Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger (Wayside School 3)

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Chapter 6

Pet Day

All the kids in Mrs. Jewls’s class brought a pet to school. The room was very noisy. Dogs barked. Cats meowed. A frog croaked. A pig squealed. A cow mooed. Birds tweeted.

Mrs. Jewls held up two fingers.

All the animals became quiet.

Stephen didn’t have a pet. So he brought an orange. He kept it in a cage on his desk so it couldn’t escape.

Todd brought Ralphie, his baby brother.

“Todd?” said Mrs. Jewls.

Todd barked.

“You cannot have a pet human,” said Mrs. Jewls.

“He doesn’t bite,” Todd assured her.

Joy told Todd to sit and be quiet.

Mrs. Jewls got a large piece of poster board from the supply closet. “Let’s make a chart,” she said.

Across the top of her chart she wrote, “Name of Kid,” “Kind of Pet,” “Name of Pet.”

She started with Deedee. She wrote “Deedee” under “Name of Kid.” “And you have a dog,” she said.

“Cat,” said Deedee.

“Cat?” asked Mrs. Jewls.

Deedee nodded as she petted her dog.

Mrs. Jewls moved on to Ron. “Ron, I see you have a cat.”

“Dog,” said Ron, as he stroked the cat on his lap.

Mrs. Jewls shrugged. “Okay,” she said.

“He’s my dog,” said D.J.

“Ron has your dog?” asked Mrs. Jewls.

“Ron has a cat,” said D.J.

“That’s what I thought,” said Mrs. Jewls. “But what—”

“What’s a dog,” said Jenny.

Mrs. Jewls covered her ears and shook her head. “Let’s start all over again,” said Mrs. Jewls. She got a new piece of poster board from the supply closet.

“Mac, what’s your dog’s name?”

“What’s my dog’s name,” said Jenny.