Daisy's Perfect Word (3 page)

Chapter Four

After school, all the children could talk about was Miss Goldner's engagement. Samantha was talking so excitedly that Daisy forgot to hum and listened instead. “I'm going to get Miss Goldner a gift, maybe a vase or candlesticks,” Samantha said. For once, Daisy was glad she had listened to Samantha.

Giving Miss Goldner an engagement gift was a good idea, although Daisy thought vases and candlesticks were kind of boring. The other children wanted to give her gifts, too. Will, who was good at art, said he would make a picture frame. Ben, who loved sports, wondered if Miss Goldner would like a football.

“Let's all bring our presents in on Friday,” Samantha said, and the others agreed.

On the way home, Daisy was quiet, while Emma chatted excitedly.

“I wish we could go to the wedding,” Emma said. “I bet Miss Goldner will look like a princess! And chocolate cake is my favorite.”

It was Daisy's favorite, too. Normally, Daisy would have loved discussing whether the frosting was likely to be buttercream or whipped cream. But today, she was thinking about other, even more important things.

Daisy said good-bye to Emma and headed into her house to tell her mother the big news.

“Miss Goldner is engaged!” Daisy said, dropping her backpack on the floor and climbing onto a stool at the counter. “That word is going on a new list of
Wedding Words
.”

“Well, that's wonderful!” Daisy's mother said.

“No … I mean … yes, it is,” Daisy responded. “It's great she's getting married, but then she will have to move away. She won't teach at our school anymore. I won't be able to go visit her next year and show her my new word lists,” Daisy explained. “And I won't get to see her at lunchtime or recess.”

“Oh, I see,” said her mother.

Just then, Daisy's little sister, Lily, walked into the kitchen, wearing her purple superhero cape, fastened with a big gold clasp. Lily pushed her bangs out of her eyes and handed Daisy a card she had made at preschool.

“It's for you,” Lily said, with her hands on her hips, in her best superhero stance. “For my big sister.”

Daisy took the card and looked at it. It had a big flower on the front and her name written in bright orange letters inside. The “D” was printed backwards. It made Daisy smile, even though she didn't much feel like smiling. Daisy gave Lily a hug.

“I want to get Miss Goldner an engagement present,” Daisy said, returning to her seat at the counter.

“How about something for the kitchen?” her mother suggested.

“That's a good idea,” Daisy said, “but I want to get something special.”

“Something homemade is always nice,” her mother said. Daisy looked at the card her sister had given her. It was nice. Daisy was good with clay and made great friendship bracelets, but those didn't seem right either.

“Even more special,” Daisy said.

Daisy's mother stopped stirring the sauce she was making for dinner and looked at Daisy. She knew that look of determination.

It was the same look Daisy had when she decided that for her book report project, she would decorate a soda bottle to look like the book's main character.

There was much glue, tape and fabric involved in the project, not to mention Styrofoam, buttons and yarn. It had taken Daisy days of work to make it look just right. But when she was finished and brought her creation to school, Miss Goldner said that it was the most wonderfully creative book report she had ever seen. It was still displayed prominently on a shelf above Miss Goldner's desk.

“I don't think you need any more suggestions from me right now,” her mother said. “I can tell you're going to come up with your own idea, and I bet it will be just right.”

* * *

That afternoon, her mom made Daisy's favorite snack — a big bowl of strawberries with vanilla yogurt. Between bites, Daisy did what she always did when she had serious thinking to do. She pressed her nose up against the fishbowl that was home to her goldfish, Bubbles. Bubbles was a special, one-of-a-kind fish that came when Daisy called his name. She had found that staring at Bubbles and the clear water usually helped her see things more clearly. But this time, it didn't help. She slumped over her strawberries.

Daisy wanted to get Miss Goldner a one-of-a-kind present so Miss Goldner would never forget her, even when she moved away and had a whole new group of students to teach. But Daisy didn't know what that present should be.

Daisy thought some more. She got up from the counter and paced around the kitchen. Still nothing was coming to her. So she grabbed a book and went outside to sit under her favorite tree, a large oak. But instead of reading, she tried to do some more thinking.

She thought about the best gifts she had ever received. There was the pink elephant her grandfather gave her the day she was born, the ball from her uncle that bounced so high it ended up stuck on the roof, and the watch from her aunt that came with a different band for each day of the week. Then there was the special piece of brown sea glass that Emma had given her because it was the same color as Daisy's eyes. They were all wonderful gifts, but none of them seemed quite right for Miss Goldner.

Finally, she gave up thinking for a while. She watered the herbs her mother had planted, jumped rope and picked some lemons from the lemon tree. Still nothing. When she came back in, she put her book away in her backpack and saw her green notebook with the purple polka dots. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands.

Then it came to her.

Daisy would find Miss Goldner the perfect word! A word she would know was chosen specially for her. It would be a word that was right for kids and teachers, perfect loudly or softly, and not too long or too short. Plus, it would be full of fun. She would find a perfect word for a perfect teacher. But what would it be?

Chapter Five

Daisy gobbled down the rest of the strawberries and ran back outside. She yelled, “Yippee!” and did a happy dance on the lawn, her curls bobbing up and down. She was so eager to start her search that she didn't even mind when Samantha leaned over the fence and said, “
Be quiet!
”

All of a sudden the sun peeked out from behind the clouds.
Yellow
was a good word, not too long and not too short. But then again, maybe it was a little too, well,
yellow
. What if Miss Goldner was having a
blue
day? In that case,
yellow
would not work at all.

Daisy opened the front door and told her mom, “I'm going to Emma's house.”

She raced down the block.

“I'm going to find the perfect word for Miss Goldner!” Daisy called to Emma, who was in her front yard. “Want to help?”

“Sure,” said Emma. “Where do we start?”

Daisy looked around.

“I guess we start right here,” Daisy replied.

Daisy was used to looking for things. Almost every morning, Lily seemed to have misplaced one of her shoes, and Daisy could never find a sharpened pencil when she needed it. She had a magnifying glass and detective's hat for when she and Emma wanted to solve mysteries. But even Daisy wasn't exactly sure how to find a perfect word for someone.

“
Rose
?” she said, noticing the lovely flowers in Emma's garden. Daisy pulled the yellow blossom toward her to smell it, but a thorn pricked her finger. “Ouch!” she said. It was not quite perfect.

“
Lawn
?” Emma asked.

“No,” Daisy said. “Sounds too much like
yawn
.”

The girls watched what was going on around them.

“
Hummingbird
!” Emma yelled, pointing excitedly. Daisy did love the word hummingbird, because it combined the idea of a bird with the sound the bird makes — humming. Daisy thought that was fantastic! But fantastic as it was, she didn't think it was right for Miss Goldner.

She and Emma needed a change of scenery.

“Let's go for a ride,” Daisy said.

“Where to?” Emma asked.

“Sweetums?” Daisy suggested.

“Yep,” said Emma. “I'll tell my mom we're going.”

* * *

Sweetums was the best candy store in the world. Not because it had the biggest selection, or because it had the most unusual candies. It was the best because Daisy and Emma could ride their bikes there, and because Sweetums had plenty of candy, displayed in pretty glass jars, that only cost a dime or a quarter.