Miss Klute Is a Hoot! (3 page)

No matter who was reading, Miss Klute sat and listened. Sometimes she would stare at the kid who was reading. It looked like she was really following the story. Other times she curled up in a big ball and rested her giant head on somebody's leg.

While one of us was reading, the rest of us would pet Miss Klute's ears, hold her paws, and feed her Cheerios. Sometimes kids grabbed her too hard or even pinched her. But Miss Klute never barked or snapped or growled. She didn't care what we did to her.

Mr. Macky was right about one thing. It's more fun to read when you're reading to a dog. Some of us made mistakes, but nobody laughed. Certainly not Miss Klute. Dogs never make fun of you when you make mistakes.

After we finished the story, Mr. Macky said he and Miss Klute had to go read
with another class.

“No! Don't go!” everybody started yelling. “We want to read another story to Miss Klute!”

“Boo!”

“Please please please
please
don't go,” I begged.

If you ever want something really badly, just say “please” over and over again to a grown-up. That's the first rule of being a kid.

“I thought you
hated
reading out loud, A.J.,” said Mr. Macky.

“I do,” I told him. “But reading is more fun when we read to Miss Klute. Please please please . . .”

“Well, as a reading specialist, I can't resist
that
,” he said. “Okay, we can read
one
more story to Miss Klute.”

“Yay!” everybody yelled.

I tell you, it works every time.

After a few days nobody was afraid of Miss Klute anymore. Not even Emily, and she's afraid of
everything
. Our principal, Mr. Klutz, said Miss Klute had become part of the Ella Mentry School family. She came to school every day. When she wasn't having kids read to her, her job was “hall patrol.” That meant she would walk up and down the hallway. Sometimes she would pop into our class.

Miss Klute was like a real celebrity at school. We asked Mr. Macky if we could have her autograph, so he copied a bunch of paw prints and passed them out to everyone. He also trained Miss Klute to do a cool trick. When we came into the front door in the morning, she was waiting for us. If you waved to her, she would put one paw in the air and move it back and forth. It looked just like she was waving back at you!

Wednesday was Funny Hat Day, and somebody gave Miss Klute a pair of antlers to wear. It was hilarious. You could do just about
anything
to her. She didn't mind.

Miss Klute is a hoot!

The day after Funny Hat Day was Emily's birthday. We all had to be nice to her, which was gross. But the best part was that Emily's mom brought in chocolate cupcakes for the whole class.
*
I
love
cupcakes, and my favorite flavor is chocolate. So it's a win-win! I would eat chocolate cupcakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if my mom would let me. There were plenty of extra cupcakes, but Mr. Granite said we could only have one each. Bummer in the summer!

Right after we sang “Happy Birthday” to Emily, you'll never believe who walked into the door.

Nobody! It would hurt if you walked into a door. I thought we went over that already. But you'll never believe who walked into the door
way
.

It was Mr. Macky and Miss Klute!

“Hooray! Miss Klute is here!” we all shouted.

Mr. Macky was carrying a book called
The Fuzzy Little Bunny
. We cleared off our desks and went to sit on the rug in the corner of the class with Miss Klute.

“I'll be in the teachers' lounge,” said Mr. Granite, taking the extra cupcakes with
him.

Lucky stiff! What could be better than sitting in the greatest place in the world and eating chocolate cupcakes?

We were all petting Miss Klute and rubbing her ears.

“Okay, whose turn is it to start reading today?” asked Mr. Macky.

“Mine!” everybody shouted.

We all wanted to be the first to read, because Miss Klute usually cuddles up to the first reader and stays there.

“I want to read to Miss Klute first!” shouted Andrea.

“You started last time!” Neil said. “It's my turn!”

“I was absent last time,” said Michael. “I didn't get to read to Miss Klute at all.”

“That's not our problem,” said Ryan.

“Miss Klute told me she wants
me
to read to her first,” I said, even though that totally wasn't true.

“She did not!” said Alexia. “She can't even talk.”

“Well, she was
thinking
it.”

Everybody was yelling, shouting, and arguing. I thought there was going to be a riot in there!

“It's Emily's birthday,” Andrea finally said. “
She
should get to read to Miss Klute first.”

“That's a good point, Andrea,” Mr. Macky said. “I would like Emily to start our reading.”

Mr. Macky gave Emily
The Fuzzy Little Bunny
. She looked at the book for a few seconds, and then she closed it. There were tears in her eyes.

“What's wrong, Emily?” asked Mr. Macky.

“I don't want to read.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

Mr. Macky finally got Emily to tell him why she didn't want to read. She said it really softly. . . .

“Because
you're
here,” she whispered.

“Ohhhhhh!” said Mr. Macky. “Okay, it's Emily's birthday, so I'll leave you kids alone and come back in fifteen minutes to see how you're making out.”

“Ewww! Gross!” we all yelled, because Mr. Macky said “making out.”

“I'll be in the teachers' lounge,” he said.

“Can I come, too?” I asked. “I want another cupcake.”

“No!”

Mr. Macky told us to be on our best behavior while he was in the teachers' lounge. So as soon as he left the room, Alexia, Ryan, and I got up and shook our butts at the class.

“Woo-hoo,” shouted Ryan. “The grown-ups are gone!”

“We can do anything we want!” hollered Alexia.

“This is the greatest day of my life,” I yelled.

Andrea and Emily were rolling their eyes and making mean faces at us.

“Miss Klute is a grown-up, you know,” Andrea said. “She's four years old. That's thirty-two in dog years.”

“Yes,” said Emily. “Miss Klute hears every word you're saying. Maybe she'll report back to Mr. Macky, and you'll get in trouble.”

“What's she gonna tell him?” I asked. “
Bow-wow
?
Arf, arf
?
Woof
?”

Miss Klute was staring at us the whole time. It looked like she was really listening to our conversation.

“I guess we'd better start reading,” Ryan said. “Just in case.”

Alexia, Ryan, and I went back to the corner and sat on the rug. Emily started to read from
The Fuzzy Little Bunny.

“
It was a lovely summer day
,” she read, “
and the fuzzy little bunny went hip hop hopping down the road. It was Monday, and that meant her mommy was going to cook up a big pot of blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah . . .
”

The Fuzzy Little Bunny
was the most boring book in the history of the world! I thought I might die from old age before the story was done. Miss Klute rested her head on Emily's lap and closed her eyes.

“She looks bored out of her mind,” said Neil the nude kid.

“Maybe Miss Klute doesn't like
The Fuzzy Little Bunny
,” said Alexia.

“I can't blame her,” Ryan said. “That story is lame.”

“I might fall asleep myself,” said Michael. “I've heard this story before. The only thing that happens is that the fuzzy little bunny gets to eat a carrot at the end. Big deal.”

“What a snoozefest,” I said.

“I
like
the story of
The Fuzzy Little Bunny
,” said Andrea.

“Me too,” said Emily, who agrees with everything Andrea says.

That's when I came up with the greatest idea in the history of the world.