked thoughtful. “Hmm. I have an idea.”
Ms. Colman found a pair of scissors. Carefully she cut away the sides of the shoebox. Then she took the lid off Hunca Munca’s empty cage. Very slowly she picked up the bottom of the shoe box, with Harriet and her nest perched on it. Then she set it in the cage.
“There,” she said.
Bobby looked at the cage, which was on Ms. Colman’s desk. He could not help smiling. Harriet was back. She was safe. And she had had her babies and they were safe, too. Now, if only he could figure out how Harriet had gotten out of the cage in the first place.
AUDREY GREEN
That morning the kids in Ms. Colman’s class could not stop talking about Harriet and her babies. They talked about them while Ms. Colman took attendance, and while she talked to Mr. Berger in the classroom next door.
“How long will it take the babies to grow up?” wondered Ian.
“Do they drink water yet?” asked Natalie.
“When will they be as furry as Harriet?” asked Ricky.
“We would probably know all those things,” said Karen, “if somebody had not let Harriet out of her cage.” Karen glared at Bobby.
“I did not let Harriet out of her cage,” said Bobby.
“I am sure you did,” replied Karen. “You just snuck in here. You probably did it after school the day before we realized Harriet was gone. Of course, you would have had to watch out for Mr. Fleming —”
“Who is Mr. Fleming?” asked Bobby.
“He is the hall monitor,” spoke up Audrey. “Only he was not here that afternoon. It was Mrs. — I mean, I mean — um …” Audrey’s hand flew to her mouth.
Bobby stared at Audrey. So did Karen. So did most of the other kids. Karen put her hands on her hips.
“Audrey, how do you know who the hall monitor was that afternoon?” she asked. Karen was frowning.
“Yeah, how do you know?” asked Bobby.
“I, well … because I …”
“You let Harriet out of her cage, didn’t you, Audrey?” said Bobby.
“I did not mean to!” exclaimed Audrey.
“Excuse me? What did I just hear?” said Ms. Colman. She had closed the door to Mr. Berger’s room. Now she stood at her desk. “Audrey? Is there something you would like to tell the class?”
“Not really,” mumbled Audrey.
“Audrey,” said Ms. Colman.
“Well, okay.” Audrey was looking at the floor. “I let Harriet out of her cage. But I did not mean to!” she cried. “Honest, I didn’t. It was just that you guys” — Audrey looked at Bobby and Sara and Karen — “would not let anyone else near Harriet. You would not let us hold her or even pat her. I just wanted to see her up close, that was all. And my mom needed to go to the office to see Mrs. Titus about something that day, so I told her I had to go to my class to get a book I had left in my desk. And then I opened Harriet’s cage, and I picked her up and I was patting her, and before I knew it, she got away from me and I could not catch her. I could not even see where she had gone. I am really, really, really, really, REALLY sorry.”
For a moment nobody said anything. Finally Ms. Colman sighed. Then she said, “Audrey, I will talk to you about this during recess today. And now, class, please take out your reading books.”
Bobby grinned. He took out his reading book. He did not need to turn around to know that Karen was looking at him.
At lunchtime Karen found Bobby in the cafeteria. “Bobby,” she said, “I am sorry I blamed you for letting Harriet out. That was not fair. I was wrong. So … I am sorry.”
Bobby thought about sticking his fist in Karen’s face and saying he was going to beat her up on the playground. Instead he said, “That is okay. I am just glad Harriet is back.”
Sara was standing next to Karen. “I am sorry, too, Bobby,” she said.
“Me, too,” spoke up Natalie.
“Me, three,” added Tammy Barkan.
Bobby smiled. But mostly because he was glad Harriet was back.
BOBBY AND HARRIET
The cold, rainy weather lasted for two days. Then the sun came out and the air grew warm again.
“Spring is back,” said Bobby. And it turned out that this time spring was here to stay.
As the days grew hotter, Harriet’s babies grew bigger. They opened their eyes. They became furry. Soon they could scamper around the cage.
One day Ms. Colman said, “Bobby, Karen, Sara, could I see you after school for a few minutes, please?”
Bobby did not panic. He was fairly sure he was not in any trouble. That was because Ms. Colman wanted to see Karen and Sara, too. Karen was har
dly ever in trouble. And Sara was never in trouble. So Bobby figured he was safe.
He was right. But he did not like what Ms. Colman said to them that afternoon. She said, “Kids, Harriet’s babies are big enough to be separated from her now. So it is time to take the mice back to Angela at the pet shop.”
“Hey, Ms. Colman,” said Sara. “Now we can hold up our end of the bargain. Angela can sell Harriet and her babies, just like she said she would.”
Ms. Colman smiled. But Bobby said, “Do we really have to give Harriet back now?”
“I am afraid so,” replied Ms. Colman. “It is time. We will go tomorrow. I will need a parent to come with us again.”
Mrs. Gianelli went to Pet Time with Bobby, Sara, Karen, and Ms. Colman the next day. When they arrived at the store, Karen burst through the door.
“Hey, Angela!” she cried.
“Indoor voice, Karen,” said Ms. Colman.
“Hey, Angela,” said Karen more quietly. “We brought Harriet back after all. With her babies. With her nine babies.”
“Well, well,” said Angela.
“We found her in a shoe box,” added Sara. “She had already had the babies. We do not even know when.”
“But here she is now,” said Karen. “We can keep up our end of the deal. Remember our deal?”
“Of course I do,” replied Angela.
Angela was smiling. She took the cage from Ms. Colman. She set it down next to one of the mouse cages in the store. Then she turned back to Ms. Colman.
“Let me give you your money back for Harriet since she is now returned,” said Angela.
Ms. Colman and Angela walked over to the counter.
“Good-bye, Harriet,” whispered Bobby. He hurried away from her cage. He pretended to be very interested in a tank full of colorful fish. Then he pretended to be interested in a snake.
Bobby was looking at the hamsters when he heard someone say, “I will take that one, please.” Bobby turned around. He saw his mother pointing into a cage. It was a mouse cage, and she was pointing at Harriet.
Bobby ran to his mother. “For me? You are buying Harriet for me?”
Mrs. Gianelli smiled. “Yes.”
“Wow! Thanks! Thanks a lot!” Bobby leaned down toward Harriet. “Hey, Harriet, did you hear that? You are coming home with me. You do not have to stay here in the pet store. You will have a real home. I think you will like our house. My little sister Alicia lives there. And our dog. And my mom and dad, of course. You can stay in my room. I will take good care of you…. Hey, Mom, thanks a lot!” said Bobby again.
Angela put Harriet in a box and handed the box to Bobby. When Bobby left Pet Time that day, he had a pet of his very own.
About the Author
ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.
Copyright © 1997 by Ann M. Martin
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, 1997
e-ISBN 978-1-338-09261-5
Science Fair Page 3
