“I don’t know,” said Louis. “I’ll have to put it down someplace so you can open it.”
“But how can I tell you where to put it until I know what it is?” asked Mrs. Jewls. “You might put it in the wrong place.”
So Louis held the box as Mrs. Jewls stood on a chair next to him and tore open the top. His legs wobbled beneath him.
“It’s a computer!” exclaimed Mrs. Jewls.
Everybody booed.
“What’s the matter?” asked Louis. “I thought everyone loved computers.”
“We don’t want it, Louis,” said Eric Bacon.
“Take it back, Jack,” said Terrence.
“Get that piece of junk out of here,” said Maurecia.
“Now, don’t be that way,” said Mrs. Jewls. “The computer will help us learn. It’s a lot quicker than a pencil and paper.”
“But the quicker we learn, the more work we have to do,” complained Todd.
“You may set it over there on the counter, Louis,” said Mrs. Jewls.
Louis set the computer on the counter next to Sharie’s desk. Then he collapsed on the floor.
“Now watch closely,” said Mrs. Jewls.
Everyone gathered around the new computer. It had a full-color monitor and two disk drive
s.
Mrs. Jewls pushed it out the window.
They all watched it fall and smash against the sidewalk.
“See?” said Mrs. Jewls. “That’s gravity.”
“Oh, now I get it!” said Joe.
“Thank you, Louis,” said Mrs. Jewls. “I’ve been trying to teach them about gravity all morning. We had been using pencils and pieces of paper, but the computer was a lot quicker.”
g
Chapter 2
Mark Miller
Mrs. Jewls rang her cowbell. “I would like you to meet Mark Miller,” she said. “He and his family just moved here all the way from Magadonia!”
Everybody stared at the new kid.
He stood at the front of the room. His knees were shaking.
He hated having to stand in front of the class. It was as if Mrs. Jewls had brought him in for show-and-tell. He felt like some kind of weirdo. He just wanted to sit at a desk and be like everybody else.
But worst of all, his name wasn’t Mark Miller.
He was Benjamin Nushmutt. And he had moved from Hempleton, not Magadonia.