Out to Lunch (6 page)

Katie also hoped that Mr. Kane would decide to hire Lucille back soon. The cafeteria was really starting to smell because of the strike. Since no one had bought the hot dogs yesterday, the lunch lady had brought them out again. School hot dogs always smelled pretty bad, but
day-old
school hot dogs really stank.

Just then, Mr. Kane walked toward the front of the cafeteria and looked out at the students. “It looks like we have a lot of uneaten food today, just like yesterday,” he told them in a loud, stern voice. “I suppose it will be the same way tomorrow, too,” he added.

Katie gulped. Mr. Kane sounded a little bit angry about the cafeteria strike. She was also pretty sure he was looking in her direction when he spoke. Did Mr. Kane know that Katie had started the cafeteria strike? Was he going to be angry with her? For the first time, Katie was worried about how the cafeteria strike was going to turn out.

But just then, Mr. Kane’s stern frown turned upside down. He smiled at the children. “Well, I have good news for you kids,” the principal said. “Lucille and I spoke on the phone today. I told her I thought she deserved a second chance.”

Katie smiled. That’s what she thought, too.

“You’ll all be glad to know that Lucille said she’d come back to work . . . if you all promised to be good at lunch time,” Mr. Kane told them.

“Hooray!” The kids in the cafeteria cheered.

“She also made me promise that we would have some better-tasting food and fresher vegetables. Starting tomorrow, we will have a different menu in the cafeteria.”

“Hooray!” Once again, the kids began to shout wildly.

Mr. Kane looked sternly at the cheering kids. Everyone got quiet really quickly. “But your food fight made a big mess of this room. We’ll never get these walls completely cleaned up. You kids will have to stay after school for a few days to paint them.”

Now the kids looked really sad. Painting the walls sounded like a boring job.

Just then, Katie had an idea. She raised her hand shyly. Mr. Kane looked over at her. “Yes, Katie,” he said.

“Do we have to paint the walls this same color? Or can we paint a big picture on the wall instead?” she asked.

Mr. Kane thought about that for a minute. Then he nodded. “That’s a wonderful idea, Katie. It would be nice to have a mural that was painted by our students.” He smiled at the kids. “This cafeteria strike has proven that you can do great things when you all work together. I can’t wait to see what kind of painting you can come up with.”

“This is going to be the most beautiful cafeteria ever!” Katie assured the principal.

The kids in class 3A began planning the mural as soon as Mr. Kane left the cafeteria.

“I think we should have unicorns and stars,” Suzanne suggested.

“Oh yeah,” Zoe agreed. “That sounds so pretty.”

Kevin sat at the boys’ table and rolled his eyes. “Would you listen to those girls? Who wants a
pretty
mural? I say we go for cool stuff like skateboards and hot-air balloons.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jeremy agreed.

“I’m not painting any dumb unicorn,” George said.

That did it. Katie got up and stood right between the two tables.

“Cut it out!” she shouted. “I’m tired of everybody fighting.”

“It’s her fault,” Jeremy said, pointing at Suzanne.

“Are you nuts?” Suzanne shouted. “You started it.”

“I don’t care who started it,” Katie said. “If we keep fighting we won’t have any mural at all. We all have to work together.”

“Okay, so what’s it gonna be, Katie Kazoo? Skateboarders or unicorns?” George asked.

“I don’t know,” Katie admitted. “Maybe we could come up with something else. Something we’re all happy with.”

The kids thought about that for a minute.

“Okay,” Suzanne agreed.

“You’re right, Katie,” Jeremy said quietly.

“So we’re all friends again?” Katie asked nervously.

“I guess,” Jeremy said. He looked across the aisle at Suzanne. “If we keep fighting over Speedy, he won’t have any place to go this weekend. Why don’t you take him?”

Katie was surprised. She knew how badly Jeremy had wanted to take Speedy to his house.

Katie was even
more
surprised by Suzanne’s answer.

“No, he’s better off with you,” Suzanne said. “Heather’s stuff is pretty much all over my whole house. Everywhere you look there’s a stroller or a changing table or a crib. I don’t think there’d be any room for a hamster playground.”

“But you know I have that big game on Saturday. I’m going to be busy with that,” Jeremy told her.

Katie was worried all over again. Now it didn’t sound like
either
of her friends wanted to take Speedy home. She had to do something fast!

“I have an idea,” Katie said quickly. “Jeremy, you keep Speedy at your place. Suzanne can come over on Saturday morning to give him his food and water while you’re at the game.”

“That’s a good idea,” Suzanne agreed. “Hey, and maybe on Sunday we could build him a hamster playground . . . together.”

“Cool!” Jeremy exclaimed. “You know, my dad has a huge shoe box. It could be a cave.”

“I’ll bring over some paper towel rolls for Speedy to climb through,” Suzanne said.

Katie sat quietly as she listened to Jeremy and Suzanne’s plans for the hamster playground. She was really happy that her two best friends were getting along so well. She was also kind of sad. They were leaving her out of everything!

Jeremy guessed how Katie was feeling. “Can you come over and help us build the playground?” he asked her.

Now Katie smiled brightly. “You bet!” she exclaimed.

Lunchtime was a whole lot more fun the next day. Katie stood on the lunch line right between her two best friends. It was nice not to have to choose between them any more.

When she reached the front of the line, Katie smiled brightly at Lucille. “I’ll have a veggie wimpy and a cow juice,” she told the lunch Lady. “And for dessert I’d like an Eve with a lid.”

Lucille looked at Katie with surprise. She had no idea where the third grader had learned the secret lunchroom language, but she gave Katie a veggie burger, a container of milk, and a slice of apple pie anyway.

“Thanks,” Katie told her. “It’s good to have you back.”

Lucille didn’t say anything, but Katie thought she saw her smile a little.

As Katie followed Jeremy to a table near the back of the cafeteria, she felt a slight breeze blowing on the back of her neck. Katie looked around nervously. Was she about to change into someone else . . . right here in front of the whole school?

As Katie looked around, she noticed that the door to the playground was wide open. This was no magic wind. It was just a normal, everyday, outside kind of wind. Katie wasn’t changing into anyone. She was staying Katie Kazoo.

At least for now.

Do you find the same old peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in your lunch box every day? Are you sick of hard-boiled eggs and tuna salad? Well, here’s the cure to the boring food blues. These easy-to-make lunch recipes are favorites of the kids in room 3A. Try them all. They’re guaranteed to tickle your taste buds!

And after you’ve filled the inside of your lunch bag with these tasty treats, don’t forget about the outside of the bag. Decorate your paper bag with stickers or funny pictures, just to make lunch time more special!

You will need: round crackers, peanut butter, grape jelly.

Here’s what you do: Start with a plain cracker. Spread peanut butter on the cracker. Put a second cracker on top of the first. Spread jelly on the second cracker. Put a third cracker on top of the second cracker. Spread peanut butter on that one. Then top that cracker with a fourth cracker. Spread jelly on the top cracker. Keep going until you have a stack of crackers. Wrap your cracker stack in waxed paper before putting it in your lunch box.

You will need: one banana, a hot dog roll, peanut butter.