by Kevin Kremer
She put her hands over her mouth. “Valentine Shmellentine,” she whispered.
Chapter 9
JANA EXITED THE school door and walked onto the playground. She was followed by her good friends Katrice, Hannah, Trace, and Caleb, all intending to head straight for the four-square area together.
“Hey, Jana Banana!” called someone from a nearby basketball court. “You and your friends want to take us on?”
It was Bobby Greenfield, the best basketball player in Mandan—and he let everyone know about that, too. Bobby was over on a nearby basketball court on the playground with Nick Ressler and Danny Hilligoss, two other excellent basketball players. They were hogging the basketball court as usual, daring anyone to take them on, which no one had done all year.
Jana was an excellent basketball player and Bobby had challenged her several times to a one-on-one basketball game—mostly because he liked her. But Jana wanted nothing to do with a hotdog like Bobby. Any other day but this particular magical Valentine’s Day, Jana would have totally ignored Bobby’s challenge. This was anything but an ordinary day.
Jana suddenly had a few thoughts rush through her brain. “It would be so nice to shrink Bobby’s big head a little. This just might be the perfect time to do it.”
Jana had recently finished reading a book about two of the greatest basketball players of all time. Both were put in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998— Marques Johnson and Larry Bird. Marques Johnson played for the Harlem Globetrotters, and he was known as the greatest dribbler of the basketball ever. Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics was one of the greatest players of all-time, and one of the best outside shooters in the history of basketball. What if she gave their basketball skills to two of her friends and herself … and they took Bobby, Danny, and Nick on.
Before she knew it, Jana said, “Hey Bobby! If Caleb and Trace agree, we’ll take you on—as long as we get the ball first.”
Bobby looked surprised, but pleased. “Heck,” he replied with supreme confidence. “We’ll even give you six points, and we can play up to ten.”
“No need for free points,” said Jana. “If Caleb and Trace will play with me, we can play first team to eight points wins. We still want some time afterwards to play some four-square.”
“We’ll beat you real quick so you can get right to your four-square game,” Bobby promised.
“That’s very considerate of you,” said Jana, faking sincerity.
Trace and Caleb looked at Jana like she was crazy. Caleb was a good hockey player, but he wasn’t that great at basketball. Trace was pretty good at many sports, but basketball was definitely not even his first or second best sport. But, as much as they hated to get involved in this, they both weren’t about to let their good friend Jana Banana down. They shrugged their shoulders and walked toward her.
Jana got in a huddle with her two friends. “Thanks, you guys,” she said. “I have a good feeling about this. Just shoot whenever you’re open. Let’s have some fun, even if we get beat.”
“OK,” said Trace, not looking very happy.
“You owe me, Jana,” said Caleb.
“I’ll take the ball out,” Jana said, smiling.
Several fifth graders started gathering near the court to watch. This would be interesting. They expected to see a real blowout, but it would be fun to watch.
Bobby threw the ball to Jana under the north basket. Jana took the ball out of bounds, then she thought about giving herself and her two friends all the basketball skills of Marques Johnson and Larry Bird. After that, she turned her head away from everyone and whispered, “Valentine Shmellentine.”
She looked at the basketball court in front of her. Bobby was guarding her out of bounds, smiling. Nick was guarding Trace, and Danny was guarding Caleb.
Jana threw a pass to Trace who suddenly got big eyes as he was able to dribble the basketball with the skills of a master dribbler. Nick tried to steal the ball, but Trace casually dribbled it behind his back and threw it down the court to Caleb. Caleb stood 17 feet away from the basket and his eyes suddenly got bigger. He looked at the basket like a hungry person looks at a big, juicy hamburger.
“Shoot!” Danny said, standing back a few feet from Caleb, taunting him.
“Okay!” Caleb said politely to Danny.
Caleb took a beautifully arching shot that swished through the net! A big cheer went up from the kids who were watching!
“Lucky shot!” Bobby called out.
“But it’s two-zip anyway,” said Caleb, smiling, throwing the ball to Nick to take out under the south basket.
Nick threw the ball inbounds to Danny. Danny dribbled it down court and threw it to Nick who passed it to Bobby under the basket. Bobby wanted to back Jana in close to the basket, then shoot a jump shot over her.
Bobby bounced the basketball once, turned around—and on the way up, Jana reached up and pulled the basketball away from Bobby with catlike quickness that surprised the boy. Immediately Jana threw the ball down the court to Caleb who dribbled once and quickly threw it to Trace about 20 feet from the basket. Then Trace suddenly stopped.
“Shoot!” Nick said, taunting Trace as he stood more than three feet back from him.
Trace was more than 20 feet from the basket, a shot he would normally make about two percent of the time.
“If you insist,” said Trace, and he launched a long shot that arched high into the air and swished through the net. It was 4-0!
Trace smiled and fist-bumped Jana Banana and Caleb. A growing group of kids watching the game cheered enthusiastically. Something very magical was happening!
“You guys are so lucky!” said Bobby, a little stunned but still confident they would win.
The Basketball Game by Dominick Heck
“Yes, we are,” said Trace. “But I guess it’s four to nothing anyway.”
Jana smiled. This was more fun than she could ever have imagined, but she wondered if she might have overdone the magic just a bit.
Meanwhile, Nick took the ball out and threw it to Danny. Bobby held up his hands under the basket, more determined than ever to make a basket while Jana was guarding him. Danny threw it to Bobby. Bobby didn’t dribble the basketball at all this time. Instead he decided to shoot one of his unstoppable hook shots over Jana, a shot no one had ever blocked.
He took his patented hook shot! Suddenly, Jana jumped off the ground more than three-and-a-half feet and grabbed the ball out of the air with her right hand.
Bobby looked shocked! He wanted to yell “Goaltending!”—but he couldn’t get the word out of his mouth.
Jana threw the ball down court to Trace who dribbled twice and threw to Caleb, who was five feet from the basket. Caleb went in the rest of the way, making a layup that bounced off the backboard and in, for a 6-0 lead.
A loud cheer went up from what had now become a large crowd. Bobby, Danny, and Nick were noticeably flustered, but they were just as determined as ever. Nick took the ball out.
Jana Banana started to feel a little sorry for Bobby and his two buddies, but not that much. Still, she decided to give the boys a little magic of their own—the same basketball abilities as the ones that she and her two friends had.
“Valentine Shmellentine,” she whispered.
What followed the next three minutes and nineteen seconds would become legend around Mandan, North Dakota. The ever-growing crowd of students and teachers would witness some magical basketball wizardry that would have impressed the Harlem Globetrotters!
Bobby, Nick, and Danny got the ball and they put on a basketball exhibition that included lots of crisp passing and fancy dribbling. But every move they made was contested closely by Jana, Trace, and Caleb. It was a lot like watching the great Harlem Globetrotters playing themselves in fast motion. After a dizzying display of incredible basketball skills, Danny finally took a jump shot from the right side of the basket about 15 feet way—swish! It was 6-2!
The huge crowd cheered! They couldn’t believe what they’d just w
itnessed!
Jana Banana called Caleb and Trace over to her as she was walking over to take the ball out. She whispered something to them. … They broke their huddle, all smiling.
By this time, everyone had gathered around the basketball court, including the two supervising teachers.
Jana inbounds the ball to Trace, only six feet away. Immediately Jana and Caleb formed a wall in front of Trace, screening him from their opponents.
Bobby, Nick, and Danny had no clue what was going on. Before they had time to react, Trace turned his back to their basket and, using both hands, launched the basketball over his head underhanded into the air with as much force as he could muster.
“Valentine Shmellentine,” Jana whispered, covering her mouth with her right hand.
Everyone watched in disbelief as the ball flew through the air, gliding toward the basket much more s-l-o-w-l-y than it should have been moving. It bounced off the top of the backboard, went up into the air, came down, and bounced off the front of the rim. Then it s-l-o-w-l-y bounced back up into the air, came down, and swished through the net.
A HUGE cheer erupted, as Jana, Trace, and Caleb celebrated their victory with hugs and fist-bumps. Surprisingly, Bobby, Danny, and Nick walked over to congratulate the winners.
“You were incredible!” Bobby said. “Do you want to play again tomorrow?”
“Thanks,” Jana replied, “but we prefer four-square during recess. Feel free to join us sometime.”
Chapter 10
AFTER RECESS WAS over, Jana Banana got back to work in Mrs. Wolski’s classroom. It was a bit of a struggle because everyone wanted to talk about the amazing basketball game during recess.
All around the school, the other 50 Jana Bananas worked frantically to complete their remaining work, too. With so many Jana Bananas around Ron Erhardt Elementary, it did get a little tricky that morning, trying to make sure that two Jana Bananas never ran into each other. Jana’s magical powers were amazing, but there were still some awkward moments.
During a second grade recess, for example, Paula Goldmann, who was in Mrs. May’s class, had a very interesting conversation with her good friend, Connie Kesler, who was in Mrs. Paulson’s second grade class.
As they were swinging on two swings right next to each other, Connie asked Paula, “Are you having fun?”
“Yes, lots of fun,” Paula replied. “I just got to talk to a fifth grader who’s been working on a special Valentine’s Day project with us.”
Connie said, “We’ve had a fifth grader in our class working on a project, too. She’s really nice.”
“Ours is really nice, too,” said Paula. “Her name is Jana, but she said I could call her Jana Banana.”
Connie looked over at Paula with the biggest eyes ever. “That’s who’s been working in our class all morning!”
Another awkward moment occurred when the school secretary, Mrs. Nelson, was running some errands around the school, delivering messages to some of the classrooms. After she left the office, she walked by a first grade classroom where the door was opened. There she noticed Jana Banana sitting in a chair next to a desk, talking to one of the first graders.
Two Girls on the Swings by Baylor Thomason
Right after that, Mrs. Nelson went to Miss Ereth’s third grade classroom to deliver another message. She opened the door—and there was Jana Banana again, sitting in a chair next to one of the third graders, talking.
Mrs. Nelson shook her head and took a deep breath.
“I’m not going crazy! I’m not going crazy!” she whispered to herself.
For a brief moment, she thought of checking another classroom for Jana Banana, but then decided against it.
By the time the pizzas arrived, all the Jana Bananas had completed all of their work. Just before the pizza delivery man knocked on the door to Mrs. Wolski’s classroom, Jana Banana said, “Valentine Shmellentine” and all the other 50 Jana Bananas disappeared from around the school.
Jana sat in her desk with Katrice on her left and Hannah on her right, enjoying a piece of Canadian bacon and sauerkraut pizza.
Katrice said, “Hasn’t this been the best Valentine’s Day ever so far!”
“It sure has,” Hannah replied.
“I’ve had a great time!” Jana Banana smiling, thinking about what was going to happen all around the school very soon.
“I can’t wait to open up the valentines!” Katrice added.
Mrs. Wolski said, “Try to finish up all your valentines and eat some pizza, too. After that, we’ll play a few relays, then open up those valentines you’ve been working on. How’s that sound?”
“GREAT!”
Chapter 11
“ALL RIGHT!” SAID Mrs. Wolski. “It looks like the pizza’s all gone! Let’s play a few of your favorite relays before we look at all the awesome valentines you’ve worked so hard to make all morning. Let’s start out with Gossip Game and then we’ll play Eraser Tag.”
There was a loud cheer.
The Gossip Game started when Mrs. Wolski whispered a short phrase to Farrall Davis–“Valentine’s Day is more fun than fuzzy pickles!” Farrall was sitting in the desk in the circle to Mrs. Wolski’s right.
Then Farrall whispered what she had heard to Dakota, who was sitting to her right. This kept going all the way around the circle until the person on Mrs. Wolski’s left, Olivia, whispered what she had heard to Mrs. Wolski.
Olivia giggled when she whispered in Mrs. Wolski’s ear, “Valentines can’t run on icicles!”
Mrs. Wolski laughed, then explained to her fifth graders, “I started this Gossip Game out with Valentine’s Day is more fun than fuzzy pickles. When it had made its way all the way around the circle, it ended up as Valentines can’t run on icicles!”
Other fifth graders shared what they had heard when the gossip had gotten to them.
Matt started the next Gossip Game. He whispered, “The Vikings will win the Super Bowl before pigs fly.”
By the time it made its way all around the circle, it became, “The queen’s chin is in a cereal bowl flying!”
After they played the Gossip Game, they played the Bean Bag Pass. That game involved two bean bags—one had a Spider-Man picture on it and the other one had a Mickey Mouse picture on it. Mrs. Wolski gave the Spider-Man bean bag to Kellie and the Mickey Mouse bean bag to Michael. When Mrs. Wolski said GO!—Kellie and Michael passed their bean bags to the person beside them so the bags were going in opposite directions around the circle. The bags were passed as quickly as possible, and the Mickey Mouse bean bag got back to Michael before the Spider-Man bean bag got back to Kellie, so Mickey Mouse won the first game.
After they had played the Bean Bag Pass four more times, Mrs. Wolski said, “All right! Let’s open up our valentines!”
Chapter 12
EVERYONE STARTED DIGGING into their bags for their valentines. The valentines that Jana had made were hard to miss because they were so large and pretty, and each one was inside a beautiful handmade red, white, and pink envelope.
Crew was the first to open his Jana Banana valentine. He took the large valentine out and whispered as he read what was written:
Happy Valentine’s Day, Crew! I asked each person in class to write down one of the nicest things they could think of about you. I hope this helps make your Valentine’s Day the best EVER! Thanks for being such a great friend since kindergarten!
Jana Banana
Crew glanced to his left at Jana, five desks away. He held up his valentine and smiled at Jana. Jana smiled back at him.
Crew started reading silently all the things his classmates had written about him. “I’ll never forget when you helped me catch up when I missed a month of school in second grade.” Caleb’s name was written after that.
Crew glanced over at Caleb directly across the circle of desks and smiled. He had forgotten all about that.
He read the next thing from Abby. “I like how you treat everyone with kindness.”
The next one wa
s from Michael. “You give me your desserts all the time in the cafeteria!” Crew chuckled.
He kept reading all the nice things his classmates had said about him. “You helped me with long division when I couldn’t get it. … Remember in the third grade you gave me one of your sandwiches when I forgot my cold lunch? … You are the hardest worker on our soccer team by far. … I like your good attitude. … ”
“No way!” Crew said, looking up from his valentine over toward Jana. “How did you do all this, Jana Banana? This is so cool!”
Jana looked over at Crew and smiled. “It was so much fun!” she said.
It didn’t take long before everyone was reading their special Jana Banana valentine. Kellie Schmidt had tears in her eyes as she read some of the nice things people had written about her. She couldn’t believe how many of the kids in class wanted to get to know her better.
After reading several of the nice things people had written about him, Michael chuckled and said, “Hey! These things you all wrote about me make me sound a lot better than I really am! I could get a big head!”
Everyone laughed.
Katrice said, “This is so cool, Jana Banana! I don’t even remember you asking us to tell you nice things for each person.”
Jacy was one of the quietest students in the class. She had moved to Mandan from Nevada after Christmas and was having a little trouble getting used to everything in her new town and new school. She couldn’t believe how many nice things her new classmates had written about her. Kinley had written, “I’m so glad you’re in our class because you are awesome! I hope you will come to my birthday party on March 19.”
Mrs. Wolski had tears in her eyes as she read all the nice things her students had written about her. She said, “I can’t believe this! … Jana, I can’t imagine how you were able to do all this in a few hours, but it’s just wonderful. I’ll treasure this special valentine forever.”
