"Listen for the word suddenly," Gooney Bird advised. "I put one in the story already, but I like to sprinkle in several. Some other suddenlys will be coming soon."
Gooney Bird examined the prince's back yard. She saw a place where the ground was disturbed by the corner of the fence.
"Look," she said. "See this bit of dog hair caught in the fence? That looks like Napoleon's.
"See?" she said next, pointing to some newly dug earth. "Here is where Napoleon wiggled under the fence."
"What a good detective you are," the prince said to Gooney Bird.
Gooney Bird let herself out of the yard and through the gate. She sniffed. She listened.
Suddenly—
"There's a suddenly!" called Malcolm.
"Good listening," Gooney Bird said. Then she continued.
Suddenly, because of the clues that she smelled and heard, Gooney Bird moved forward. There, at the end of the alley, was an overturned garbage can. And there, with his head inside the can, was Napoleon, eating garbage. He had coffee grounds all over his face, and an orange peel was stuck on one of his ears.
"You naughty thing, Napoleon," Gooney Bird said, and she took hold of his collar. Napoleon burped.
"Oh, no!" Keiko cried. "Not garbage! Not burping!"
"Shhhh," the other children said. Many hands were waving in the air.
Mrs. Pidgeon stood up. "No stories about dogs eating garbage," she said firmly. "Not a single one."
All of the hands went down.
"Please, please, please tell about the palace and the prince and the earrings," Chelsea begged.
"I'm about to," Gooney Bird said.
Gooney Bird took Napoleon back to his house. The prince asked Gooney Bird to go to the palace for a reward.
"Did you get all dressed up in a ball gown?" Beanie asked.
"Maybe a tiara?" asked Tricia.
"I hadn't planned to describe clothes," Gooney Bird said, "but since you asked, I'll insert a little descriptive passage here."
When she went to the palace, Gooney Bird was wearing clothes from the L.L.Bean catalogue. She wore Island Hopper shorts with front flap pockets, and a pointelle knit tank top in Sun Yellow.
The prince had on rugged canvas shorts and polyester and nylon pale khaki plaid short-sleeved...
Malcolm disappeared under his desk. Ben picked up his arithmetic book and began to do some problems. Nicholas put his head down on his arms and closed his eyes.
Gooney Bird stared at them. "Am I boring you?" she asked.
"Yes," the class said. All but Felicia Ann, who was silent, and Keiko, who was not bored at all.
"What color were the Island Hopper shorts?" Keiko asked. "I hope blue."
"As a matter of fact, they were Deep Sea Green, with True Blue stripes down the sides. I might wear them to school on Wednesday."
"Oh good," Keiko said.
"I'll continue now," Gooney Bird said.