The Candy Corn Contest

Ms. Rooney gave out the drawing paper. “All eyes on me,” she said.

Richard Best put his hand into his desk.

“This is the way to make a Thanksgiving tur-key,” said Ms. Rooney. She picked up a fat piece of brown chalk.

Richard fished around for his lunch bag. He watched Ms. Rooney trace her hand on the chalkboard.

He had made a turkey just like that last year … and the year before. Now he was making another one.

A left-back turkey. Just like him.

He started to open his lunch bag.

It made a crackling noise.

Matthew Jackson turned around. He pulled on his stick-out ears. “Hi, Beast,” he whispered.

Richard made a beast face. He smiled at Matthew.

Matthew was a great kid, Richard thought.

But he wet the bed.

And he probably hadn't taken a bath since last sum-mer.

Sometimes Richard wished Ms. Rooney would change every-one's seat. But then he might end up sitting right in front of her desk.

He pulled a piece of bread off his cheese sandwich and looked at it.

There was a little piece of cheese stuck to the bread.

He scraped the cheese off and flicked it on the floor. Then he sneaked the bread into his mouth.

Ms. Rooney stopped talking. She frowned.

Richard stopped chewing.

Then Ms. Rooney put a round red eye on her turkey.

Richard wished she'd hurry up. He couldn't wait for show-and-tell.

He had some great news.

It was about a sleep-over party the day after Thanksgiving.

Beast's friend Emily Arrow put her hand in the air. “You forgot the turkey's feet,” she told Ms. Rooney.

“So I did,” said Ms. Rooney. She drew two yel-low stick legs. She drew a bunch of claws.

Then she wiped her chalky hands on a piece of paper. “I have exciting news,” she said.

Richard hoped she didn't know about his party. He wanted to tell everyone himself. He picked up a brown crayon and began to trace his hand for his turkey.

Ms. Rooney went to the closet. She took out a huge jar. She brought it over to her desk.

It was filled with Candy Corn.

Richard felt his mouth water.

“We're going to have a contest,” Ms. Rooney said. “Guess how many pieces of Candy Com are in this jar?”

“Two hundred thousand,” Emily Arrow called.

“That's not right,” Dawn Bosco said. “Maybe a hundred.”

“What's the prize?” Noah Greene asked.

“The whole jar of Candy Corn,” Ms. Rooney said. “It will be a Thanksgiving present.”

Matthew turned around. He gave Richard a little poke. “I hope I win,” he said. “If you win, will you share with me?”

Richard looked down at the picture he had started. It was a good-looking turkey with blue feathers. He made believe he hadn't heard Mat-thew.

He'd hate to give up half of that Candy Corn if he won.

“How many guesses do we get?” Emily Arrow asked.

“That's the fun part,” Ms. Rooney said. “Every time you read a page from your library book, you can take a guess.”

Matthew groaned.

“Great,” said Timothy Barbiero.

Richard looked at Timothy. Timothy was the fastest reader in the class. He'd probably win.

Too bad.

Emily must have been thinking the same thing, Richard thought. She was looking at Timothy too.

“I'm going to win,” she said. “I'm going to try.”

“Good for you,” said Ms. Rooney.

“I think I'll win,” Timothy said. “I can read fast.”

Emily looked down at her desk. She didn't say any-thing.

But Richard knew what she was thinking.

She was a terrible reader.

Just like him.

Richard pulled out his library book.

It was a fat one.

It took him about an hour to get through one page.

He shouldn't have picked such a hard one.

He'd go back to the library this afternoon. He'd pick a nice skinny little book.

“And,” said Ms. Rooney, “no cheating. No reading skinny little baby books.”

Richard looked at the jar again. He was dying to win.

Matthew was a worse reader than he was.

He didn't have a chance of winning, Richard thought.

Poor Matthew.

Poor smelly Matthew.

Richard tapped his arm. “If I win,” he said, “I'll share with you.”

“All right,” Matthew said. Then he shook his head. “We won't win. We're the worst readers in the class.”

It was almost time to go home. Richard was sick of waiting for show-and-tell.

“All right,” Ms. Rooney said at last. “Who has something to tell us?”

Richard waved his hand around in the air.

Ms. Rooney picked Emily Arrow.

Emily hurried to the front of the room. She was wearing red sneak-ers. Her legs looked like Slim Jim pretzels.

“I went to my aunt Helen's wedding on Satur-day,” Emily said. “I'll tell you all about it.”

Richard wiggled around in his seat.

Emily told about the bride's dress and the brides-maids' dresses.

She told about the wedding cake.

Richard sighed in a loud voice.

Emily danced around in her sneakers. “This is the way the bride danced,” she said.