by Bonny Becker
A freezing cold day was as fun as a snocone.
A dark, damp day smelled cozy.
A bad grade on a paper was marked in a pretty red.
Ms. Plum said Emiko saw the world through rose-colored glasses.
“Her glasses look regular-colored to me,” said Tashala.
“It means she sees everything like it’s better than it really is,” said Carlos.
“I think that would be kind of nice,” said Nadia.
“But it could be dangerous,” Lucy said.
“Can I try your glasses on?” asked Darma. But wearing Emiko’s glasses only made things blurry and gave Darma a headache.
When Ms. Plum asked Emiko to go to the closet for more pink paper for making valentines, everyone knew Emiko would get a cute animal.
“Something soft and fuzzy,” Jeremy predicted.
“A pretty one,” agreed Jovi.
“A bunny.”
“A puppy.”
“A-a-an alligator?” said Brad.
Because that’s what Emiko brought out of the closet. A very cross-looking alligator straining at a leash made of rope.
“Isn’t he darling!” cried Emiko.
“Tell me, since when is a scaly old alligator darling?”
“Alligator?” said Emiko. “What alligator?”
“Uh, there. On that leash in your hand,” Eric pointed out.
Emiko looked down. “You mean my poodle?”
“Poodle!” Mindy threw up her hands. “You think that’s a poodle?”
Emiko smiled happily. “I’ve always wanted a poodle just like this, with fluffy white fur and a pink, sparkly collar. Oh, look, he wants to be petted.”
The alligator lurched toward Brad’s foot, snapping his jaws viciously.
Brad jumped back just in time.
The gator turned and hurtled himself at Tashala, who scrambled atop her desk chair a hair ahead of his jaws.
“Look, he wants to play,” cried Emiko. “Here, Bubbles. That’s a good Bubbles. Yes, you are a good doggy. Mmmm. Mmm. Mmm.”
Emiko bent down and urged the alligator toward her with little kissy sounds.
“Watch out,” said Carlos. “He’ll bite your nose off!”
But before the alligator reached her, he lunged at Eric’s hand. Eric scrambled onto his chair, too.
Emiko giggled, as if Bubbles had done something sweet.
“Come on, Bubbles. Let’s go for a walk,” Emiko said. Then she looked at Ms. Plum. “Can I show him around?”
Ms. Plum, who was intently working on her valentines for the class party, glanced up and nodded. She seemed surprised to see several kids on top of their chairs.
“Class, let’s the rest of you focus on your art project.”
With a tug on his rope, Emiko pulled Bubbles toward the back of the room. The alligator seemed unhappy to leave all those ankles and toes, but soon he caught a whiff of Clyde, the hamster. He lunged at the table by the window, clawing at the table leg, trying to reach the helpless animals on top.
Hip-Hop quickly opened his eyes. Clyde scampered in terrified circles around his cage.
“Emiko, make Bubbles stop! Can’t you see what he’s doing?” said Mindy.
“Can’t you see what he is?” asked Lucy.
Emiko seemed confused by the questions. For the first time ever, she looked a little hurt. “I don’t see why everyone’s being so mean about Bubbles.”
“He’s a dangerous animal!” said Lucy.
With that, Emiko burst out laughing. “You guys are such jokers. Come on, Bubbles, let’s go back to our desk and work on our valentines.”
The alligator followed Emiko, his slit eyes glaring, his tail lashing back and forth. Everyone in the front row quickly pulled their feet back.
But Jeremy was too slow. Suddenly Bubbles’s jaws locked onto the hem of Jeremy’s blue jeans, and the alligator began to pull him from his chair!
“Alligators drag their prey into the water to drown them,” observed Carlos.
“Emiko! Stop him!” cried Nadia.
“He’s just playing. What is everybody’s problem?”
“Help!” cried Jeremy, who was jumping about, trying to throw off Bubbles.
“Emiko! Look!”
Bubbles had stopped pulling and now had his claws sunk into Jeremy’s pant leg. He looked up at Jeremy with a nasty grin on his face.
“Help!” Jeremy swung at him wildly, afraid to get any fingers too close. “Help!”
The whole class screamed at Emiko. “Do something!”
Emiko hesitated, then pulled off her glasses and peered at Bubbles.
Her face dropped. Her eyes widened. Her hand flew to her mouth in astonishment.
“Bubbles, stop!” she commanded. “Get down right now!”
Bubbles glanced over at her.
She stamped her foot. “Now!”
Bubbles grumbled, but then he released Jeremy’s pant leg.
Emiko grabbed his leash. She squinted at the rope for a moment.
“I thought this was pink with sparkles,” she said sadly.
Emiko led Bubbles back toward the closet.
“I thought you were a poodle. I’ve always wanted a poodle.”
Bubbles made a casual swipe of a claw toward Becky Oh’s foot. Emiko frowned.
“You’re not a poodle at all,” she concluded, scooting him into the closet and closing the door.
She turned back toward the class.
“Sorry,” she said. “I guess he really was an alligator.”
“Yes,” was the general agreement. What a relief! At last Emiko saw the world as it really was.
“Just an alligator,” Emiko sighed, heading back toward her desk. She sat down. She cleaned off her glasses. She looked over at Hip-Hop, the toad, and frowned sadly. Then slowly, slowly, she began to smile.
“But wasn’t he the cutest little alligator you ever saw!” she suddenly said.
“Emiko!” cried Becky Oh. “No!”
“Well, he was. Did you see how adorable his green eyes were? And I think he was very smart. You could just tell by his expression.”
The whole class groaned.
Ms. Plum didn’t say anything. She held up the valentine she had just made. It seemed to have more glue than glitter, but Ms. Plum smiled happily and started her next valentine.
“What is Ms. Plum?” asked Eric one windy March day at lunch.
Most of the kids from Ms. Plum’s class sat together in the cafeteria. There was just so much to talk about and no one else to talk about it with. If they kept their voices low, they found they could speak out loud to each other about what really happened in Ms. Plum’s class.
“Ms. Plum is our teacher. Duh,” said Brad.
“Yeah, but is she like a witch? I mean, how can she do those things?”
“She would have to be a good witch,” said Darma.
“I think she’s a magic fairy,” said Emiko.
“Maybe it’s the closet that’s magic,” said Carlos. “Maybe it’s not Ms. Plum at all.”
“Nah, I think Ms. Plum is the magic,” said Brad.
He sounded so certain that Carlos suddenly wondered how Brad could be so sure. Had Brad had some sort of magic experience?
“I bet if some other teacher got that room, it would just be a regular old closet,” Tashala said.
“Hey, what do you think would happen if Ms. Plum went in the closet herself?” said Becky Oh. “Have you noticed, she never gets anything for herself.”
“Would she get an animal?” asked Nadia.
“I know,” said Eric. “Next time she asks for something, nobody raise your hand. Then she’ll have to go in herself.”
Everyone liked this idea, except Carlos. But he was outnumbered and had to go along with the plan.
“Remember,” said Eric. “No one raises their hand.”
“Who can get me a box of pushpins?” asked Ms. Plum a few days later.
Not a student raised a hand.
Ms
. Plum looked surprised. She glanced over at Carlos.
Carlos clasped his hands together in front of him and held on tight. He pretended to be interested in something on his thumb.
“Well, I, uh …” Ms. Plum stood uncertainly. “I guess I’ll have to get them myself.”
She gave the class one more puzzled glance, then stepped into the closet.
In a moment she was back out, a box of plum-colored pushpins in her hand.
For a second it looked like nothing else had come out with her. (“Of course,” whispered Darma, “because she’s perfect.”) But then a small peacock came bobbing out. It followed her to the front of the room.
Its tail feathers were down, drab and dragging along the floor. It didn’t look very smart either.
“I expected like a tiger,” whispered Tashala.
“Or a unicorn,” Emiko whispered back.
“Now, class, let’s get back to our science lesson.”
Ms. Plum had set up an experiment on sound. Twenty water glasses sat across a table—each one filled with a little more water than the last.
She began to tap each glass with a metal spoon.
“Notice the different sounds.”
“Oooooooooh,” breathed the class in awe.
Ms. Plum smiled, then noticed that everyone had their eyes on something behind her.
Ms. Plum turned around. She had the distinct impression that the peacock had just snapped its tail feathers shut behind her.
She turned back to the class and began pinging on the glasses, going up the musical scale. This time, just as the class began to ooh and aah, she whirled around.
“Aha!” she cried.
The peacock’s tail was spread into a glorious fan of luminous blues and greens and golds.
The bird quickly shut its tail and pecked at the floor, not meeting Ms. Plum’s eye. Slowly it wandered away.
“Now then,” Ms. Plum said. “Who can tell me why each glass sounds different?”
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” cried the class.
Ms. Plum frowned and glanced over at the peacock. Clearly, it was just shutting its tail, pretending it hadn’t been showing off.
“Now, class, please note this for your scientific pleasure,” Ms. Plum said.
As she tapped each glass, the water turned a different color.
“Awesome,” cried Carlos. The rest of the class chimed agreement.
Ms. Plum looked up, beaming.
But everyone was looking into the corner behind her.
She didn’t bother to whirl around. She knew all she would see was the peacock closing its tail and acting like it didn’t know anything.
“All right, if that’s the way you want it,” she said darkly.
She tapped each glass, and a different flower blossomed above the water.
The kids murmured their amazement.
The peacock snapped open its tail. It looked like an American flag.
The kids gasped.
Ms. Plum wafted her spoon above the flowers, and each flower sounded like a different instrument.
“Wow!” said the kids.
The peacock snapped open its tail.
“Amazing!” the class shouted as stars appeared to twinkle up and down its plum age.
Ms. Plum played “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with the glasses and flowers.
The peacock opened its tail. It looked like a garden of jewels.
Ms. Plum played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The peacock opened its tail. Miniature fireworks erupted all over it.
The entire class stood up and gave the peacock a standing ovation, stamping their feet and whistling.
Ms. Plum set down her spoon.
“Come along, please,” she said firmly to the bird.
She shooed it back into the closet and shut the door.
Then she marched back up to her desk and picked up her spoon.
Darma hesitated, then raised her hand.
“Yes, Darma.” Ms. Plum looked rather cross.
Darma took a deep breath. “Well, uh, why did you get a peacock?”
“I guess he just happened to wander out,” Ms. Plum said with a curious look at the closet. “I’m very sorry he distracted you all so horribly.”
“Oh, he wasn’t distracting. He was beautiful,” said Mindy.
“Super,” “Awesome,” “Fantastic,” “Unbelievable,” echoed the other kids.
“Yes, I suppose he was,” Ms. Plum said. “It’s perfectly understandable that you would rather see him.” Her lip trembled just a bit.
The kids nodded and agreed they’d never seen anything so grand.
Ms. Plum said, “Oh,” and turned back to her lineup of glasses. She began to pull the flowers from the water.
“So, I guess that’s enough science for today,” she said, sounding a little sad.
The kids glanced at each other.
Darma raised her hand.
“Yes, Darma,” said Ms. Plum.
“Please, don’t stop,” she said. “We want to see it.”
Every student nodded his or her head.
“Please!” cried Mindy.
“Please!” said Nadia.
Even Carlos said, “Please, Ms. Plum. Your demonstrations are the best.”
“Really?” said Ms. Plum.
“Totally,” said Brad.
“Well, I suppose we do have some time.”
The class clapped and smiled, and Brad gave a piercing two-fingered whistle.
Ms. Plum straightened her plum-colored skirt, smoothed down her hair, and pushed her sparkly glasses a little higher up her nose.
She smiled, then said quietly, “Thank you, class.”
Then, like a famous conductor, Ms. Plum raised her spoon over the glasses and flowers and proceeded to play Beethoven’s world-famous “Ode to Joy.”
One day in April, while Carlos snooped around the empty classroom during lunch recess, he opened the door to the closet and slipped inside. Being supersmart, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of this before.
Carlos smelled the mysterious smell. He looked at all the colored pencils and glue sticks. He took a red licorice stick from the big jar on the shelf. He was just about to take a bite when he heard a faint rustle. He looked around, but there wasn’t anything there. Even so, it felt like something was watching him from the dark. He decided he better leave.
Stuffing the licorice in his pocket, Carlos sneaked out of the closet and shut the door.
Just then Eric came into the classroom. “What’s that?” he said.
“What’s what?” said Carlos, his heart beating fast.
“You’ve been in the closet,” said Eric.
“Have not,” said Carlos. How could Eric tell?
“Where’d that wolf come from, then?” said Eric.
“What wolf?”
“Right there,” said Eric, pointing at Carlos’s heel. “Right behind you.”
Carlos whirled around, but there wasn’t anything there.
“Now he’s behind your leg. He turned when you did,” said Eric.
“You’re just making that up,” said Carlos, twisting around. He couldn’t see anything.
Just then Mindy came in. Her eyes widened.
“You’ve been in the closet, haven’t you?” She pointed toward Carlos’s heel.
“Have not!” cried Carlos.
But it was no use, because everyone could see the little wolf. Everyone except Carlos. No matter how fast he turned, the wolf turned faster, so he was always out of sight behind Carlos.
“What’s he look like?” Carlos asked.
“Like he would eat a passel of baby chickens,” said Tashala.
“Scraggly and mean,” said Becky Oh.
“His teeth are really long,” Nadia added nervously.
“I think he’s kind of cute,” said Emiko.
Carlos ran to the mirror. But still he couldn’t see it.
“He moves whenever you do. Like he’s hooked to you or something,” said
Brad.
“It’s not true!” said Carlos, swallowing back the lump in his throat.
Then Ms. Plum came in. Carlos felt his heart jump like there was a squirrel inside his chest. What would happen when she found out he’d gone into the supply closet without permission?
But Ms. Plum didn’t seem to notice the wolf.
And even though every kid in Ms. Plum’s room knew Carlos had sneaked into the supply closet, no one told on him. They went over their spelling words as if it were just a regular afternoon.
Ms. Plum asked Carlos to come to the blackboard to write out their first spelling word: kleptomaniac.
“Someone who can’t stop stealing things,” announced Becky Oh. She liked the especially hard words Ms. Plum sometimes gave. They were always interesting.
Carlos stood to go to the board. That’s when he saw the wolf reflected in the window glass.
It was thin, low-slung, like a giant rat. And it followed him up to the chalkboard.
Now he could feel its warm breath, sensed it nearly touching him with its long, sharp nose. He hurried up to the blackboard, wrote out the word, and hurried back to his desk.
Ms. Plum announced their next word. “Jealousy.”
Carlos didn’t hear it. All he could feel was the presence of the wolf at his heel. He felt like the wolf might bite him on the back of his ankle, and he wanted to rub his ankle, but he was afraid he would touch the wolf.
When the bell rang, Carlos sat at his desk, waiting. All the kids glanced at him as they went out the door. Carlos didn’t look at them.
Finally, when they were all gone, Carlos went up to Ms. Plum’s desk.
“Can I take him back, Ms. Plum? Please?” he whispered.
“Take what back, dear?” said Ms. Plum, looking up from the work sheets she was grading.
“The wolf.”
“Wolf?”
“Can’t you see it?” Carlos waved toward his heel.
Ms. Plum stood up, leaned over her desk, and squinted.
“I don’t see anything, Carlos,” she said.
Carlos hung his head.
“I went in the closet,” he said. “Without permission. I took some licorice.”
Carlos set the limp red vine on her desk. “And then he came out,” Carlos added, nodding toward his heel.
“Oh, I see.”
“Can I take him back? Please, Ms. Plum.”
