nah-nah-nah boo-boo on you!
It was a lady who came running into our classroom. She was wearing an old-time manâs hat and a trench coat. * There was a camera around her neck and a notepad in her hand. She was all out of breath.
âIs Career Day over?â she asked.
âMrs. Lilly!â said Mr. Granite.
I recognized Mrs. Lilly. Sheâs a reporter for our local paper, the News Tribune Bulletin Inquirer . She wrote an article about our school when a squirrel ate through the power lines and all the lights went out. They put my picture in the paper and everything. My mom put it up on the refrigerator.
âSorry Iâm late,â Mrs. Lilly said. âI had to write a big story about a tree.â
âWhy did you write about a tree?â asked Andrea.
âYeah, why did you write about a tree?â asked Emily, who always does whatever Andrea does.
âIt fell down,â said Mrs. Lilly.
âSo what?â asked Ryan. âDonât trees fall down all the time?â
âWell, this tree landed on a house.â
âWas anybody hurt?â asked Emily, all worried.
âNo.â
âThen why was it a big story?â asked Mr. Granite.
âThe tree fell on Mayor Hubbleâs house,â Mrs. Lilly told us.
âOh, and thatâs a big story?â asked Alexia.
âWell, it landed on the mayorâs bathroom,â Mrs. Lilly said, âand the mayor was in the bathroom at the time. You see, a tree falling down is boring. And a tree falling down on the mayorâs house is still pretty boring. But a tree falling down on the mayorâs bathroom while heâs on the toilet is a great human interest story. Thatâs what I look for: human interest stories.â
âWhat happened to Mayor Hubble?â asked Emily, all concerned.
âHe had to go,â said Mrs. Lilly.
âOf course he had to go,â I said. âThatâs why he was in the bathroom.â
âNo,â said Mrs. Lilly. âI mean, after he went, he had to go.â
âHow can you go right after you went?â asked Neil the nude kid.
We went back and forth like that for a while until Mr. Granite interrupted.
âIâm terribly sorry,â he said. âThis is all very interesting, but we have to do our math lesson now.â
Ugh. I hate math.
âThatâs too bad,â said Mrs. Lilly. âI wanted to show the kids how we make the newspaper.â
âOh, that would be neat!â said Andrea. âDonât you want to learn how they make the newspaper?â
âYes!â said all the girls except for Alexia.
âNo!â said all the boys and Alexia.
âMaybe you can come back another time to show the class how to make a newspaper,â suggested Mr. Granite.
âI have a better idea,â said Mrs. Lilly. âWhen I come back, the kids and I can make a real newspaper together !â
âThatâs a wonderful idea!â said Mr. Granite. âWould you kids like to make a real newspaper with Mrs. Lilly?â
âYes!â yelled all the girls except for Alexia.
âNo!â yelled all the boys and Alexia.
âI can see the headline now,â said Mrs. lilly. â âKIDS MAKE NEWSPAPER!â I love it! But for now, Iâve got to go.â
âDo you have to go, or do you have to go ?â I asked.
âI have to go,â she replied, âand itâs an emergency!â
I still didnât know if Mrs. Lilly had to go, or if she had to go . In any case, she went running out of the room.
Mrs. Lilly is silly.
âOkay,â Mr. Granite said after Mrs. Lilly was gone, âturn to page twenty-three in your math books.â
We all took out our math books and turned to page twenty-three. But youâll never believe who walked into the doorway a few minutes later.
It was Mrs. Lilly again!
âMrs. Lilly! I thought you said you had to go,â said Mr. Granite.
Clare Clark
H.J. Bradley
Yale Jaffe
Beth Cato
Timothy Zahn
S.P. Durnin
Evangeline Anderson
Kevin Ryan
Kevin J. Anderson
Elizabeth Hunter