without toppling.
He had finished all of the easy animals with short names, earlier that week. Colts on Monday. Then he wore his Rams cap on Tuesday, and talked about how a zookeeper would take care of sheep.
"You have to shear a lot," Sam had explained. "You have to use special scissors." He used plastic scissors to demonstrate, and pretended to remove the fuzzy coat of a stuffed animal. He knew Mrs. Bennett wouldn't like it if he
really
cut. "Shear, shear, shear," Sam said, as he faked cutting. "Then you make a coat out of the wool," he explained.
"How do you make a coat?" Lindsay asked, with her forehead wrinkled up into a puzzled look.
Sam didn't really know. But he said, "Good question, Lindsay." Then he made a guess. "You sew it with a big needle and thread."
Adam called loudly out from the circle without even raising his hand. "Guys don't sew! Only ladies sew!"
"The zookeeper's
wife
makes a coat," Sam said, after he had thought about it for a moment.
"Excuse me, fellows," said Big Ben. "Plenty of guys sew. There's no rule that says only ladies sew. See this button right here?" He pointed to a white button on his denim shirt. "That button fell off, and I sewed it back myself, just last night."
Everybody was silent for a moment, admiring Big Ben's button. "
Cool,
" Adam said at last.
"Now," said Mrs. Bennett, "I'll read
Sheep in a Jeep.
" She went to the bookcase.
Sam sat down with the other children. "Shhh," he said, because they were still talking about Big Ben's button. He said "Shhh" so that they would quiet down. But he said it for another reason, too. He was noticing that the first letters of "Sheep" on the book Mrs. Bennett was holding made the "Shhh" sound.
"Shhh," he said quietly to himself again, looking at the title of the book.
On Wednesday, Sam had done Lions. Mrs. Bennett let them all practice roaring for a while until it got out of hand and Adam had to go to the time-out chair, where he continued to roar in an angry whisper, while Miss Ruth read a book called
The Lion and the Little Red Bird.
Thursday was Bucks. It was almost the last of the easy hats with short names. Sharks was still left, but Sam knew that Sharks would
cause problems because it was so scary. He was beginning to have a pretty good idea about how he would handle those very scary hats like Sharks, but he wasn't quite ready yet.
So on Thursday he did Bucks, which he explained to the other children meant "men deer."
"I went to a restaurant with my mom and dad and my Uncle Dan," Eli told the class. "And the doors said BUCKS and DOES , and Uncle Dan went to the BUCKS , and it was the bathroom. So then my mom took me, and we went to DOES ."
"When my mom takes me to the bathroom in a restaurant," Lindsay said, "we go to LADIES ."
Leah waved her hand in the air. "We get to go to HANDICAPPED !" she said. "Because of my wheelchair!"
"Children!" Zooman Sam said impatiently. "We're not having a lesson about bathrooms today. We're supposed to be talking about deer. Who can think of an interesting thing about deer?" He waited, hoping no one would mention Bambi's mother being shot by hunters because he knew it would make Becky cry.
"Antlers!" called Adam, and wiggled his fingers up behind his ears.
Then Mrs. Bennett did a whole science lesson about antlers. Antlers were pretty interesting
things, actually, and Sam wished that he had them. He felt the top of his head, reaching under his Bucks cap, to see if perhaps there were some little knobby things starting. That's the way antlers appeared on baby deer; they just popped up one day, as a surprise. Chicken pox had happened that way to Sam, and had not been any fun at all. Sam wondered whether there might be a chance that antlers could happen to a boy. But it wasn't happening to him, so he sighed and pushed his cap back down on his hair.
And on Friday, Sam wore six hats at once.
"Orioles," Mrs. Bennett read, and she removed the first hat carefully while Sam stood in front of
He had finished all of the easy animals with short names, earlier that week. Colts on Monday. Then he wore his Rams cap on Tuesday, and talked about how a zookeeper would take care of sheep.
"You have to shear a lot," Sam had explained. "You have to use special scissors." He used plastic scissors to demonstrate, and pretended to remove the fuzzy coat of a stuffed animal. He knew Mrs. Bennett wouldn't like it if he
really
cut. "Shear, shear, shear," Sam said, as he faked cutting. "Then you make a coat out of the wool," he explained.
"How do you make a coat?" Lindsay asked, with her forehead wrinkled up into a puzzled look.
Sam didn't really know. But he said, "Good question, Lindsay." Then he made a guess. "You sew it with a big needle and thread."
Adam called loudly out from the circle without even raising his hand. "Guys don't sew! Only ladies sew!"
"The zookeeper's
wife
makes a coat," Sam said, after he had thought about it for a moment.
"Excuse me, fellows," said Big Ben. "Plenty of guys sew. There's no rule that says only ladies sew. See this button right here?" He pointed to a white button on his denim shirt. "That button fell off, and I sewed it back myself, just last night."
Everybody was silent for a moment, admiring Big Ben's button. "
Cool,
" Adam said at last.
"Now," said Mrs. Bennett, "I'll read
Sheep in a Jeep.
" She went to the bookcase.
Sam sat down with the other children. "Shhh," he said, because they were still talking about Big Ben's button. He said "Shhh" so that they would quiet down. But he said it for another reason, too. He was noticing that the first letters of "Sheep" on the book Mrs. Bennett was holding made the "Shhh" sound.
"Shhh," he said quietly to himself again, looking at the title of the book.
On Wednesday, Sam had done Lions. Mrs. Bennett let them all practice roaring for a while until it got out of hand and Adam had to go to the time-out chair, where he continued to roar in an angry whisper, while Miss Ruth read a book called
The Lion and the Little Red Bird.
Thursday was Bucks. It was almost the last of the easy hats with short names. Sharks was still left, but Sam knew that Sharks would
cause problems because it was so scary. He was beginning to have a pretty good idea about how he would handle those very scary hats like Sharks, but he wasn't quite ready yet.
So on Thursday he did Bucks, which he explained to the other children meant "men deer."
"I went to a restaurant with my mom and dad and my Uncle Dan," Eli told the class. "And the doors said BUCKS and DOES , and Uncle Dan went to the BUCKS , and it was the bathroom. So then my mom took me, and we went to DOES ."
"When my mom takes me to the bathroom in a restaurant," Lindsay said, "we go to LADIES ."
Leah waved her hand in the air. "We get to go to HANDICAPPED !" she said. "Because of my wheelchair!"
"Children!" Zooman Sam said impatiently. "We're not having a lesson about bathrooms today. We're supposed to be talking about deer. Who can think of an interesting thing about deer?" He waited, hoping no one would mention Bambi's mother being shot by hunters because he knew it would make Becky cry.
"Antlers!" called Adam, and wiggled his fingers up behind his ears.
Then Mrs. Bennett did a whole science lesson about antlers. Antlers were pretty interesting
things, actually, and Sam wished that he had them. He felt the top of his head, reaching under his Bucks cap, to see if perhaps there were some little knobby things starting. That's the way antlers appeared on baby deer; they just popped up one day, as a surprise. Chicken pox had happened that way to Sam, and had not been any fun at all. Sam wondered whether there might be a chance that antlers could happen to a boy. But it wasn't happening to him, so he sighed and pushed his cap back down on his hair.
And on Friday, Sam wore six hats at once.
"Orioles," Mrs. Bennett read, and she removed the first hat carefully while Sam stood in front of
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