Holy Enchilada by Henry Winkler Page B

hand. “But they could use a little more slime.”
    â€œEeuuww,” Katie and Kim screamed. They went running over to the cake and pie section, which they were sure would be a slime-free zone.
    Our enchiladas were still right there in the center of the main table. I could see that there was steam rising up from the pan and the cheese was all nice and melted. One of the room parents must have warmed them up while we were in class.
    Ms. Adolf had told us to wander around the room and arrange all the dishes nicely on the table. She was doing the same thing herself. At least, that’s what she was pretending to do. I noticed that she was sampling a taste here and there. She wasn’t fooling me. I saw her pop that Greek olive in her mouth, and swipe a sweet-and-sour shrimp.
    â€œLook, there’s the Yosh Man,” Frankie said, pointing across the room.
    Yoshi was just entering the room, with Principal Love on one side of him and his dad on the other. He looked like he was asleep on his feet. Obviously, the library tour hadn’t been all that exciting for him. So many books and so hard to read.
    When he saw us, his face lit up.
    â€œCowabunga, dudes,” he hollered from across the room.
    â€œWhy don’t you jerks teach him something new to say?” Nick McKelty shouted. “He’s getting annoying.”
    If anyone would know anything about being annoying, it would be Nick the Tick. He was the master, the commander, the prince of annoying.
    Frankie, Ashley, and I ignored McKelty and went to say hi to Yoshi.
    â€œHey, Yoshi, you’ve got to see our enchiladas,” Ashley said. “They’re over there on the center table.”
    â€œAh, enchiladas,” Mr. Morimoto said. “Yoshi and I love them. I’ll have to taste one.”
    I wished I knew how to say, “I’d think twice about that if I were you,” in Japanese, but since I didn’t, I just smiled and said, “Ikeru, Morimoto- san . ”
    â€œOh, you speak Japanese.” Mr. Morimoto smiled. He turned to Principal Love. “This is a very impressive young man.”
    â€œThat he is. That he is,” Principal Love said, giving me a friendly slap on the back. I was so unprepared for his sudden display of affection that I almost fell over into Ryan Shimozato’s beef sukiyaki.
    Suddenly, we heard a commotion coming from the center of the room, near the table with our enchiladas. Several of the parents had gathered in a circle, surrounding someone.
    â€œStep away, and give her some air,” one of them was saying.
    When the parents moved away, we saw who it was they were surrounding.
    Ms. Adolf!
    Oh, she didn’t look good. Not that she ever looks good, but at that moment, she looked especially not good. Her face was turning bright red. I had never seen color in her face before.
    The next thing we knew, Ms. Adolf let out a noise that wasn’t like any human sound I had ever heard. It was somewhere between a cough and a hiss and a gasp.
    â€œWater!” she hissed. “Get me water!”
    She sounded like Golem in The Lord of the Rings. She was hissing pretty loudly, and her face looked like a tomato about to explode. Then she started hopping around the room, like a kangaroo with its feet on fire.
    â€œYou go, girlfriend,” Frankie whispered under his breath as he watched her hop.
    Ashley burst out laughing. I didn’t want to laugh, so I just concentrated on smiling very, very hard. Sometimes that keeps the laugh inside.
    â€œWhat happened to that poor woman?” Mr. Morimoto asked.
    â€œMust have been something she ate,” Principal Love said. Then he turned and looked directly at me. “I hope it wasn’t your enchiladas.”
    That wiped the smile off my face really fast.
    â€œNo, sir,” I said. “Like you always say, there’s no such thing as a bad enchilada, sir.”
    Man, oh, man. If only that were true.
    Ms. Adolf grabbed an