books?â
âBooks?â sobbed Elmer. âWhatâs the point? Iâve been expelled!â
Brunoâs normally ruddy face turned chalk-white. â
What?
They canât do this to you! Youâre innocent! You didnât do anything!â
âI know that,â said Elmer, âbut Mr. Sturgeon didnât believe me. He expelled me. My mother is going to kill me!â
âBut you were scanning the skies!â Bruno howled. âThe crab nebula, remember?â
Elmer didnât answer. He took his suitcase from the closet, opened his dresser drawers and began to pack. Bruno stalked up and down the room like a madman.
âYou donât have to pretend youâre upset just to make me feel better,â said Elmer sadly. âI know you hate me and will be glad to be rid of me.â
âWhat do you mean
hate
you?â Bruno cried. âIâm
crazy
about you! I love your ants! I love your goldfish and your plants! Iâm absolutely
wild
about your experiments! Iâm a Drimsdologist! My world is the Elmer Drimsdale world!â On that note, he ran wildly out of the room.
* * *
âI have been expelled, Melvin,â George announced bitterly. âI leave immediately.â
âExpelled?â Boots echoed. âLeave? Why?â
âElmer Drimsdale and I are being blamed for whatever happened at Miss Scrimmageâs last night,â said George. He began to pack his medicines into a large leather chest marked
Health Care
. âWeâve both been expelled and ââ He turned around to find he was talking to an empty room.
Boots tore across the campus towards the Faculty Building. He didnât know what he was going to say to Mr. Sturgeon; he only knew he could not allow George to be expelled for something he hadnât done. He ran blindly, his mind in a turmoil. Just at the foot of the cement walk he collided heavily with another running figure.
âBruno, we canât let it happen!â
âYou too, eh?â Bruno replied. âWhat are we going to do?â
âWhat
can
we do?â asked Boots. âBesides confess, that is.â
âConfess nothing!â countered Bruno. âIf The Fish is ready to expel Elmer and George, heâll be ready to
hang
us! Listen â we donât have to say
we
did it; we just have to say that Elmer and George
didnât
. Weâre their roommates, after all. What better alibi could they have?â
âHeâll never believe us,â Boots said dejectedly. âit was the stupidest thing weâve ever done.â
âWell, it was
your
idea,â muttered Bruno. âCâmon.â
The oak doors had never been heavier. The echoes of their footsteps on the marble floor sounded like a death march in some great tomb. The desks in the outer office had never seemed so high, nor the white walls so desolate.
The office was deserted, but Mr. Sturgeonâs door was open a crack. Boots knocked lightly. âItâs Melvin OâNeal, sir. Bruno and I would like to talk to you.â
A muffled sound escaped from the inner office. It sounded very much like a chuckle, and the words, âRight on time.â Then the Headmaster called out, âCome on in, boys.â
On their way in, Bruno and Boots exchanged puzzled looks. What was going on?
Mr. Sturgeon did not speak until the two were seated uncomfortably on the hard wooden bench. Finally he said, âWhy are you two boys together?â
âUh â we arenât exactly together, sir,â said Bruno. âWe just ran into each other on the way over here.â
âVery well. Now, what brings you here?â
âSir,â Bruno began, âyou canât expel Elmer Drimsdale.â
âAnd George,â added Boots fervently. âYou canât expel him either ⦠sir.â
âHow odd,â said Mr. Sturgeon. âI was under the impression that
I
was Headmaster of
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