Zooman Sam by Lois Lowry Page A

when your dad had his wisdom teeth taken out?" Mrs. Krupnik asked Sam. Sam nodded. It hadn't been very long ago. His dad went to the dentist one afternoon, and then he came home with his face all numb and his lips looking a little crooked. That evening, at dinner,
his dad ate only soup, and some of it dribbled into his beard. Later, when the numbness went away, his mouth hurt a whole lot. His mom filled a Ziploc bag with crushed ice, and wrapped it in a towel. Then Sam's dad took a pill and lay on the couch with the ice bag on his jaw, watching "Wheel of Fortune," Anastasia's favorite show, and groaning. He thought "Wheel of Fortune" was a really dumb show, and he
always
groaned when someone bought a vowel. "Why on earth does she waste money buying an E when she's already got T and H and
knows
the other letter's an E?" Myron Krupnik would say. And Anastasia would say "Shhhhh."

    But on this particular night, Sam's dad had groaned because his mouth hurt.
    Sam remembered it, but he couldn't see what it had to do with scary animal hats.
    His mom explained. "Everybody has four wisdom teeth," she said, "way in the back."
    "Me too?" Sam asked.
    "Well, not yet. You'll get them when you're older, though. Everybody does. All grown-ups have four wisdom teeth."
    Sam still couldn't see what it had to do with hats, but he kept listening. His mom handed
him a cookie from the rack where they were cooling. He hoped it was one with a lot of raisins.

    "And sometimes they have to be taken out. I had my wisdom teeth taken out when I was in college, actually."
    "Did you have to have a bag of ice?"
    "Yes, I did. I stayed overnight in the college infirmary."
    Sam chewed on his cookie. "I don't want wisdom teeth," he told his mother. "I'm not going to have any."
    "Well, Sam," his mom said, "the reason I asked if you remembered Daddy's wisdom teeth was this. He had four of them, and the dentist said they all had to come out. So he
could
have had them done one at a time. Maybe one each week."
    "Then it wouldn't have hurt so much," Sam said.
    "Well, maybe not. But it would have meant that every week he would have to think about it and worry about it. And then he would have one done, and it would get better, and he would have to start thinking about the
next
one."
    "And you would have to make him four ice bags," Sam said.
    "Right. But he decided to get it all over with at once. Your dad is a brave guy, Sam."

    "Yeah." Sam chewed on his cookie and thought about his dad. He still couldn't figure out what this had to do with scary animal hats.
    "So, here's my thought, Sam," his mother said. "You could just forget about those scary animal hats. You could forget about being a zooman. We could take that zooman suit and cut it up into rags and you would never have to wear it again. And we could throw the hats away."
    Sam shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "I promised the other kids scary animals."
    "I know you did. And I know you're a brave guy, too, like your dad." His mom hugged him, and he snuggled in her lap.
    "Yes," Sam said. "I am." He tried to think about times when he had been brave. Once he had had to have a penicillin shot, and he hadn't cried.
    "So it seems to me that you could do those—how many were there?"
    "Five," Sam said.
    "Yes, five. You could do those five hats one at a time, one each day, and you could drag it out and worry about it for five days. Or you could be like your dad and his wisdom teeth."
    Now
he saw what she meant. "And get them all over with at once!" Sam said.

    "Right."
    "Tomorrow," Sam said.
    "All five?" his mom asked.
    "All five," Sam said.

18

    "Class," Sam announced, as he stood in front of the circle of children, "today will be a very special day."
    "Where's your hat?" Leah asked.
    "Hey! I can see Sam's hair!" Adam shouted.
    Sam looked down at the plastic trash bag on the floor beside him. "I will be doing a lot of hats," he explained, "but I decided to do them one at a time instead of wearing them in a tower,