Keena Ford and the Field Trip Mix-up (3 page)

Eric’s visit did NOT make me feel better. In fact, it caused a big, big problem. But I think I’ve solved the problem now.

When Eric came over we went out on my apartment balcony to do our homework in the Homework Hut. The Homework Hut is an old refrigerator box. The cool thing about the Homework Hut is that it has rules that are different from the rules at school. At school we have a rule that you CANNOT chew gum in class. But you can chew gum in the Homework Hut! Also in school we are not allowed to write with a pen. But you know what? In the Homework Hut, you can write with a pen anytime you want.

So as we were starting our homework, Eric said, “I have a new rule for the Homework Hut.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“You can snip in the air,” he said.

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“I got in trouble with Ms. Hanson today,” Eric explained. “With scissors. I snipped in the air. When we snip with scissors we are only allowed to snip paper. But I just started snipping for fun, so I got my name on the board.”

“Well then,” I said, “it is a new rule. In the Homework Hut, you can snip in the air!” I grabbed my scissors out of my backpack. I started snipping them. I got so excited that I crawled out of the Homework Hut and stood up on the balcony. I was snipping around in the air like crazy. “Snipping in the air is fun,” I said to Eric. The scissors made a happy, scratchy metal sound.

Then the scissors made a “thwap!” sound. Like there was something between the blades of the scissors other than air. Then I heard a “thump” as something hit the railing of the balcony.

I looked at the railing. One of my beautiful, thick braids was bouncing over the edge. I reached for it, but I was not fast enough. I looked through the bars and watched my braid land on the roof of a green car that was parked in the alley.

I made an “aaaaaauuuurrrrr” sound. It was all I could say.

Eric poked his head out of the Homework Hut. “Uh-oh,” he said. “You cut off your hair.”

“Aaaauuuurrrrrrr,” I said again. I reached up and touched the side of my head. The ponytail holder where my braid had started was still there, but right past the ponytail holder was just a little stump of hair. Eric and I both stared down at my cut-off braid.

“Let’s go get it,” Eric said. I couldn’t say anything. I was still in some kind of a shock. Then we heard a “vrrroooom” sound. The green car started to move. It turned a little bit to get around the car in front of it, then it just drove off with my braid still on the roof.

Eric and I stared at each other for a few minutes. I didn’t even cry. My brain just felt frozen like a block of ice. Then my brain unfroze and I started to cry. Eric just patted me on the shoulder. “There, there,” he said, like an old lady might say to a kid in a movie. I cried and cried and cried.

“What am I going to do now?” I said.

Eric looked very worried. Then all of a sudden he popped his eyes wide open. “Wait here. I’ll be right back,” he said. He stood up.

“Are you going to tell Uncle Jay?” I asked him.

“Nope,” said Eric. “I think I have a plan.” He left the Homework Hut.

I waited and waited for what felt like eleven hours. I just sat in the Homework Hut and stared at my scissors. Finally Eric came back. He was carrying a purse.

“I’m confused,” I told him.

“This is Mrs. Carlito’s purse,” he explained. “I asked her if I could borrow a few things.”

“I’m still confused,” I said.

“Mrs. Carlito knits hats,” Eric said.

“I know that,” I told Eric. “But I can’t wear a woolly hat on the field trip.”

Then Eric pulled a big clump of black yarn out of the bag. “Ta-daaa!” he said. “You are not going to wear a hat. You are going to make a new braid. All we have to do is braid the yarn and then put the yarn braid under your ponytail holder. No one will ever know the difference. Do you know how to braid?”

“I think so,” I said. I divided the yarn into three parts. I tried to make each part nice and thick. Eric fastened the three sections together with a rubber band. Then I wove the pieces together.

Eric stuck the end of the yarn braid under the ponytail holder so that the yarn braid covered up the stump of hair. Then he stepped back to look at it.

“It looks, um, nice,” he said. “Well, I had better take this stuff back to Mrs. Carlito.”

“What else was in the purse?” I asked him.

“Some glue, in case we needed it,” Eric said. He grabbed his backpack too. “See you tomorrow, Keena.”

I thanked Eric for helping me, and then I gathered up my stuff. I walked very, very quickly back to my room, and I looked in the mirror at my yarn braid. I got another “I ♡ my teacher” barrette out of the cabinet and attached it to the bottom of the yarn braid. I thought it looked pretty good, but I didn’t know if I should show Uncle Jay, so I got ready for bed. I got in and out of the bathroom to brush my teeth without anyone seeing me, because I moved like a very fast invisible secret spy. Then I opened my bedroom door just a crack and hollered, “GOOD NIGHT, UNCLE JAY!!” before I got into bed and turned out the light.

Something everyone should know about yarn is that it looks different after you sleep on it. When I woke up this morning my yarn braid was kind of flat and wrinkly. It didn’t look like my real braid at all, even after I tried to fix it. It looked like the hair of this doll I saw in a movie one time, when this girl was very, very poor, and she lived in an old barn. She had only this one very raggedy-looking doll that she loved more than anything in the world. The doll was made out of some string sewn onto a dried potato skin. Even if someone loved me more than anything in the world, I did not want to look like that old raggedy-looking potato doll. So I decided to cover my head. I went to Mom’s room to look for a scarf. And guess what I found? I found a scarf that looked just like an American flag. I decided it would be perfect to wear to the United States Capitol. I tied the scarf around my head.

When I sat down for breakfast, Uncle Jay didn’t say anything about my scarf. He just raised one eyebrow very high up on his forehead. “I’m going to the Capitol today,” I told him. “And this scarf looks like the American flag.” I watched Uncle Jay very carefully. He just raised his eyebrow again and went back to eating his cereal.

When I got to school, I told Ms. Campbell that my mom didn’t get a chance to do my hair before she left and that I really, really wanted to wear my scarf to the Capitol. I think she felt sorry for me, so she said okay! Now all of the girls in my class are writing in journals while we are waiting for the bus to arrive.

I feel sort of bad that I said Mom didn’t fix my hair, but at least I get to wear my scarf and everything is going to be fine. My friend Linny Berry said she thought my scarf looked really cool! This trip is still going to be the best ever.

The field trip was NOT the best ever. It was the worst ever. I am never ever going back to the United States Capitol.

The trip started out okay. I liked the bus ride better than the last time I had been on the bus. The last time I rode the bus was on the first-grade trip to the pumpkin patch. I was the only person who did not get to pick a pumpkin to bring home on the bus because I had a little problem with a scarecrow. A scarecrow is like a giant fake man made of clothes stuffed with hay. A scarecrow is put on a stick. He is supposed to scare the birds away so they don’t bother the pumpkins. In this movie called THE WIZARD OF OZ there is a scarecrow that is actually a REAL GUY, only he does not have a brain. So at the pumpkin patch I tugged on the scarecrow’s sleeve to get his attention just in case he was real. Then all of a sudden there was HAY everywhere that had popped out of the scarecrow. The scarecrow was not real, and he was kind of ruined. So I did not get to pick a pumpkin and I was very sad on the bus ride home from that pumpkin patch.

Anyway, this bus ride was much better. I sat next to Linny Berry and we played tic-tac-toe. Mr. Lemon sat right behind us. Mr. Lemon is the time-out teacher and he came with us as a chaperon. A chaperon is a grown-up who watches you on a trip to make sure you don’t get into trouble.

When we got to the Capitol, we had to get in a very straight and very quiet line. I was not the caboose, but Tiffany wasn’t either. She was in line right in front of me.

We were supposed to be very, very silent as we walked into the building. Everyone was quiet except for this girl named Addy. She was wiggling and saying “U.S. Cap-i-tol, U.S. Cap-i-tol,” over and over until Ms. Campbell gave her the scary eye and she got quiet, restful, and still like the rest of us.

We walked in the building and saw a long hallway with white walls and a very shiny floor. We went down the hall and went to the door to the representative’s office. There was a big sign on the door that said REPRESENTATIVE PALMER THOMAS—MARYLAND. “Stand very quietly,” Ms. Campbell told us for the 200th time. She peeked her head in the office and a lady came out.

“Hello, class,” she said. “My name is Jean and I work for Congressman Thomas. We are very excited that you have come to visit today.”

I raised my hand.

“Yes, the young lady in the flag scarf,” said Jean.

“Who is Congressman Thomas?” I asked. “I thought we were visiting Representative Thomas.”

“A congressman is the same thing as a representative,” Jean told me.

“Is it in the thesaurus?” I asked.

I heard a man laughing behind Jean. She looked over her shoulder. “And here he is!” she announced. She stepped to the side and a man walked into the hallway.

“Hello class,” said Representative Thomas. “Thank you for visiting today.” He was wearing a suit and some black shoes that were very, very shiny. “Are you ready for your tour with Jean?” he asked. The other girls in my class started nodding their heads. I nodded my head very fast so he would know I was really excited. All that fast nodding made my scarf slip a little bit.

“Hey, what’s that?” I heard Tiffany say beside me.

All of sudden she reached up and pulled my scarf!! It fell to the floor. I tried to reach up and cover my wrinkly yarn braid, but it was too late.

“What is that string for?” Tiffany said. It felt like everyone in that whole hallway got very quiet and looked at me. “What happened to your hair?” she said even louder. Then she started to giggle.