“I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” Abel whispered, so only Gus could hear.
“Why not?” Gus asked. “She’s always right. I think it’s great.”
“I don’t,” said Abel. “Okay?”
Gus shrugged. “Okay,” he said.
When Angeline got back she told them that it was going to be very hot, especially hot for October. Abel politely thanked her.
“Gus, can I ride around with you and my father in the garbage truck sometime?” she asked.
“Now, what do you want to do that for?” Gus asked. “It smells in there.”
“I want to,” said Angeline. “Besides, I like the smell.”
“You belong in school,” said Gus.
“School smells,” said Angeline.
Gus laughed. “I never liked school either,” he said, “but that was because I wasn’t too smart. If I was as smart as you, I would have loved school. Someday you’ll appreciate it.”
“You never know,” said Angeline.
“It’s kind of tough on her now,” said Abel. “All the other kids in her class are a lot older. She doesn’t have any friends.”
“I do too,” Angeline insisted. “I have one friend. Gary Boone. He’s my best friend. He’s so funny. He knows so many jokes.”
“Good,” said Abel. “I’m glad you’re finally making friends.”
“Just one friend,” corrected Angeline. “Just Gary. All the other kids are goons.”
Five
Mr. Bone
Before, when Gary took off his shoe and put it back on and Angeline asked him why he did it and he said he didn’t know, well, actually he had a very good reason. There was a pebble in his shoe. It
had been there almost the whole lunch period, but because he was so amazed that Angeline had said she liked his jokes and even laughed and everything, he didn’t think about the pebble. Then when the bell rang and it was time to go in, he simply took off his shoe, dumped the pebble out, and put his shoe back on. That’s all. But when Angeline asked him why he did it, well, he forgot.
He was in the fifth grade, in Miss Turbone’s class. He called her “Mr. Bone.”
The first time he called her that, on the first day of school, it was just a joke, like Goon or Angelopolis. But like all his jokes, nobody noticed—not even Miss Turbone. After that, no matter how hard he tried to say “Miss Turbone,” it always came out “Mr. Bone.”
He liked her a lot. In fact, until he met Angeline, she was his favorite person at the school. Now she was his second favorite.
She had a soft face and pretty brown hair, and she wore big round glasses. He loved her glasses. He thought she looked prettier with the glasses on than without them.
“Okay, who knows the answer?” asked Miss Turbone.
“Uh-oh,” thought Gary. He didn’t even know the question. He looked down at his desk, hiding, like the way an ostrich hides by sticking its head in the sand. He hoped Mr. Bone wouldn’t call on him.
Miss Turbone looked at Gary. She could tell by the way that he was looking down at his desk that he didn’t know the answer. Some teachers, like Mrs. Hardlick, would have called on him for just that reason. Some hunters like to shoot ostriches that have their heads buried in the sand. Miss Turbone called on somebody else.
She liked Gary. She felt sorry for him because all the other kids called him “Goon” and he didn’t have any friends, but besides that, she also liked him. However, she didn’t think a great deal of his jokes. She didn’t know he called her “Mr. Bone.” She might have thought that one was funny.
When the bell rang and all the other kids left for lunch, she told Gary she wanted to talk to him.
He walked up to her desk. “Yes, Mr. Bone.”