4.
On Monday, Gooney Bird stood in front of the class when Mrs. Pidgeon told her that it was story time. The children barely noticed Gooney Bird's clothes, even though she was wearing a ruffled pinafore, dark blue knee socks, and high-top basketball sneakers. The second-graders, and Mrs. Pidgeon, too, were all much more interested in Gooney Bird's earrings.
The earrings dangled and glittered and were very large.
"They're beautiful," Keiko said in an awed voice.
"My grandma's house has doorknobs that look like that," Tricia announced. "And she has a sparkly chandelier in the dining room. My grandma is very rich."
"Do you have holes in your ears?" Malcolm asked. "My mom does. My mom went and had holes stabbed right into her ears with a needle!"
"I did, too!" Beanie called out. "I have pierced ears!"
"So do I," Mrs. Pidgeon told the class. She turned her head
from side to side so that they could all see her small gold earrings.
"No," Gooney Bird said. "My earrings screw onto my ears. They have little screws that you turn."
Barry Tuckerman thrust his arm into the air and waved it wildly. Around him, other children had their hands raised, too.
"My mom has pierced ears!" Barry said loudly.
"Ben?" Mrs. Pidgeon said next.
Ben said, "My mom has pierced ears and so does my grandma!"
"All right, class," Mrs. Pidgeon said. "Does anyone else have something to say which is not about pierced ears? Because it is time for Gooney Bird to begin today's story."
All of the hands disappeared except one. Chelsea kept her hand high in the air.
Mrs. Pidgeon sighed. "Chelsea?"
"My mom has a pierced nose," Chelsea told the class.
"Oh, no!" Keiko wailed. "I'm going to be sick!"
"Shhhh," the other children said.
When the class was quiet, Gooney Bird began her Monday story.
The Prince, the Palace, and the Diamond Earrings
Once upon a time, before she moved to Watertower, when she still lived in China, Gooney Bird Greene was on her front porch, playing Monopoly against herself. Gooney Bird #1, the thimble, owned all four railroads and St. Charles Place, which she liked because it was magenta.
Gooney Bird #2, the car, was having a harder time of it. She owned Atlantic Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, and she liked the combination of yellow and green; she also owned both Water Works and the Electric Company, but unfortunately she was in jail.
Suddenly, just as Gooney Bird #2 tried unsuccessfully for the second time to throw doubles and get out of jail, she heard someone calling loudly, "Napoleon is missing!"
It was the prince, who lived next door.
Hands flew up into the air, and Gooney Bird looked impatiently at her classmates.
"Are these really, really important questions?" she asked. "Because I have just barely started the story!"
One by one most of the hands went back down.
Mrs. Pidgeon had picked up the encyclopedia. "Gooney Bird," Mrs. Pidgeon said, "I have a feeling you know this already, but Napoleon Bonaparte—" She turned to the class. "He was the emperor of France," she explained.