Lazy Lions, Lucky Lambs

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  To the memory of Richard Flammer

  Richard Best ducked behind the snow pile.

  “I know you're there, Beast,” Matthew yelled. Richard dug at the snow.

  He packed a clump into a snowball. His hands were freezing.

  He dashed up to the top of the pile. He tossed the snowball at Matthew Jackson.

  It landed on top of Matthew's brown hat. “Yeow,” Matthew yelled.

  Suddenly Richard remembered. They weren't supposed to play on the snow pile.

  “Just wait till next time.” Matthew grinned. “I'll make peanut butter out of you.”

  “Let's have a wrestling match,” Richard said. “I'll be Battling Beast. You can be—;”

  The bell rang.

  Beast looked back over his shoulder. Everyone was lining up.

  “I'll be … ” Matthew stopped to think. “Maybe we'd better get going,” Beast said. “Maybe,“ said Matthew.

  He threw himself on top of Beast. “I'm Mad Dog Matthew Jackson,” he yelled. “King of the wrestlers.”

  Matthew felt as heavy as a mountain, Richard thought. He had on a jacket and about four sweaters.

  He smelled as if he had wet the bed last night. Richard grunted.

  He rolled over on top of Matthew. “I can't believe this,” a voice said.“Fighting. Rolling on the ground.” Richard looked up.

  It was Mrs. Kettle, the strictest teacher in the school.

  Richard scrambled off Matthew.

  “Go straight to the principal's office,” Mrs. Kettle said. “This minute.”

  Richard dusted the snow off his jeans.

  He and Matthew started across the schoolyard.

  Richard looked back once.

  Mrs. Kettle was still staring at them.

  “We're going to get killed,” Richard said out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Expelled, maybe,” Matthew said.

  “Maybe,” Richard said.

  He wondered where kids went when they got expelled.

  Maybe they stayed home all the time, he thought.

  Maybe they went to a special school. A school for expelled kids.

  “Maybe we'll get left back,” Matthew said.

  “I hope not,” said Richard. He had already been left back once.

  He might never get out of Ms. Rooney's class.

  He'd be doing the same stuff over and over again.

  They passed Ms. Rooney's line.

  It was a good thing Ms. Rooney was inside.

  It was a good thing she didn't know they were going to the principal's office.

  Everyone in the class was looking at them. Sherri Dent. Noah Greene.

  Emily Arrow crossed her fingers. “Good luck.”

  Richard opened the big brown doors.

  They went down the hall to the office.

  “You first,” Matthew said.

  Richard opened the door.

  Mrs. Lee, the secretary, was sitting at the front desk. She was-typing.

  The typewriter keys were clicking fast.

  Mrs. Lee's fingers were bouncing up and down.

  “We have to see Mr. Mancina,” Richard said.

  Mrs. Lee kept her eyes on the typewriter. “He's busy now,” she said.

  Richard looked at Matthew.

  Matthew raised his shoulders in the air. “We'll come back some other time,” he said.

  “Right,” said Richard.

  Mrs. Lee frowned. “Sit down,” she said.

  Richard and Matthew sat in the visitors' chairs.

  The typewriter keys kept clicking.

  Once Mrs. Lee looked up. “What date is this?” she asked herself.

  “February,” said Matthew.

  She shook her head. “No,” she said. “It's March. March first.”

  Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat went the keys.

  “March,” said Mrs. Lee. “It comes in like a lion.”

  Richard opened his mouth.

  He made believe he was roaring at Matthew.

  Matthew made a roaring face back at him.

  Then Richard remembered they were in trouble.

  He closed his mouth again.

  Mr. Mancina opened the inside door.

  Richard could see he was wearing a purple tie.

  The typewriter keys stopped clicking.

  “I think we have two troublemakers here,” said Mrs. Lee.

  “Come into my office,” said Mr. Mancina.

  Richard stood up.

  He could hear his heart begin to pound.

  He hoped nobody else could hear it.

  They went into Mr. Mancina's office.

  Mr. Mancina had a McDonald's tray on his desk.

  There was an Egg McMuffin on the tray.

  Richard looked at Matthew.

  He hoped Matthew had seen the Egg McMuffin.

  Richard was surprised that a principal would go to McDonald's … just like a regular person.

  Richard had never even thought about a principal eating before.

  “What were you doing?” Mr. Mancina asked.

  “Rolling … ” began Matthew.

  “The snow pile … ” Richard began.

  “Rolling in the snow?” Mr. Mancina asked.

  “Near the snow pile,” Richard said.

  “I see,” said Mr. Mancina.

  “We're not going to do it anymore,” Matthew said.

  “No,” said Richard.

  “That's good,” said Mr. Mancina. “I didn't think you were troublemakers.”

  Richard's heart stopped pounding.

  “Do you know what month this is?” Mr. Mancina asked.

  “It's March,” said Matthew.

  “March first,” said Richard.

  Mr. Mancina nodded. “Do you know what hap- pens in March?”

  Richard took a guess. “James Polk's birthday?”

  Mr. Mancina shook his head. “No. It's the third marking period. It's report-card time again.”

  “Yes,” Richard said. He swallowed a little.

  He had forgotten all about report cards.

  “I want to see good marks,” Mr. Mancina said. “I know you can do it.”

  “I know we can,” said Matthew.

  Richard's heart began to pound again.

  He had forgotten that report cards came in the middle of March.

  “All right, boys,” Mr. Mancina said. “Hurry back to Ms. Rooney's room.”

  Richard and Matthew backed out the door.

  Mrs. Lee's fingers were still clicking.

  “Maybe I'll get a good report card,” said Matthew.

  “Maybe,” Richard said.

  He thought about being left back again.

  He hoped he'd get a good report card too.

  Richard slid into his seat in back of Matthew.

  Ms. Rooney looked up. “You're late today.”

  Richard ducked his head.

  Ms. Rooney sighed. Then she said, “March comes in like a lion. It goes out like a lamb.”

  Richard pulled out his last piece of looseleaf.

  He began to draw a lion face.

  He put some fur on its forehead.

  “Look outside,” said Ms. Rooney.

  Richard looked out the window.

  Everything was gray and cold.

  It was starting to snow again.

  “What am I talking about?” Ms.
Rooney asked.

  Noah raised his hand. “You mean that the beginning of March is terrible ”

  “All snowy and windy,” Emily Arrow said.

  “Everybody gets colds,” Jill Simon said. She sniffled a little.

  “But the end of March is spring,” said Alex Walker.

  “Baseball,” said Jason Bazyk.

  “Sweaters,” said Emily. “Flowers.”

  “Getting ready for my wedding,” said Ms. Vincent, the student teacher.

  “Everything soft like a lamb,” said Linda Lorca.

  Matthew turned around. “Baaa, baaa,” he whispered.

  “Baaa,” Richard whispered back.

  He yawned a little.

  It looked like a blizzard outside, he thought. They'd never get to play baseball again.

  In front of him Matthew slid down in his seat. “I'm sick of winter,” he said.

  Richard nodded. “Me too.”

  He put some fur on the lion's cheeks.

  He drew in a big mouth and some fat teeth.

  Matthew looked over his shoulder. “That's some lion.”

  “It's a March lion,” Richard said.

  “Is he yawning?” Matthew asked. “He looks as if he's falling asleep.”

  “He is not,” Richard said. “He's getting ready to pounce on someone.”

  “Probably Mrs. Miller, the substitute teacher,” said Matthew.

  “Probably,” said Richard.

  “Did you two hear what I was saying?” asked Ms. Rooney.

  “Yes,” said Richard.

  “No,” said Matthew at the same time.

  Ms. Rooney pushed at her puffy brown hair.

  “What was I saying?” she asked Richard.

  “March comes in like a lion,” said Richard.

  Ms. Rooney looked surprised. “It's an exciting month,” she said. “We'll do exciting things.”

  Richard sighed.

  March was probably the worst month in the whole year.

  Ms. Vincent went to the front of the room.

  “Take out paper,” said Ms. Rooney. “Ms. Vincent is going to do a lesson with you.”

  “Yes,” said Ms. Vincent. “A writing project.”

  Richard drew a long skinny tail on his lion. He put a fat pom-pom on the end.

  “Are you listening?” Ms. Vincent asked.

  Richard nodded. “Hey, Matthew,” he whispered. “Lend me some looseleaf?”

  Matthew raised one shoulder. He held up a wrinkled piece of paper. “This is my only one.”

  Richard turned around. Maybe Emily …

  “Settle down,” said Ms. Rooney from the side.

  “We're going to write stories,” said Ms. Vincent. “They have to be finished by—”

  “By March seventeenth,” said Ms. Rooney. “By St. Patrick's Day.”

  “We're going to write true stories about real people,” said Ms. Vincent.

  “I'll write about James Polk,” said Timothy Barbiero.

  “Good,” said Ms. Vincent. “Get lots of facts.”

  “Maybe I'll do Martin Luther King,” Alex said.

  “Neat,” said Ms. Vincent.

  Richard looked out the window.

  He made believe he was thinking of someone to write about.

  He looked at Ms. Rooney. She'd be mad as anything if she saw he had no looseleaf again.

  He tore off a tiny corner of his lion paper.

  He picked up his pencil and wrote:

  Loos leef

  He could see Ms. Rooney was looking out the window.

  He tossed the piece of paper back at Emily's desk.

  It landed on the floor between her desk and Dawn Bosco's.

  Emily didn't even see it.

  Ms. Rooney came a little closer.

  She looked at the paper on his desk. “What's that?”

  “It's a lion,” Richard said.

  “A lazy lion,” said Matthew.

  Ms. Rooney smiled a little. “This isn't drawing lions time.”

  Richard put his lion paper in his desk.

  “Lazy lions are one thing,” Ms. Rooney said. “Lazy boys are another. You'd better get to work.”

  “I don't have any more—” Richard began.

  “Will someone please give Richard some paper,” Ms. Rooney said.

  Dawn Bosco leaned forward. “Here, Beast,” she said. “You can have two pieces. It's special.”

  Richard looked at the paper.

  It had two red hearts in the comer.

  Just his luck, he thought. He had to use silly irls' paper.

  “Is everyone ready?” asked Ms. Vincent.

  “I think I'm going to write about Sally Ride,” imily said. “She's an astronaut.”

  “Terrific,” said Ms. Vincent.

  Richard raised his hand.

  Ms. Vincent smiled at him.

  “Does this count for the report card?” Richard sked.

  “It certainly does,” said Ms. Rooney.

  Richard sighed. Writing stories was his worst abject.

  If he got a bad mark in writing, may be he'd be left back all over again.

  He took out his pencil.

  He put his heading on his paper.

  There wasn't one person he could think of /riting about.

  He was going to have a terrible report card.

  He knew it.

  It was Monday again. Richard looked out the classroom window.

  It was beginning to snow. Huge white flakes.

  They were covering the dirty snow.

  “Oh, dear,” said Ms. Rooney. “Half the class is asleep.”

  Richard made a little snoring noise.

  Ms. Rooney frowned. Then she clapped her hands. “Let's get out of here.”

  Richard opened his eyes wide.

  In front of him Matthew sat up straight.

  “Great,” said Ms. Vincent.

  “Yes,” said Ms. Rooney. “We'll go outside.”

  “In a blizzard?” Jill asked.

  “Get your coats. First row first,” said Ms. Rooney. “It's not a blizzard.”

  “It's freezing out there,” said Sherri Dent.

  “That wouldn't bother Sally Ride,” said Emily. “It won't bother me.”

  “I'll be right back,” Ms. Rooney said. “I don't want to hear a sound in here.”

  As soon as Ms. Rooney walked out the door, the first row ran for their jackets.

  So did the second row.

  Richard stood up. He gave Matthew a little poke.

  A moment later Ms. Rooney came back.

  She was carrying a big box. She had a pile of black paper. “The art teacher gave me these,” she said.

  Richard went to get his jacket.

  A million kids were in the coatroom. They were bumping into each other.

  Jackets and hats were on the floor.

  Matthew was on the floor too.

  He was looking for one of his boots.

  Richard grabbed his jacket. He went back to his seat.

  There was a piece of black paper on his desk.

  There was a magnifying glass too.

  “I don't have enough to go around,” said Ms. Rooney. “You'll have to have partners.”

  “Me and Richard,” Matthew said. He gave Richard a little push. “Right, Beast?”

  Richard nodded. He looked at Matthew through the magnifying glass.

  Matthew looked like a big blurry blob.

  This was a terrific magnifying glass.

  It was much better than the little one Matthew had given him for Christmas.

  Besides, Matthew's had a crack in it.

  The class lined up.

  “We're going to catch snowflakes,” said Ms. Rooney.

  “You can't do that,” said Noah. “They melt in your hand.”

  Ms. Rooney shook her head a little. “Catch them on the black paper. Then look at them through the magnifying glass.”

  Richard was looking at Emily's wool hat through the magnifying glass.

>   It looked yellow and puffy.

  It looked a little dirty too.

  “Are you paying attention, Richard?” asked Ms. Rooney.

  Richard stopped looking at Emily's hat.

  “You have to look hard at things sometimes,” said Ms. Rooney.

  “Like snowflakes,” Emily Arrow said. She pulled her yellow hat down over her eyebrows.

  “Yes,” said Ms. Rooney. “Through the magnifying glass you'll see how they really look.”

  Richard leaned against the chalkboard. He wished Ms. Rooney would stop talking. He wished she would hurry.

  He was dying of the heat in his jacket and mittens.

  Ms. Rooney didn't hurry, though.

  She kept telling them that things look different if you really pay attention to them.

  Richard picked up a piece of chalk.

  He scrunched down behind Matthew.

  He made a pile of snowflake dots on the board.

  At last Ms. Rooney marched them down the hall.

  They passed the office.

  Mr. Mancina was standing there. Today he was wearing a red-and-yellow tie.

  He winked at Richard.

  “You may hold the door,” Ms. Rooney told Richard.

  Richard pushed at the outside door.

  He held it open until everyone was out.

  Then he ran to get in his place.

  The wind was blowing the snow all over the schoolyard.

  It blew Ms. Vincent's pink scarf across her face.

  It tore Dawn Bosco's hat off her head.

  Emily and Dawn ran across the schoolyard after it.

  After a moment Richard could hardly see them.

  Richard held out his black paper.

  Snowflakes fell all over it.

  Matthew held up the magnifying glass.

  “Here's a star,” said Richard.

  “This one looks like a spider web,” said Matthew.

  “And here's a diamond,” said Richard.

  “Ms. Rooney's right,” Matthew said. “Everything is different when you look at it carefully.”

  The black paper blew out of Richard's hand.

  It sailed across the yard.

  Richard and Matthew dived after it.

  Richard could feel the wind on his face.

  His nose was freezing.

  “Grab the paper, Matthew,” he yelled.

  The paper landed on the snow pile.

  Richard looked back at Ms. Rooney.

  “All right,” she called. “Go get it.”

  They dashed up the side of the snow pile.

  Richard reached for the paper.

  Then he and Matthew slid down again.