Marvin couldn’t wait to hear who it was. From the way Mrs. North was acting, he thought it must be somebody weird.
“Who is it?” asked Warren.
“Is it somebody I’ve heard of?” asked Nick.
“Oh, I hope so, Nick,” said Mrs. North. Then she took a deep breath and said, “The president will be coming here.”
Everybody gasped.
Marvin was a little confused. He wasn’t sure which president Mrs. North meant. Did she mean the president of the United States? Or did she mean the president of something else, like the president of a shoe company?
Marvin’s school was in Maryland. It was less than twenty miles from Washington, D.C. His father worked in Washington, D.C. So it was possible that Mrs. North meant the president of the United States. But why would the president of the United States come to his school?
He raised his hand.
Patsy Gatsby raised her hand, too.
“Yes, Patsy,” said Mrs. North.
“The president of what?” Patsy asked.
Mrs. North stared at her as if she thought Patsy was an alien from another planet. “The president of the United States,” she said.
“Duh!” said Travis.
Patsy blushed.
“Sometimes I wonder about you, Patsy,” said Mrs. North.
“What’d you think? The president of Mexico?” asked Clarence.
Marvin turned red, too, but nobody noticed. He lowered his hand.
“Yes, Marvin, did you have a question?” asked Mrs. North.
He shook his head. “No, I was just stretching.”
Mrs. North explained that even Mr. McCabe hadn’t known the president was coming until ten minutes ago. It had been kept secret for security reasons.
“Now, I know I don’t have to tell you how to behave when the president gets here,” she said.
Then she told everybody how to behave.
“Be respectful. Be attentive. If you get a chance to speak to him, remember to speak loud and clear. You should call him ‘Mr. President.’ ‘Yes, Mr. President.’ ‘Thank you, Mr. President.’ Remember to—”
Mrs. North suddenly stopped talking. “Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed. “I have to change my clothes!”
3
Mrs. North didn’t know what time the president would come. So she couldn’t go home and change out of her torn clothes.
“I hope it’s not during recess,” said Nick.
“We’ll adjust our schedule,” Mrs. North assured him.
“Good, because I don’t want to miss recess,” said Nick.
While they waited for the president to show up, Mrs. North told everyone to write down a question he or she would like to ask the president.