Horrible Harry and the Green Slime (2 page)

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Authors: Suzy Kline

BOOK: Horrible Harry and the Green Slime
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“See?” Harry said. “My secret pal knows how to be a friend. Are you going to change your mind and tell me who your secret pal is?”
I shook my head.
“Then I'm not even going to talk to you anymore.”
Harry was acting so horrible I didn't even care if he was my best friend anymore.
When I came back from the pencil sharpener, I found a folded piece of paper on my desk. Probably another dumb letter from Frosty. I opened it.
The note had two sentences this time.
Friday morning everyone was excited about finding out who his secret pal was. Except me.
Miss Mackle passed out the home-work letters. “Now you will find out who your secret pal is!
Song Lee turned as red as a salamander when she found out it was Harry. I think she knew who it was all along though. She turned red because Harry drew a heart on his letter.
I read mine. It said:
I thought it was from someone like Sidney.
Harry finally got around to opening his letter. It was folded five times about the size of a lemon.
Harry read it outloud:
Harry looked at me, “YOU! I should have guessed! You didn't want to spoil the surprise.”
I didn't say anything. I just looked ahead at the classroom calendar for December.
I could see from the corner of my eye that Harry was writing something. Then drawing something. Then he pushed it under my elbow.
I acted like it wasn't there. I wanted to count how many days were in December. There were thirty-one.
Slowly, I moved the paper in front of me and I read it.
I turned and looked at Harry. He was smiling so hard I could see his two silver fillings in the back.
Sometimes when Harry is really horrible, he apologizes.
And sometimes, I forgive him.
The Deadly Skit
One day after lunch, the principal, Mr. Cardini came into the classroom. He was not happy. He was holding something in his fingers that was long and white.
“This
was found under a cafeteria table.” Everyone leaned forward to see what it was.
“It's a cigarette,” he said.
We all groaned.
“Although it was not lit, someone in South School thinks cigarettes are okay to have around. Cigarettes are
not
okay. They are bad for your health. Smoking can kill you. Now, I'm asking each classroom to do some kind of activity that will promote a NO SMOKING Campaign at South School.”
As we nodded our heads, Miss Mackle looked at Mr. Cardini. “Room 2B will do something special about it,” she said.
Mr. Cardini waved to us and then he left the classroom.
“Let's make posters!” Sidney blurted out.
I raised my hand. “Yes, Doug,” Miss Mackle replied.
“I'm tired of doing posters. We did fire prevention posters just last week.”
“That's true,” Ida said. “No one even got an honorable mention in our room.”
“Would you like to do skits?” Miss Mackle suggested.
“Yeah!” we all shouted.
“Well then,” Miss Mackle continued, “I will put you in groups of six. You can get together and plan something. Of course the main idea is ... smoking is bad for you.”
Harry and I looked at each other and crossed our fingers. We wanted to be on the same committee.
Miss Mackle got her roll book. “Okay, in this corner, we can have these people practice—Doug, Sidney, Ida, Mary, Song Lee, and ...”
Harry was kneeling on the floor begging to be chosen.
“... and, okay, Harry.”
Harry and I jumped in the air!
“Together!” we said in a thumb grip.
As we walked over to the corner, Mary spoke first. “Everyone sit Indian style in a circle.”
Harry rolled his eyeballs, but he did what Mary said. I did too. “Now,” she said. “I think we should sing something about not smoking. I can even play the song on the piano.”
We looked over at Miss Mackle's piano. It had a lot of stuff on it.
“I don't like to sing,” Sidney complained.
“I do. My favorite song is ‘Silent Night,' ” Ida replied. “We're singing it in the church choir.”
“I can play ‘Silent Night' on the piano,” Mary said.
“I don't like to sing,” Sidney repeated.
“I like ‘Silent Night,' too,” Song Lee said. “It is only song I know English word to.”
I shook my head. “Listen you guys. This is NOT a Christmas program. It's supposed to be about not smoking.”
“Doug's right,” Sidney agreed. “Besides, I don't want to sing. I just want to be king.”
“King?” I replied. “Who said there was a king in our skit?”
Harry raised his eyebrows and spoke for the first time. Hmmmm, kings do smoke I suppose.“ And then he said, ”hmmmm,“ again.
I could tell Harry's wheels were turning. “I think I can put all of this together,” he said.
“You can?” Mary replied.
“Yes,” Harry said. “Our skit is about death.”
“DEATH?” we asked.
“Smoking kills,” Harry said. “You heard the principal.”
Ida spoke up, “I'm not going to be the one who dies—that's for sure!”
“Me either,” Mary said. “That's a horrible part.”
Harry grinned. “We need three people to die. I'm one.”
“I'll be the other,” I said. “I'm not afraid to pretend that I'm dead.”
“Not me,” Sidney said. “No way. Playing dead is creepy.”
Song Lee spoke softly, “It is true. Cigarette make you not have long life. I die for skit.” And then she added, “Do I have to say anything before I die?”
“You don't have to. You just have to stand up with Doug and me and look like a king.”
“A KING! I WANT TO BE A KING!” Sidney shouted.
Miss Mackle came over to us. “How are we doing? Is there a problem?”

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