The Magical Ms. Plum (7 page)

“Class, let’s the rest of you focus on your art project.”

With a tug on his rope, Emiko pulled Bubbles toward the back of the room. The alligator seemed unhappy to leave all those ankles and toes, but soon he caught a whiff of Clyde, the hamster. He lunged at the table by the window, clawing at the table leg, trying to reach the helpless animals on top.

Hip-Hop quickly opened his eyes. Clyde scampered in terrified circles around his cage.

“Emiko, make Bubbles stop! Can’t you see what he’s doing?” said Mindy.

“Can’t you see what he is?” asked Lucy.

Emiko seemed confused by the questions. For the first time ever, she looked a little hurt. “I don’t see why everyone’s being so mean about Bubbles.”

“He’s a dangerous animal!” said Lucy.

With that, Emiko burst out laughing. “You guys are such jokers. Come on, Bubbles, let’s go back to our desk and work on our valentines.”

The alligator followed Emiko, his slit eyes glaring, his tail lashing back and forth.
Everyone in the front row quickly pulled their feet back.

But Jeremy was too slow. Suddenly Bubbles’s jaws locked onto the hem of Jeremy’s blue jeans, and the alligator began to pull him from his chair!

“Alligators drag their prey into the water to drown them,” observed Carlos.

“Emiko! Stop him!” cried Nadia.

“He’s just playing. What is everybody’s problem?”

“Help!” cried Jeremy, who was jumping about, trying to throw off Bubbles.

“Emiko! Look!”

Bubbles had stopped pulling and now had his claws sunk into Jeremy’s pant leg. He looked up at Jeremy with a nasty grin on his face.

“Help!” Jeremy swung at him wildly, afraid to get any fingers too close. “Help!”

The whole class screamed at Emiko. “Do something!”

Emiko hesitated, then pulled off her glasses and peered at Bubbles.

Her face dropped. Her eyes widened. Her hand flew to her mouth in astonishment.

“Bubbles, stop!” she commanded. “Get down right now!”

Bubbles glanced over at her.

She stamped her foot. “Now!”

Bubbles grumbled, but then he released Jeremy’s pant leg.

Emiko grabbed his leash. She squinted at the rope for a moment.

“I thought this was pink with sparkles,” she said sadly.

Emiko led Bubbles back toward the closet.

“I thought you were a poodle. I’ve always wanted a poodle.”

Bubbles made a casual swipe of a claw toward Becky Oh’s foot. Emiko frowned.

“You’re not a poodle at all,” she concluded, scooting him into the closet and closing the door.

She turned back toward the class.

“Sorry,” she said. “I guess he really was an alligator.”

“Yes,” was the general agreement. What a relief! At last Emiko saw the world as it really was.

“Just an alligator,” Emiko sighed, heading back toward her desk. She sat down. She cleaned off her glasses. She looked over at Hip-Hop, the toad, and frowned sadly. Then slowly, slowly, she began to smile.

“But wasn’t he the cutest little alligator you ever saw!” she suddenly said.

“Emiko!” cried Becky Oh. “No!”

“Well, he was. Did you see how adorable his green eyes were? And I think he was very smart. You could just tell by his expression.”

The whole class groaned.

Ms. Plum didn’t say anything. She held up the valentine she had just made. It seemed to have more glue than glitter, but Ms. Plum smiled happily and started her next valentine.

“What is Ms. Plum?” asked Eric one windy March day at lunch
.

Most of the kids from Ms. Plum’s class sat together in the cafeteria. There was just so much to talk about and no one else to talk about it with. If they kept their voices low, they found they could speak out loud to each other about what really happened in Ms. Plum’s class
.

“Ms. Plum is our teacher. Duh,” said Brad
.

“Yeah, but is she like a witch? I mean, how can she do those things?”

“She would have to be a good witch,” said Darma
.

“I think she’s a magic fairy,” said Emiko
.

“Maybe it’s the closet that’s magic,” said Carlos. “Maybe it’s not Ms. Plum at all.”

“Nah, I think Ms. Plum is the magic,” said Brad
.

He sounded so certain that Carlos suddenly wondered how Brad could be so sure. Had Brad had some sort of magic experience?

“I bet if some other teacher got that room, it would just be a regular old closet,” Tashala said
.

“Hey, what do you think would happen if Ms. Plum went in the closet herself?” said Becky Oh. “Have you noticed, she never gets anything for herself.”

“Would she get an animal?” asked Nadia
.

“I know,” said Eric. “Next time she asks for something, nobody raise your hand. Then she’ll have to go in herself.”

Everyone liked this idea, except Carlos. But he was outnumbered and had to go along with the plan
.

“Remember,” said Eric. “No one raises their hand.”

“Who can get me a box of pushpins?” asked Ms. Plum a few days later.

Not a student raised a hand.

Ms. Plum looked surprised. She glanced over at Carlos.

Carlos clasped his hands together in front of him and held on tight. He pretended to be interested in something on his thumb.

“Well, I, uh …” Ms. Plum stood uncertainly. “I guess I’ll have to get them myself.”

She gave the class one more puzzled glance, then stepped into the closet.

In a moment she was back out, a box of plum-colored pushpins in her hand.

For a second it looked like nothing else had come out with her. (“Of course,” whispered Darma, “because she’s perfect.”) But
then a small peacock came bobbing out. It followed her to the front of the room.

Its tail feathers were down, drab and dragging along the floor. It didn’t look very smart either.

“I expected like a tiger,” whispered Tashala.

“Or a unicorn,” Emiko whispered back.

“Now, class, let’s get back to our science lesson.”

Ms. Plum had set up an experiment on sound. Twenty water glasses sat across a table—each one filled with a little more water than the last.

She began to tap each glass with a metal spoon.

“Notice the different sounds.”

“Oooooooooh,” breathed the class in awe.

Ms. Plum smiled, then noticed that everyone had their eyes on something behind her.

Ms. Plum turned around. She had the distinct impression that the peacock had just snapped its tail feathers shut behind her.

She turned back to the class and began pinging on the glasses, going up the musical scale. This time, just as the class began to ooh and aah, she whirled around.

“Aha!” she cried.

The peacock’s tail was spread into a glorious fan of luminous blues and greens and golds.

The bird quickly shut its tail and pecked at the floor, not meeting Ms. Plum’s eye. Slowly it wandered away.

“Now then,” Ms. Plum said. “Who can tell me why each glass sounds different?”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” cried the class.

Ms. Plum frowned and glanced over at the peacock. Clearly, it was just shutting its tail, pretending it hadn’t been showing off.

“Now, class, please note this for your scientific pleasure,” Ms. Plum said.

As she tapped each glass, the water turned a different color.

“Awesome,” cried Carlos. The rest of the class chimed agreement.

Ms. Plum looked up, beaming.

But everyone was looking into the corner behind her.

She didn’t bother to whirl around. She knew all she would see was the peacock closing its tail and acting like it didn’t know anything.

“All right, if that’s the way you want it,” she said darkly.

She tapped each glass, and a different flower blossomed above the water.

The kids murmured their amazement.

The peacock snapped open its tail. It looked like an American flag.

The kids gasped.

Ms. Plum wafted her spoon above the flowers, and each flower sounded like a different instrument.

“Wow!” said the kids.

The peacock snapped open its tail.

“Amazing!” the class shouted as stars appeared to twinkle up and down its plum age.

Ms. Plum played “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with the glasses and flowers.

The peacock opened its tail. It looked like a garden of jewels.

Ms. Plum played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The peacock opened its tail. Miniature fireworks erupted all over it.

The entire class stood up and gave the peacock a standing ovation, stamping their feet and whistling.

Ms. Plum set down her spoon.

“Come along, please,” she said firmly to the bird.

She shooed it back into the closet and shut the door.

Then she marched back up to her desk and picked up her spoon.

Darma hesitated, then raised her hand.

“Yes, Darma.” Ms. Plum looked rather cross.

Darma took a deep breath. “Well, uh, why did you get a peacock?”

“I guess he just happened to wander out,” Ms. Plum said with a curious look at the closet. “I’m very sorry he distracted you all so horribly.”

“Oh, he wasn’t distracting. He was beautiful,” said Mindy.

“Super,” “Awesome,” “Fantastic,” “Unbelievable,” echoed the other kids.

“Yes, I suppose he was,” Ms. Plum said. “It’s perfectly understandable that you would rather see him.” Her lip trembled just a bit.

The kids nodded and agreed they’d never seen anything so grand.

Ms. Plum said, “Oh,” and turned back to her lineup of glasses. She began to pull the flowers from the water.

“So, I guess that’s enough science for today,” she said, sounding a little sad.

The kids glanced at each other.

Darma raised her hand.

“Yes, Darma,” said Ms. Plum.

“Please, don’t stop,” she said. “We want to see it.”

Every student nodded his or her head.

“Please!” cried Mindy.

“Please!” said Nadia.

Even Carlos said, “Please, Ms. Plum. Your demonstrations are the best.”

“Really?” said Ms. Plum.

“Totally,” said Brad.