Lucy's Tricks and Treats (6 page)

Bobby shook his head. “Nope.”

That night at dinner, Mr. Quinn had an idea about what to do next.

“Why don’t we let Lucy sniff around the classroom?” he asked. “She loved burying
her nose in that costume. And beagles are known for being able to find things.”

Bobby looked back and forth between his dad and his mom. He was pretty sure his mother wouldn’t agree.

To his surprise, however, Mrs. Quinn nodded. “I think that’s a great idea! I’ll call Ms. Ross tomorrow and see if I can bring Lucy to school at lunchtime.”

Lucy heard her name. She padded over from her dog dish, where she was eating her own dinner. She hopped up on the empty fourth chair at the table and wagged her tail. It was almost as if she knew she was going to school. And she liked the idea!

Everyone laughed.

“It’s not just for a visit, though, Lucy,” Bobby said. “I hope you can find your costume.”

The next morning, first thing, Bobby went up to Mrs. Lee, who was writing on the board.

“Mrs. Lee, will you remember to ask the class about Lucy’s pirate costume?” he asked.

Mrs. Lee turned to him. “Yes, of course. Ms. Ross told me we’re going to get a visitor at lunch today if the costume isn’t found by then.”

Bobby nodded.

“Well, maybe we can save your mother and Lucy a trip,” she said.

As soon as the class was in their seats, Mrs. Lee explained about the lost bag.

“Has anyone seen it?” she asked.

No one raised a hand.

Bobby turned to look at Jack. But Jack was not at his desk.

A few moments later, when Mrs. Lee took
the roll call, she did not seem surprised Jack was absent. She didn’t even call his name.

Halfway into math class, a folded-up piece of paper landed on Bobby’s desk.

Surprised, he opened it. It was a note from Candy. It said,
Shawn told me LUCY is coming to school. True or false?
Candy had drawn a little picture of Lucy at the bottom of the page. At least Bobby thought it was supposed to be Lucy.

Bobby nodded nervously at Candy. He didn’t want Mrs. Lee to think he wasn’t paying attention.

It wasn’t until they got to the lunchroom that Bobby explained.

“I don’t think you’ll get to see Lucy,” he said.

“Why not?” Candy asked. “I’ve never seen a dog in school. That would be funny.”

“Lucy’s coming here to work, not to play,” Shawn told her before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Candy circled the straw in her juice.
“You’re lucky. Lucy can work and play. I’d be happy if Butch would just sleep less.”

“Have you decided if you’re going to dress Butch up for Halloween?” Shawn asked.

“I’m not taking him out with us,” said Candy. “My mom’s afraid he’ll get into the treats. Candy gives him gas.” She clapped her hand over her mouth. Then she said, “I didn’t mean me, Candy, gives him gas.…”

Bobby and Shawn were laughing. Bobby managed to say, “We know what you meant.”

Mrs. Lee came up to their table. “Bobby, your mother is here. And Lucy, of course. Let’s see if we can find that costume.”

When he got to Room 102, Bobby had to agree with Candy. It was funny—and fun—to see a dog at school.

Lucy certainly understood she was someplace new. She was standing very straight.
She looked around, her head held high.

She didn’t jump on Bobby like she usually did when she saw him. She padded over to him and licked his hand as he leaned down to pet her. Then she started sniffing the carpet. Lucy seemed to know she was there to do a job.

Mrs. Quinn pulled a small black boot from Lucy’s pirate costume out of her coat pocket.

“I thought I would let Lucy smell the boot. I hope she gets the idea to find the costume,” she explained.

Mrs. Lee smiled. “Well, that’s the way it works in movies. Let’s see if it works in Room 102.”

Mrs. Quinn gave the boot to Bobby. “You try,” she said.

Bobby had barely leaned down with the
boot in his hand when Lucy began prancing. She inhaled the boot’s smell. She seemed happy to just keep doing that.

Bobby looked at his mother.

“Okay, take the boot away,” she told him.

Bobby shoved the boot into his pocket. Lucy looked around, confused. For a minute, it didn’t seem as if anything else would happen.

But as Mrs. Quinn led Lucy around the room, she seemed to get the idea.

She sniffed at desks. She smelled along the walls.

“Take her over to the cubbies,” Mrs. Lee suggested.

That was a good idea.

Lucy became excited as soon as she got close to the wall with the brightly colored cubbies. She stood up and put her front paws against the lowest cubbies. She gave a little howl.

“I don’t get it,” Bobby said. “We looked in my cubby about three times.”

Mrs. Quinn took Lucy in her arms. Now that she was higher, Lucy became more excited. Her nose quivered. But it wasn’t Bobby’s cubby that interested her. She tried to claw and wiggle her way up to the cubby above.

“There’s nothing in that one,” Mrs. Lee said. “It’s too high for the kids to reach.”

Lucy still pushed her nose in that direction.

Mrs. Lee stuck her hand into the cubby and felt around. “It seems empty.”

Mrs. Quinn was taller than Mrs. Lee. She reached her hand to the back of the cubby. “I think I found some buried treasure,” she
said happily. She pulled out the bag with the pirate costume.

When Bobby saw it, he was thrilled—and relieved.

“How did it get up there?” a puzzled Mrs. Lee asked.

“I tossed it up to my cubby on my way out during the fire alarm. Maybe I threw it too high,” Bobby said. Then he had another thought. “Or maybe it didn’t make the cubby at all, and one of the firefighters or the janitor picked it up from the floor and stuck it in there.”

Meanwhile, Lucy couldn’t wait to get to the bag in Mrs. Quinn’s hand. She wiggled around.
Let me at it!

Everyone laughed.

“Well, Lucy, looks like you’re going to be ready for Halloween after all,” Mrs. Lee said.

“I don’t even know if Lucy should dress up as a pirate,” Bobby said.

“Why not?” Mrs. Quinn asked. “After all this trouble?”

Bobby smiled. “She ought to go as a detective!”

L
ucy was gone by the time Room 102 came back from lunch.

“Did Lucy find the costume?” Candy asked as she went to her seat.

Bobby smiled.

“Class, I’d like your attention, please,” Mrs. Lee said. She leaned forward in her chair. “Some of you may have noticed that Jack is not here today.”

A few of the kids nodded.

“He is absent because he’s getting fitted for a new hearing aid. Jack had hearing problems before, so he was tested when he came to our school. It turns out his old aid wasn’t working very well.”

Bobby remembered the times when it seemed as if Jack wasn’t paying attention to him. Maybe it was because Jack couldn’t hear him clearly.

“Tomorrow,” Mrs. Lee went on, “when Jack returns, he might want to talk about his new hearing aid, and he might not. Let him take the lead. Just treat Jack the way you would want to be treated.” She smiled at the class. “That’s what we should always try to do in Room 102. Do you have any questions?”

Marta raised her hand. “Will we be able to see Jack’s hearing aid?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Lee answered. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

“My aunt got a hearing aid, and she said it made her life a whole lot easier,” Dexter commented.

“I imagine the same will be true for Jack,” Mrs. Lee told them.

Bobby figured Jack wouldn’t want to say anything about a new hearing aid. Bobby knew he wouldn’t if it were him.

Bobby turned out to be wrong. The next day, when Jack came to class, it was easy to see he wasn’t ashamed of his hearing aid. It was bright blue!

Before the bell rang, Bobby watched Mrs. Lee talking to Jack. Bobby saw him nodding.

When everyone was settled, Mrs. Lee said, “We’re going to change our schedule
today. Let’s continue our show-and-tell that got interrupted by the fire alarm.”

Mrs. Lee smiled at Jack. “I think Jack has something he would like to share with us.”

A happy Jack marched to the front of the room.

“So, I guess Mrs. Lee told you I just got a new hearing aid,” Jack began. “I was having trouble hearing unless it was really quiet or the person was speaking clearly. Yesterday, I got to take my new hearing aid home.”

Jack’s hair still covered his ears. He pushed it back on one side so everyone could see. “The doctor asked me whether I wanted one that was skin color or something flashier.” Jack grinned. “I picked flashy.”

A blue band was fitted around Jack’s ear. “Another part of the hearing aid is inside my ear,” Jack went on. “It’s going to be good to
really hear what’s going on from now on.”

Jack sat down. Everybody clapped.

Now Bobby was happier than ever that he hadn’t said anything about Jack taking Lucy’s costume. You couldn’t accuse someone
without real proof. He had learned that lesson for sure.

Later that afternoon, the history groups met to talk about their projects. They were due the next day!

“My report is done. So is my picture of Paul Revere,” Bobby said. “I’d like to work more on the horse. But it’s better than when I started.”

“I memorized part of my poem, and I’ll read the rest,” Candy said. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Uh, we can hear it tomorrow,” Bobby said politely.

“I’m ready to talk about Paul Revere, the silversmith,” Jack said.

“And I’ll be in my costume to talk about Paul Revere’s life,” Shawn said. Then he added, “Hey, I’m lucky.”

“Why’s that?” Bobby asked.

“Tomorrow’s Halloween! I’ll only have to change my clothes once!”

Sure enough, the group gave their reports in the morning, but Shawn got to stay in his Paul Revere outfit all afternoon. Everyone else put on their costumes before last period.

“Arrgh, matey! Walk the plank,” Bobby said to Candy once he had his pirate costume on, complete with the eye patch.

“Well, if I do, I won’t get wet.” Candy had been so impressed with the firefighters during the alarm, she decided to dress up as one. She wore a red plastic raincoat with a thick black belt, a red plastic firefighter’s hat, and black boots. A length of rubber hose was curled up in her coat pocket.