by Nancy Krulik
Katie giggled, a little.
“I don’t think it’s fair that Mrs. Derkman made you clean up with everyone else. You weren’t even there.” Suzanne continued. “It’s such a bummer that you were in the bathroom! Katie, you always miss the good stuff.”
“I heard all about it, though,” Katie told Suzanne. “The whole school was talking about it when I got back to the cafeteria.”
“But I’ll bet you don’t know what happened after the food fight,” Suzanne said.
Katie smiled. Suzanne loved knowing things before anybody else did.
“What?” Katie asked her.
“Guess,” Suzanne answered.
“Come on, Suzanne. Just tell me,” Katie urged.
“Lucille the lunch lady got fired!” Suzanne exclaimed. “Mr. Kane told my mom when she came to pick me up. He said that he couldn’t let a lunch lady who acted like an eight-year-old work in the school.”
Katie felt guilty all over again.
“The weird thing was, Lucille was kinda acting like a kid,” Suzanne continued. “I heard she told Malcolm the food belonged in the garbage. She even threw a bunch of it.”
“That wasn’t any reason to fire her,” Katie interrupted her. “The food is really gross. We should have healthier stuff to eat.”
“I guess,” Suzanne agreed.
“And you know what else?” Katie continued. “Lucille didn’t even really start the food fight. She was throwing some food out in the garbage and it landed on George by mistake. He started the food fight.”
“How do you know that?” Suzanne asked her suddenly. “You weren’t even there.”
Oops! Katie had forgotten that she was supposed to have been in the girls room during the food fight. “Well, that’s what I heard, anyway,” she lied. “A bunch of kids said George was the one who yelled out ‘food fight!’ Maybe Mr. Kane should have fired him instead.”
Suzanne laughed. “Mr. Kane can’t fire a kid,” she told Katie. “Kids have to go to school. It’s a law.”
“Well, anyway, it wasn’t fair of Mr. Kane to fire Lucille,” Katie continued.
“Oh who cares?” Suzanne said. “She’s just a grouchy lunch lady. Besides, it was her own fault.”
“She made a mistake,” Katie insisted. “How’d you like it if you got punished every time you made a mistake? Everyone deserves a second chance—even grouches.”
“I guess,” Suzanne finally agreed. “But what can we do about it? We’re just kids.”
Katie was quiet for a minute, thinking. Suddenly an idea exploded in her head. “Suzanne, do you think you can bring a bag lunch for school tomorrow?” she asked excitedly.
“Sure, I guess so,” Suzanne answered.
“Good. So will I,” Katie said. “We have to call everyone we know and ask them to pack their lunches, too. Let’s make sure every kid in the whole school brings a bag lunch tomorrow.”
“I don’t get it,” Suzanne admitted. “How is that going to get Lucille her job back?”
“Nobody in our school is going to buy a cafeteria lunch until Lucille is back behind the counter!” Katie explained. “We’re on a cafeteria strike!”
As soon as she hung up the phone with Suzanne, Katie called Jeremy and told him about the cafeteria strike. He had to let the boys know not to bring lunch money tomorrow.
“I don’t know, Katie. Are you sure the kids will want to help Lucille?” Jeremy asked after Katie explained the plan to him. “She is kind of mean.”
“Well, we’re not so nice to her, either. All we ever do is complain about the food,” Katie told him. “And she has a really hard job. It’s hot back there in the kitchen. And she’s standing up all the time. You wouldn’t believe how badly her feet hurt!”
“How do you know that?” Jeremy asked.
Katie gulped. She’d almost let Jeremy know what had happened to her today. She needed to be more careful about what she said. “I . . . um . . . I’m just guessing that’s how she feels,” she stammered nervously. “Anyway, maybe Lucille would like us better if she knew we’d tried to get her job back for her.”
“Maybe,” Jeremy agreed. “She probably wouldn’t have gotten fired if the food fight hadn’t gotten wild. I guess it’s kind of partly our fault.”
“Exactly,” Katie said. “That’s why we should do this for her.”
“It’s worth a try, anyhow,” Jeremy agreed. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just call two or three boys in our class and tell them about the strike,” Katie instructed him. “Ask them to call a few of their friends. Then those kids can tell more kids, and they can tell more kids. If we keep the chain going all afternoon, by tomorrow everyone will know about the strike.”
“I’ll try,” Jeremy assured Katie. “I hope it works.”
“This plan has got to work,” Katie answered. “It just has to!”
Chapter 7
The next morning, Katie had a lot of trouble sitting still in class. All she could think about was the cafeteria strike. Katie wasn’t sure if all the kids in school had gotten phone calls. She wondered if everyone had agreed to bring their own lunches. If even one kid decided to buy lunch, the plan wouldn’t work. They all had to stick together.
Luckily, as soon as she walked into the cafeteria, Katie knew she had nothing to worry about. No one was buying the school lunch. The cafeteria tables were covered with brown bags and lunch boxes the kids had brought from home.
Katie looked toward the counter. There was a new lunch lady standing there. She was short and chubby, with small gray eyes and big, yellow teeth. She looked really mean. She also looked really bored. None of the kids were buying lunch. The new lunch lady had nothing to do.
Katie smiled happily as she opened up her lunch bag.
“I thought you said your mom didn’t have time to make you lunch in the morning,” Suzanne remarked.
“She doesn’t,” Katie answered. “I made this myself.” She took a big bite of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “It’s pretty good. What do you have?”
Suzanne pulled a small plastic container from her brown bag. Inside the container were six evenly cut pieces of sushi. Suzanne took a pair of chopsticks from the bag and began to eat.
Katie glanced over at the next table where the boys were sitting. Ever since Suzanne and Jeremy had argued over Speedy, the boys and girls in class 3A sat at separate tables. Katie felt bad about not being able to sit near Jeremy at lunch.
Of all the lunches in the cafeteria, George’s was the most amazing. Most of the kids had brought lunch boxes or little brown bags with them to school. But not George. He was carrying a huge brown bag, the kind you got when you brought groceries home from the supermarket. Slowly, he began to empty the bag. First he unpacked a huge hero sandwich. Then he took out a pickle and a container of potato salad. Next he opened his Thermos and poured himself a cup of juice. Finally, he pulled a bag of corn chips out of the bag.
“Wow! That’s some lunch!” Kevin exclaimed loud enough for Katie and the other girls to hear. “George, you are such a pig!”
George bit off a huge hunk of his hero and began to snort. “Look at me, I’m a pig!” he shouted as he snorted.
“He’s not kidding!” Suzanne said. “Only a pig would talk with his mouth full.”
George leaned over toward the girls’ table. He opened his mouth wide so Suzanne and Katie could see his half-chewed sandwich. “Hey, Katie Kazoo, check this out. I have seafood for lunch!” he told her. “Get it? See food?”
Katie giggled. George was definitely gross. He was also pretty funny.
“Speaking of pigs,” George began as he swallowed his food. “What do you get when you mix a pig and an egg?”
“I don’t know,” Jeremy answered him. “What?”
“Hampty Dumpty!” George exclaimed.
“Good one, George.” Jeremy laughed. “I love your jokes.”
“I’ve got a million of ’em!” George assured him. “What rescued Hampty Dumpty when h
e fell off the wall?”
“What?” Kevin asked.
“A hambulance, of course,” George replied. He chuckled really hard at his own joke.
Katie turned toward the food counter. The new lunch lady was still standing there. Her face looked a little sweaty now—probably because there was a lot of steam coming up from the food trays.
Just then, Mr. Kane walked into the cafeteria. The principal looked around the room. He stared at all the lunch boxes and brown paper bags on the tables. Then he headed toward the lunch line. Katie watched as Mr. Kane stared at all the uneaten food.
“What’s going on in here?” Mr. Kane asked the new lunch lady.
“I don’t know,” she answered him. “Nobody’s buying lunch.”
Mr. Kane nodded his head slowly. Then he turned and faced the kids.
“Okay, kids, what’s going on in here? Why isn’t anyone buying lunch?” the principal asked.
“ ’Cause we’re on strike,” a boy from the kindergarten called out. The grown-up words sounded funny coming from such a little boy. Everyone started to laugh, even Mr. Kane.
“You are?” Mr. Kane kneeled down next to him. “Why, Joshua?”
“ ’Cause the lunch lady went away. We want her back,” Josh explained.
Katie smiled as she watched the principal stand up and look around at all the brown bags and lunch boxes in the cafeteria. Now that he understood why the kids weren’t buying lunches, Katie was sure the principal was going to tell them that Lucille could have her job back.
Katie sat up straight. She was about to be a hero.
But Katie was wrong. Mr. Kane didn’t say a word. He just walked out of the room. Katie slumped down in her seat. This was not going to be as easy as she’d thought.
The students of Cherrydale Elementary School were not quitters. The next day they all brought their own lunches to school again. Once more, the new lunch lady stood all alone behind her trays. She looked even more angry, bored, and sweaty than she had the day before.
Katie took her seat next to Suzanne at the girls’ table and opened her lunch bag.
“What do you have today?” Suzanne asked her.
“Peanut butter and jelly,” Katie answered.
“Again?” Suzanne said.
Katie shrugged. “It’s the only thing I know how to make. What have you got?”
“My mother gave me some leftover pizza with extra cheese,” Suzanne said. “I like to eat it cold.”
Katie glanced over toward the boys’ table. Jeremy had brought a big bag of jelly beans to school. He was busy sharing them with Kevin and Carlos. Katie knew that if she were sitting over there, Jeremy would have let her have some of the purple ones. But the other boys didn’t want Katie—or any of the girls—sitting at their table.
Katie sure wished that Jeremy and Suzanne would stop fighting over the hamster. Their fight was ruining the whole class. Besides, they had to decide something fast. Tomorrow was Friday. Speedy still didn’t have a home to go to for the weekend!
Katie also hoped that Mr. Kane would decide to hire Lucille back soon. The cafeteria was really starting to smell because of the strike. Since no one had bought the hot dogs yesterday, the lunch lady had brought them out again. School hot dogs always smelled pretty bad, but day-old school hot dogs really stank.
Just then, Mr. Kane walked toward the front of the cafeteria and looked out at the students. “It looks like we have a lot of uneaten food today, just like yesterday,” he told them in a loud, stern voice. “I suppose it will be the same way tomorrow, too,” he added.
Katie gulped. Mr. Kane sounded a little bit angry about the cafeteria strike. She was also pretty sure he was looking in her direction when he spoke. Did Mr. Kane know that Katie had started the cafeteria strike? Was he going to be angry with her? For the first time, Katie was worried about how the cafeteria strike was going to turn out.
But just then, Mr. Kane’s stern frown turned upside down. He smiled at the children. “Well, I have good news for you kids,” the principal said. “Lucille and I spoke on the phone today. I told her I thought she deserved a second chance.”
Katie smiled. That’s what she thought, too.
“You’ll all be glad to know that Lucille said she’d come back to work . . . if you all promised to be good at lunch time,” Mr. Kane told them.
“Hooray!” The kids in the cafeteria cheered.
“She also made me promise that we would have some better-tasting food and fresher vegetables. Starting tomorrow, we will have a different menu in the cafeteria.”
“Hooray!” Once again, the kids began to shout wildly.
Mr. Kane looked sternly at the cheering kids. Everyone got quiet really quickly. “But your food fight made a big mess of this room. We’ll never get these walls completely cleaned up. You kids will have to stay after school for a few days to paint them.”
Now the kids looked really sad. Painting the walls sounded like a boring job.
Just then, Katie had an idea. She raised her hand shyly. Mr. Kane looked over at her. “Yes, Katie,” he said.
“Do we have to paint the walls this same color? Or can we paint a big picture on the wall instead?” she asked.
Mr. Kane thought about that for a minute. Then he nodded. “That’s a wonderful idea, Katie. It would be nice to have a mural that was painted by our students.” He smiled at the kids. “This cafeteria strike has proven that you can do great things when you all work together. I can’t wait to see what kind of painting you can come up with.”
“This is going to be the most beautiful cafeteria ever!” Katie assured the principal.
Chapter 6
The kids in class 3A began planning the mural as soon as Mr. Kane left the cafeteria.
“I think we should have unicorns and stars,” Suzanne suggested.
“Oh yeah,” Zoe agreed. “That sounds so pretty.”
Kevin sat at the boys’ table and rolled his eyes. “Would you listen to those girls? Who wants a pretty mural? I say we go for cool stuff like skateboards and hot-air balloons.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jeremy agreed.
“I’m not painting any dumb unicorn,” George said.
That did it. Katie got up and stood right between the two tables.
“Cut it out!” she shouted. “I’m tired of everybody fighting.”
“It’s her fault,” Jeremy said, pointing at Suzanne.
“Are you nuts?” Suzanne shouted. “You started it.”
“I don’t care who started it,” Katie said. “If we keep fighting we won’t have any mural at all. We all have to work together.”
“Okay, so what’s it gonna be, Katie Kazoo? Skateboarders or unicorns?” George asked.
“I don’t know,” Katie admitted. “Maybe we could come up with something else. Something we’re all happy with.”
The kids thought about that for a minute.
“Okay,” Suzanne agreed.
“You’re right, Katie,” Jeremy said quietly.
“So we’re all friends again?” Katie asked nervously.
“I guess,” Jeremy said. He looked across the aisle at Suzanne. “If we keep fighting over Speedy, he won’t have any place to go this weekend. Why don’t you take him?”
Katie was surprised. She knew how badly Jeremy had wanted to take Speedy to his house.
Katie was even more surprised by Suzanne’s answer.
“No, he’s better off with you,” Suzanne said. “Heather’s stuff is pretty much all over my whole house. Everywhere you look there’s a stroller or a changing table or a crib. I don’t think there’d be any room for a hamster playground.”
“But you know I have that big game on Saturday. I’m going to be busy with that,” Jeremy told her.
Katie was worried all over again. Now it didn’t sound like either of her friends wanted to take Speedy home. She had to do something fast!
“I have an idea,” Katie said quickly. “Jeremy, you keep Speedy at your place. Suzanne can co
me over on Saturday morning to give him his food and water while you’re at the game.”
“That’s a good idea,” Suzanne agreed. “Hey, and maybe on Sunday we could build him a hamster playground . . . together.”
“Cool!” Jeremy exclaimed. “You know, my dad has a huge shoe box. It could be a cave.”
“I’ll bring over some paper towel rolls for Speedy to climb through,” Suzanne said.
Katie sat quietly as she listened to Jeremy and Suzanne’s plans for the hamster playground. She was really happy that her two best friends were getting along so well. She was also kind of sad. They were leaving her out of everything!
Jeremy guessed how Katie was feeling. “Can you come over and help us build the playground?” he asked her.
Now Katie smiled brightly. “You bet!” she exclaimed.
Lunchtime was a whole lot more fun the next day. Katie stood on the lunch line right between her two best friends. It was nice not to have to choose between them any more.
When she reached the front of the line, Katie smiled brightly at Lucille. “I’ll have a veggie wimpy and a cow juice,” she told the lunch Lady. “And for dessert I’d like an Eve with a lid.”
Lucille looked at Katie with surprise. She had no idea where the third grader had learned the secret lunchroom language, but she gave Katie a veggie burger, a container of milk, and a slice of apple pie anyway.
“Thanks,” Katie told her. “It’s good to have you back.”
Lucille didn’t say anything, but Katie thought she saw her smile a little.
As Katie followed Jeremy to a table near the back of the cafeteria, she felt a slight breeze blowing on the back of her neck. Katie looked around nervously. Was she about to change into someone else . . . right here in front of the whole school?
As Katie looked around, she noticed that the door to the playground was wide open. This was no magic wind. It was just a normal, everyday, outside kind of wind. Katie wasn’t changing into anyone. She was staying Katie Kazoo.
