Gooney the Fabulous by Lois Lowry Page A

played and chirped. Then when winter came, the ant and his fellow ants all had plenty to eat, but the grasshopper—"
    "
Starved!
"Keiko wailed."
And died!
"
    Tricia reached over and patted Keiko's back, to comfort her.
    "So, Malcolm," Mrs. Pidgeon went on, "what do we learn from the story?"
    Malcolm thought. "Don't step on ants," he said at last. "If ants are there, don't step on them. Never step on ants."
    Mrs. Pidgeon sighed. She was silent for a long time. Everyone had noticed that Malcolm had recently begun saying everything three times. He couldn't seem to help it. They were all trying to ignore it, but sometimes it was difficult. The second-graders watched Mrs. Pidgeon. Finally she said, "Let's get out our social studies books, class. Turn to the chapter called 'Cities and Towns,' please."
    "Wait!" called Malcolm. "I know! Clean up your crumbs after lunch or your kitchen will be full of ants! Don't leave your crumbs around! Wipe up any crumbs!"
    "That's page thirty-two, class," Mrs. Pidgeon said. She held up the social studies book, open to a picture of a city filled with skyscrapers.
    "Felicia Ann?" she said. "Did I see your hand up?"
    Felicia Ann, looking at the floor, nodded. She was the shyest person in Mrs. Pidgeon's second grade. She never looked up. She rarely spoke above a whisper.
    "Did you want to say something?" the teacher asked her.
    "Yeth, pleathe," whispered Felicia Ann. She had recently lost her two front teeth.
    "Listen, class," Mrs. Pidgeon said, and held her finger in front of her mouth so that the children would be quiet.
    "
Work hard and don't play all the time,
"Felicia Ann said, blushing. "Plan ahead. Then you'll be ready for anything! A flood, or a blitherd—"
    "What's a blitherd?" asked Beanie. "I never heard of a blitherd."
    "She means blizzard," Gooney Bird explained.
    "Yeth," Felicia Ann agreed. "Blitherd. And that'th the moral!" She looked up shyly and grinned.
    "I liked the fable," she added, and looked at the floor again.
    "Good," said Mrs. Pidgeon. "All right, class. Now we'll—"
    "I don't get it!" Malcolm called out. "That story wasn't about floods or blizzards! It was insects! It was about insects! It was a story about insects! Ants! One time I was at my cousin's house and I sat on a whole hill of red ants, and—"
    He was wiggling in his seat. Mrs. Pidgeon went to him and put her arm firmly across his shoulders. "Get a grip," she said. Sometimes she had to do that to calm Malcolm down. Sometimes Malcolm had to have a time-out. Malcolm had a hard time being calm at school, because at home his family had baby triplets and life was never calm. Their house, Malcolm said, was filled with the noise of babies crying, and their bathroom was filled with the smell of laundry, mostly in threes: three sets of baby clothes with spit-up on the front; and their kitchen was filled with groups of three bottles and three sippy cups and spilled milk and half-empty jars of strained peas, and sometimes Malcolm's mother announced, "I am going to scream three times!" and then she did, and after that she felt better for a while.
    Now the class waited, as they were accustomed to doing, until Malcolm got a grip. Then they took out their social studies books and turned to page 32.
    All but Gooney Bird Greene. Her social studies book was on her desk, but she hadn't opened it.
    "Mrs. Pidgeon?" Gooney Bird raised her hand, and when the teacher nodded to her, she said, "I have a great idea!"
    The second-graders, including Malcolm, all cheered. Whenever Gooney Bird had a great idea, something exciting was about to happen.

2.

    At lunchtime, in the multipurpose room, all of Mrs. Pidgeon's second-graders sat together and traded lunch parts, as they always did.
    "Anyone want some of my sushi?" asked Gooney Bird Greene. "This one is called
kappa maki.
It's mostly cucumber." She held up a small glistening cylinder.
    "What's that green stuff?" Barry asked, making a face."
    Nori,
"Goony Bird told