Just Grace and the Double Surprise (7 page)

Miss Lois came back and we had to do our regular learning stuff. Even though it was Sunni who asked if we could work on our maps instead, she still said no. We were all hoping Sunni could convince her, but being a teacher's pet doesn't seem to give you extra power over a teacher's brain.

TEACHER'S PET

WHAT WAS OKAY

The afternoon went by pretty quick, and that was because I was using my After Lunch Plan. I got the idea from Miss Lois's new way of getting Robert Walters to behave better. Robert loves baseball, so Miss Lois made a rule that each time he does something wrong it's called a strike. He is allowed to get two misbehave strikes in the morning and two misbehave strikes in the afternoon. If he gets three in either the morning or the afternoon it's called a strikeout, and then he has to go down the hall to visit with Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris is the principal, and it is not fun to have a talk with him in his office.

So far Miss Lois's plan seems to be working. She must be happy about that. I am using Miss Lois's plan too, but she hasn't noticed. Every afternoon right after Robert gets his first strike I ask to either go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. Taking little breaks from being in the classroom really makes the afternoon time go by a lot faster. I'm lucky that our class is such a busy place. It makes it harder for Miss Lois to notice what I'm doing.

REASONS TO GET OUT OF YOUR SEAT

1. Feel sick.
   
2. Have to go to the bathroom.
   
3. Need a drink of water.
   
4. Need a tissue.
   
5. Have to sharpen a pencil.
   
6. Finished work and need to get a silent reading book.
   
7. Have to talk to a friend about something—this one usually gets a "NO. Wait until after class."
   

WHAT MIMI WANTED TO DO WHEN THE BELL RANG

Since I was supposed to hurry straight home from school it was nice that Mimi was ready to go too. "Want to run?" she asked. I did not want to run with my big heavy backpack. "No, let's just walk fast," I said. "I bet we can still get there quick." Mimi seemed okay with that. I could tell she was dying to get home to see if they were going to go and pick up the new sister. I had never thought about it before, but what if this was not going to stop? What if even when the new sister got here Mimi was going to be rushing home every day to see her? What if Mimi was changing forever and not just for a little while like I thought she was? What if everything was going to be different?

I looked at Mimi for clues but I couldn't tell anything—she looked over and smiled. But Mimi is not like me. She doesn't have empathy power. She couldn't tell that my insides were not the same as my outsides. She couldn't feel my wondering about her. "Thanks for walking fast," she said. "It's okay," I said. "I have to get home quick too." And then I finally told her about the mystery breakfast.

THE MYSTERY IS A SURPRISE

A mystery is something you don't know the answer to. Sometimes there are clues to help you, but still, that doesn't mean you will ever find the answer. Some mysteries are never solved.

A surprise is kind of like a mystery because it has the same not-knowing-something part, but with a surprise you will always find out the answer if you wait long enough—the hard part is the waiting. Sometimes surprises have clues. I was going to keep my eyes open in case I could notice some.

Mimi and I said goodbye at the sidewalk, she ran to her front door and I walked to mine. As soon as I put my hand on the doorknob Dad stepped out and said, "Ready to go?" Wow! He really was excited to get going. I was surprised. "Uh, okay," I said. I dropped my backpack and turned around. Dad smiled and pointed to the car.

Clue Number One:
We were going to drive there.

From the car I could see my backpack sitting on the front steps. That kind of thing always gets Mom upset. She likes things to be put away. "Oops—my backpack," I said, but Dad was already backing out of the driveway. "Oh, it's fine," he said. "Your mother can pick it up." Well, Dad was going to have to get into trouble for that one, not me.

WHY I LIKE DRIVING WITH DAD

Dad always puts the music on really loud.

WHAT DAD IS NOT

Dad is not a good secret keeper. He is not like Mom. He likes to give lots of clues, and sometimes if he is not careful, his clues are too easy. "So, where are we going?" I shouted. I had to shout because the music was so loud. Dad turned down the music and said, "Hmm, let's see if I can think of some clues for you." While he was thinking, I was glad that we drove right by the hardware store. I was happy the surprise was not going to come from in there!

UNEXCITING THINGS FROM THE HARDWARE STORE

DAD'S CLUES

• Bigger than a shoe
  
• Smaller than a horse
  
• Cute
  

These were not helpful clues!

"Oh, Daddy! That's too hard. It could be anything." I used my little-girl voice, because sometimes it makes Dad feel sorry for me. It doesn't work on Mom—it just makes her sigh and roll her eyes. "Sorry, little girl, that's all I'm allowed to say." Dad put his finger to his lips and said, "I'm under strict orders from the chief." Darn it! That meant that Mom had gotten to Dad and told him not to tell me anything. I was going to complain about Mom, but just then we turned onto the lane for the highway.

Clue Number Two:
We were heading out of town.

WHAT IS FRUSTRATING ABOUT GUESSING

Mostly it's that one person knows the answer and the other person doesn't. It's not so bad with parents. At least it was Dad who had the secret. It's much worse when the secret holder is a kid.

PARENT SECRET HOLDER

KID SECRET HOLDER

Dad turned the music back up and I tried to just look out the window and not think about it.

WHAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE

NOT THINKING ABOUT IT!

FINALLY

After what seemed like forever, or maybe twenty minutes, Dad said, "Okay, we're almost there." I looked around for clues. You would think that if you were super close to a surprise you would be able to see lots of big clues. Well, if you were thinking this you would be wrong! I saw a gas station, lots of grass, a power line thing, and a farm with three muddy black cows—nothing looked very cluelike or interesting.

WHAT DAD SAID NEXT

"Now listen: I know you are going to be excited! But I want you to try to be calm. Okay? Will you try to remember that?" "Yeah, sure, Dad." Now I was really confused and excited and nervous and basically almost not able to sit still. And then we pulled into a driveway and I saw it—the sign that was the biggest clue of all.

Clue Number Three:
A sign that said OAKLEY ANIMAL SHELTER.

"Let's go meet our new friend," said Dad. I couldn't speak. I knew what I wanted to be true, but I was scared it wasn't going to be what I was hoping for. I didn't want to be disappointed. "Are you okay?" asked Dad. I was standing by the car, but my feet were stuck. "I thought you wanted a dog?" said Dad. He sounded worried. "Oh, Daddy!" I cried. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Real tears were filling up my eyes—I couldn't stop them. I wiped my eyes and said, "I was worried that maybe it was going to be a turtle or something." Dad hugged me and said, "Would I drive for forty minutes to pick up a turtle? So what do you think? Should we go inside?" I blew my nose and nodded a big yes.

WHAT IS VERY NOISY

A barn full of dogs.

WHAT IS SAD

Dad said I could go and look at the dogs while he spoke to the people at the front desk. There were so many dogs, and they all seemed so excited to see me. As soon as I walked by their cages they ran to the front and started barking. I can't speak Dog, but I felt like they were saying, "Pick me! Pick me! Take me home. I want to be your new best friend." There were so many lonely dogs, I was never going to be able to choose one.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

"Come here, Grace," said Dad. He was at the end of the hall. He pointed to a door with a window in it and said, "Look in there." I peeked into the room, and there standing next to a lady in a white coat was the cutest little dog ever. "What do you think?" asked Dad. "Do you like her? Do you want to meet her? You can go in." As soon as I stepped into the room the little white dog ran up to me. I kneeled down and—surprise!—she jumped right into my lap. "Ahhh!" I fell back on the floor. "Oh, dear—are you okay?" asked the lady in the coat. "I think she's fine," said Dad, and he was right. I was happy on the inside, happy on the outside, and hardly worried at all about how clean the floor was.