by Nancy Krulik
Soon all of the detectives in class 4A had solved their mysteries. Everyone knew just what flowers would be popping their heads out of the dirt. Katie couldn’t wait to see all the flowers—especially her marigolds.
But she would have to wait. According to a book on flowers Ms. Folio had found for her, marigold sprouts didn’t pop up until a week after the seeds were planted. It would be eight whole weeks before the yellow flowers bloomed.
Brrriiiinnnng!
Just then, the school bell rang. It was the end of the day.
“Okay, detective dudes, pack up. It’s time to go home!” Mr. G. told them.
Katie grinned. Mr. G. had them bring their backpacks and coats to the library. Now they could leave school without stopping back in the classroom. In a flash, the kids in class 4A were heading outside.
“That was so much fun!” Katie exclaimed happily as she and Emma W. walked down the hallway together.
“I can’t wait to read more about daisies,” Emma W. replied. “They’re my mystery flower.”
“And I am going to learn more about marigo—” Katie stopped midsentence. “Oops. I left one of my books in the library.”
“Go back and get it,” Emma said. “I’ll wait for you.”
Katie ran back to the library. When she got there, it was completely empty—except for Mr. G. and Ms. Folio. They were by Ms. Folio’s desk in back. Whatever they were talking about must have been very important. They didn’t even notice that Katie had come in.
Katie knew it was wrong to eavesdrop. But she couldn’t help herself. She’d always wondered what teachers talked about when kids weren’t around.
“So when are you going to do it?” Katie heard Ms. Folio ask.
“In about an hour,” Mr. G. replied. “It’s sure going to feel weird having short hair. I’ve had this ponytail since college.”
“Change is good,” Ms. Folio told him.
“I guess,” Mr. G. agreed. “Oh, wow. Look at the time. I’ve got to go. I need to pick up my suit before I go to the barber.”
And with that, Mr. G. turned and headed for the door. He stopped when he spotted Katie. “Hi, Katie,” he said cheerfully.
Did he know she’d been listening? “Uh…hi,” she answered. “I…um…forgot my book.”
“Ms. Folio’s still here. It was very responsible of you to come back and get it,” Mr. G. told her. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he added as he breezed past her and out the door, his long ponytail flopping up and down behind him.
Katie frowned. Mr. G. without a ponytail? How weird would that be?
Chapter 5
“You guys are never gonna believe this!” Katie shouted as she raced over to where her friends were standing outside school.
“What?” Emma W. asked.
“Mr. G. is cutting off his ponytail!” Katie exclaimed.
That sure got everyone’s attention.
“No way!” George said.
“Way,” Katie assured him.
“How would you know something like that?” Suzanne demanded.
Katie sighed. Suzanne could sound so mean when someone else found out something before she did.
“I heard Mr. G. tell Ms. Folio that he was going to the barbershop,” she told Suzanne. “So I know it’s the truth.”
“Whoa, Mr. G. with short hair,” Kevin said. “That would make him look…”
“Like a normal teacher,” Suzanne finished his sentence.
“Mr. G. could never be normal,” George told Suzanne.
“Yeah, he’s special,” Emma W. agreed.
Suzanne rolled her eyes. “I don’t see what’s so special about your teacher. I like Ms. Sweet much better.”
“He would just have short hair,” Kevin insisted. “But he’d still be Mr. G. He’d still be wearing the same clothes and…”
“No he won’t,” Katie interrupted him. “He said something about having to pick up a suit, too.”
“A suit?” Jeremy repeated. “But Mr. G. never wears a suit. Only people who work in offices wear those.”
Suddenly a smile appeared on Suzanne’s face. “Maybe that’s what Mr. G. is going to do,” she said.
“What?” Katie asked her.
“Work in an office,” Suzanne told her. “Maybe Mr. G. is looking for a new job.”
“Mr. G. would never do that,” George insisted.
Suzanne shrugged. “I’m just saying it’s possible. Maybe he’s got a job interview coming up and he wants to look all businesslike for it.”
“It is not possible!” George insisted. “Mr. G. isn’t going anywhere. He’s our teacher and he’s going to stay right here.”
Suddenly Katie felt horrible. Imagining fourth grade without Mr. G. was just too awful.
Chapter 6
“Okay, dudes, follow the directions for planting your seeds carefully,” Mr. G. said as the kids in class 4A filled their flowerpots with dirt early the next morning.
Katie placed the seeds a few inches apart and covered them with a thin layer of soil just as the instructions in the packet told her to. She wanted to make sure her marigold seeds grew up to be big, beautiful, yellow flowers.
But it was hard to pay attention to what she was doing. Katie’s eyes kept drifting over to Mr. G. He seemed so different without his long ponytail. He looked so…so…normal.
“Don’t you like my new haircut?” was all he’d say.
“Okay, you guys,” Mr. G. said a moment later. “When everyone’s seeds are planted, we’re going to go outside and do some yoga. We can do poses that imitate the way seeds open up to the sun.”
Katie smiled. With or without his ponytail, Mr. G. was still Mr. G.
“Oh, and before I forget,” Mr. G. continued, “you are going to have a substitute teacher tomorrow. I have an appointment I have to keep.”
Katie, Emma W., George, and Kevin all looked at each other nervously. An appointment? Like an interview appointment for another job?
“I expect you all to be as well behaved for the new teacher as you are for me,” Mr. G. told the kids.
“New teacher?” Katie asked him nervously.
“The substitute teacher,” Mr. G. explained.
“But the substitute’s only coming tomorrow?” Katie asked, making sure. “You’ll be back after that, right?”
“That’s the plan,” he said.
Katie frowned. That didn’t sound too convincing. She wanted Mr. G. to promise to come back to school the day after tomorrow and never leave again.
“Check out Miriam now,” Suzanne groaned as she, Katie, Emma W., Mandy, George, and Kevin all stood outside the school building after school.
“She looks perfectly normal to me,” Emma W. said.
“It’s her hair,” Suzanne urged.
The kids all looked over at Miriam. Her hair looked like it always did. Long, black, and straight. Today she was wearing pigtails.
“What are you talking about, Suzanne?” Mandy asked. “What’s wrong with pigtails?”
“She’s wearing pink and red ribbons,” Suzanne pointed out. “She’s just doing that so her hair matches the wires in her braces.”
“Oh, cool,” Emma W. said.
“No it’s not,” Suzanne insisted. “Nothing is going to make those braces look cool. Miriam should just give it up. Don’t you think so, Katie?”
But Katie didn’t answer. She hadn’t really been listening to Suzanne.
“Katie?” Suzanne repeated louder.
“What? Oh sorry,” Katie said, realizing she hadn’t been paying attention. “I was thinking about something else.”
“What?” Suzanne asked in a voice that made it sound like nothing could be more important than anything she said.
But something was more important. Much more.
“She’s worrying about Mr. G.,” Kevin explained. “We all are.”
“What about him?” Suzanne said. “So what if he doesn’t have his ponytail.”
“It’s not just that,” Katie told her.
“He told us today that he’s going to be absent tomorrow. He has an appointment.”
Suzanne smiled triumphantly. “I knew it! He’s looking for another job!”
Katie couldn’t believe Suzanne looked so happy about being right. Especially when all her friends were so miserable.
“We have to stop him,” Emma W. insisted. “We have to make sure Mr. G. stays.”
“But how can we do that?” Katie asked.
George thought for a minute. “Tomorrow, when the substitute comes, we have to really act up!” he exclaimed suddenly.
“What good would that do?” Mandy asked him.
“If the principal thinks Mr. G. is the only teacher who can make us behave, he’ll beg him to stay,” George explained. “Maybe he’ll give him a big raise so Mr. G. won’t want a new job.”
“I don’t think that’s such a great idea,” Emma W. said.
“Yeah, Mr. G asked us to be well behaved,” Katie added.
“But if we behave, he won’t be our teacher anymore,” George insisted.
“You really think so?” Katie didn’t like the idea of giving a teacher a hard time. But the kids could not let Mr. G. leave. No way! And George’s plan was the only one they had at the moment.
“Okay, so let’s go home and e-mail the rest of 4A and tell them what we’re going to do,” George said. “Everyone has to be really bad tomorrow.”
“That will never work,” Suzanne said. “Face it. Mr. G. is on his way out.”
“Stop it, Suzanne!” Katie scolded her angrily. “George’s plan will work! It has to.”
Chapter 7
MR. GOODSTEIN
Katie frowned as she watched the substitute teacher write his name across the blackboard. She had been in her classroom only five minutes, and already things with Mr. Goodstein were not very “good.”
The substitute hadn’t been happy that there were no desks for class 4A. He had asked the kids to arrange their beanbag chairs in neat rows on the floor. That made 4A almost look like a normal classroom. Worse yet, Katie was sitting behind Mandy. Mandy was very tall, which made it difficult for Katie to see the board.
“Please take out your science notebooks,” Mr. Goodstein told the class. “We are going to learn the vocabulary for the parts of the plant.” He picked up a piece of chalk and began to write. “The basic parts of a plant are the roots, stems, leaves…”
Bam. Just then, George dropped his notebook—accidentally on purpose—on the floor.
Bam. Kevin dropped his notebook on the floor, too.
The trouble had begun.
Bam. Katie slammed her notebook hard on the floor. It felt so weird to misbehave on purpose. Katie was not at all sure she liked it.
Bam. Bam. Andrew and Emma Stavros dropped their notebooks.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Kadeem, Mandy, and Emma W. all dropped theirs as well.
“What is going on here?” Mr. Goodstein demanded.
“Sorry,” George said with a mischievous grin. “We’re kind of a clumsy class.”
“I can see that,” Mr. Goodstein replied with a sigh. “Pick up your notebooks and let’s get back to work.”
The kids did as they were told. They picked up the books, opened to a clean page and…
“Cough, cough.” Kevin suddenly started coughing wildly.
“Cough, cough, cough,” George chimed in, coughing even harder.
That made Kadeem let out his own long, loud chain of coughs. “Cough, cough, cough, COUGH!”
“Cough, cough,” Andrew joined in. He was followed by Andrew, Mandy, the two Emmas, and Katie.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…”
“Stop it! Stop it right now!” Mr. Goodstein bellowed.
“Cough…cough…” The kids kept coughing.
“I think we all need some water,” George said. “Can we go to the water fountain? Cough, cough…”
Mr. Goodstein sighed. “Nothing will get done until you do, I suppose,” he said angrily. “Go into the hallway, stand in line, and get your water. And be quick about it.”
Katie and her classmates jumped up from their seats and quickly ran to the fountain. A few moments later, they were all back in their neatly arranged beanbag chairs.
Katie glanced over at George. He looked weird. His cheeks were all puffy. Was he sick?
Nope. George wasn’t sick. It was all a trick. A moment later he pursed his lips and…whoosh! He spit a stream of water from his mouth.
“Look at George, he’s a water fountain!” Kevin screamed excitedly. “That’s so cool, George!”
Mr. Goodstein did not agree. “You, you there. The boy with the dribble of water on his shirt. Go out into the hall. Stay there until you can behave.”
Katie knew George wasn’t all that upset to be sent out. It used to happen to him all the time last year. Their strict third-grade teacher, Mrs. Derkman (or Mrs. Jerkman as George liked to call her), was always sending him into the hall for misbehaving. Of course, now, with Mr. G. for a teacher, George was better behaved. Katie figured that was because he was happier.
But Katie bet George would be back to his old self if Mr. Goodstein—who was more like Mr. Badstein—went from substitute teacher to permanent teacher. That would be so not good!
After a tiring morning of coughing, book dropping, and water spitting, the kids in class 4A had a well-deserved lunch and recess. And by the time they returned to the classroom, they were ready to get back to Operation Keep Mr. G.
“Now, let’s talk about the flower of the plant,” Mr. Goodstein said as the kids took their seats.
“Speaking of flowers,” George began. “Do you guys know what the bee said to the rose?”
“What?” Mandy asked him.
“Hi, bud!” George answered, chuckling.
The class all laughed with him. Mr. Goodstein did not join in. “Excuse me, but we are discussing science and…”
“Do you know what flower is the happiest?” Kadeem interrupted the substitute teacher.
“Which one?” Emma S. asked.
“The gladiola!” Kadeem replied.
The class all laughed again.
“It’s a flower joke-off!” Kevin exclaimed. “Awesome.”
“Why do gardeners hate weeds?” George shouted.
“Why?” Andrew asked.
“Because if you give them one inch, they’ll take the whole yard!” George joked.
“If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?” Kadeem asked the class.
“What?” Emma W. replied.
“Pilgrims!” Kadeem shouted. “Get it, Mayflower? Pilgrims?”
The kids all laughed really hard at that one.
“That’s enough!” Mr. Goodstein shouted angrily. “Stop the clowning around. This is school. And school is serious business.”
The kids all stopped laughing immediately. All except Katie, that is. She wasn’t trying to be bad. It was just that that last joke had been so funny. She couldn’t stop laughing.
“You—the girl with the red hair!” Mr. Goodstein bellowed. He pointed right at Katie. “Out, now!”
What! Katie’s heart skipped a beat. She had never been sent out of a classroom before. She blinked a few times so the tears wouldn’t come. Then she stood up and walked quietly out of the classroom.
This is all to keep Mr. G., she reminded herself.
As the door closed behind her, Katie stood there, alone in the hallway. It was a horrible feeling. She didn’t know how George could stand it.
Suddenly Katie heard loud footsteps coming down the hall. She turned and came face-to-face with Mr. Kane, the school principal.
“Katie, what are you doing out here?” he asked her.
Katie gulped. “I…um…some kids were telling jokes, and I was laughing and…”
Just then, a chorus of dropping notebooks could be heard coming from the classroom.
“What is going on?” Mr. Kane demanded.
“It’s the new substitute,” Katie said. �
�He doesn’t know how to control us. Not the way Mr. G. does. He’s the best teacher. Everyone is always well behaved for him. But today, with Mr. Goodstein, everyone is being bad.”
“Well, that’s going to stop right now!” Mr. Kane said as he opened the door and stormed into the room.
Katie smiled. She had let Mr. Kane know what a great teacher Mr. G. was. The principal would never let him leave. George’s plan was working!
Chapter 8
“It was awesome,” Kevin told Jeremy and Suzanne after school that afternoon. “I thought that sub’s face was going to explode when George and Kadeem started their joke-off.”
“But Katie Kazoo was the real hero,” George insisted. He smiled at her. “Because of you, Mr. Kane went into our classroom and saw what was happening.”
“Now he knows for sure Mr. G. is the only teacher for class 4A,” Kevin added.
“Everything went as planned,” George agreed.
“We had some action in our class, too,” Suzanne boasted. “Miriam hit Manny Gonzalez in the face with a rubber band. She just missed his eye.”
“Miriam didn’t do it on purpose,” Jeremy corrected Suzanne. “The rubber band just popped out of her mouth while she was talking to him.”
“I think she did it to remind everyone that she has braces now,” Suzanne said. “Like that’s anything to brag about.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes and sighed. “Hey, Katie, you want to come over and play tag this afternoon?” he asked.
“George and I are going to play,” Kevin said.
“So are Jessica and I,” Suzanne added.
Katie shook her head sadly. She would have liked to play with her friends. But she had something else she had to do. “I’ve got to go write a hundred-word paper on ‘why I should behave in school.’ Mr. Kane is making me do it.”
“Wow. Bummer,” Jeremy said.
“But it’s worth it to keep Mr. G.,” George reminded her.
I sure hope so, Katie thought to herself as she started walking home alone.
