Klutz, got up onstage.
Well, that wasnât the strange part. Mr. Klutz gets up onstage all the time. The strange part was that he had hair all the way down to his shoulders!
We knew Mr. Klutz was wearing a wig, because just yesterday he was completely bald. Nobody can grow hair that fast. Mr. Klutz held up his hand and made a peace sign, which means shut up.
âValentineâs Day is next week,â Mr. Klutz told us, âso I invited a special guest. Put your hands together forâ¦â
Youâll never believe in a million hundred years who came out onstage.
It was Mr. Louie! Everybody clapped, because Mr. Louie is cool. I never saw him inside school before.
âGroovy!â said Mr. Louie. âI meanâ¦likeâ¦you know?â
âMr. Louie knows all about peace and love,â Mr. Klutz told us, âso I asked him to help us celebrate Valentineâs Day next week.â
Mr. Louie played a song on his stop sign that was really easy to learn becauseit went like this:
Love love love
Love love love
Love love love
That song had nothing but the L wordover and over again! It was dumb, but everybody clapped anyway, because we were glad it was over.
âBack in the Sixties,â Mr. Louie told us, âeverybody loved each other. Can you dig it? Donât you think the world would be a better place if everybody loved each other today?â
âYes!â shouted all the girls.
âNo!â shouted all the boys.
Mr. Louie said we were going to send cards, decorate the school with hearts and flowers, and have a big concert on Valentineâs Day to celebrate peace and love.
âLetâs show how much we love each other and make the world a hipperplace,â he told us. âItâs gonna be a gas. Love makes the world go round.â
Ugh! I think Mr. Louie took too much of his love potion. All the boys were pretending to throw up.
Then Mr. Louie sang his favorite song, âIf I Had a Hammer.â Itâs about some weird guy who wants a hammer. If you ask me, instead of wasting time singing about wanting a hammer, he should just go to a hardware store and buy one.
After that Mr. Louie sang about some other weird guy who makes friends with ants. *
Finally the assembly was over. MissDaisy made me the line leader. Andrea and her crybaby friend, Emily, were in line right behind me.
âMr. Louie is right,â Andrea told Emily. âDonât you love love? I love love. I hate hate.â
She is so annoying. Anything Andrea says, I always say the opposite.
âI hate love,â I said. âI love hate.â
âSomeday youâre going to fall in love,Arlo,â said Andrea, who calls me by my real name because she knows I donât like it.
âWill not,â I told her.
âOh, yes you will, Arlo!â Andrea said. âYouâll fall in love with some girl, and youâll comb your hair to look handsome for her.â
âI donât think so,â I said. âI never comb my hair.â
âYouâll get all goo-goo eyes over her, Arlo.â
âNo way.â
âYouâll hold hands with her, Arlo.â
âDonât bet on it.â
âYouâll buy her valentines, Arlo.â
âFat chance.â
âYouâll kiss her, Arlo.â
Ewww! Kissing? Disgusting! What is her problem? Why canât a truck full of valentines fall on Andreaâs head?
3
Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too
A few days before Valentineâs Day, we had to bring in valentines for the whole class. When I crossed Walnut Street with the guys, Mr. Louie held up his stop-sign guitar. He told us he was excited about the big Valentineâs Day festival he was organizing.
âItâs gonna be groovy,â Mr. Louie said. âIâm lining up some big musical acts.â
âLike who?â Ryan asked.
âDig this,â Mr. Louie said. âSo far Iâve got Miss Holly, Mr. Docker, Mr.
Hugh Cave
Caren J. Werlinger
Jason Halstead
Lauren Blakely
Sharon Cullars
Melinda Barron
Daniela Fischerova, Neil Bermel
TASHA ALEXANDER
ADAM L PENENBERG
Susan Juby