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whole long words!"
    "We all can!" the other children shouted.
    Mrs. Pidgeon began to cheer up. She smiled at the children. "Thank you," she said. "I'm sorry that I was depressed for a minute. It's just that the story of the first Thanksgiving is such a truly wonderful story, about becoming friends, and helping one another, and being thankful. I wish I could have presented it better, instead of writing a dumb song about succotash."
    "Mrs. Pidgeon?" Gooney Bird Greene said. "I have an idea."

9.

    It was the day before Thanksgiving vacation—the day of the pageant. The school janitor, Lester Furillo, had used masking tape to attach the mural to the wall of the multipurpose room, and he had set up folding chairs for the audience. At the back of the large room, a table covered with a yellow paper tablecloth held two large platters of cupcakes and two pitchers of lemonade.
    "These cupcakes are spectacular!" Mrs. Pidgeon had said when she opened the boxes that held them. "Look at this! Little turkeys and Pilgrim hats on the frosting! How did she ever do that, Gooney Bird?"
    "She didn't do it," Gooney Bird replied. "You saw who brought them. You saw the name on the van. I think it's on the boxes too."
    "
Creative Catering,
" Beanie read from the lid of one box.
    "I thought the room mother was supposed to make the cupcakes herself," Tricia said.
    Gooney Bird shook her head. "I just told her to
provide
cupcakes. Remember the dialogue from when I told the story about getting the room mother? She asked what the room mother had to do, and I said provide cupcakes. You all know what
provide
means. We don't even need to get out our dictionaries."
    "Well," Mrs. Pidgeon said as she arranged the cupcakes on a platter, "she certainly did a good job of providing, didn't she? But I wish she had brought them herself. I'd like to thank her."
    "She's coming to the pageant," Gooney Bird assured her.
    ***
    And now, in the afternoon, the guests were arriving. The second-graders were all in the small adjoining room, peeking out, watching the chairs in the multipurpose room fill up.
    "There's my mom!" Tyrone said in an excited voice. "Lookit! She's got such a cool dress on!
    "Mom!" he called. "I'm back here!" Tyrone's mother looked over with a grin and waved.
    "Shhh!" the other children said. "Nobody's supposed to see us yet!"
    "This is the dressing room!" Ben explained. "We're back
stage! We have to be quiet. Hey!" he added. "Look! There's
my
mom!"
    "My daddy came!" Keiko said, peeking out. "He must have closed the store for the afternoon! Look—there he is with my mom. And see? That's my auntie! Hello, Oba-chan!" she called, and a woman laughed and fluttered her fingers in a wave.
    Mrs. Pidgeon had been at the door of the multipurpose room, greeting the guests. Now she came back to where the children were waiting. "I hear some giggling back here!" she said with a smile.
    "Are you all ready?" she asked. "We'll start in a few minutes. Not quite everyone is here yet. The room mother hasn't arrived."
    "She said she might be a little late," Gooney Bird explained. "She said we could start without her. Oh, look!" Gooney Bird pointed. "There's my mom! See? She's the one in jeans, with a smiley face sweatshirt."
    She wiggled her fingers in a wave, and her mother waved back and took a seat.
    There was a sudden commotion at the door of the multipurpose room, and several people got up from their seats to help. Malcolm looked, and groaned. "It's my mom," he said, "with the triplets." He covered his eyes. "I'm not going to look," he said.
    Mrs. Pidgeon put her arm around Malcolm. She and the
other children watched while the janitor and several others helped to maneuver the huge triple stroller through the doorway.
    "Are they asleep?" Malcolm asked, still hiding his eyes. "Please, please, could they be asleep?"
    "Yes, they seem to be sleeping, Malcolm. It's okay. You can look. Don't worry," Mrs. Pidgeon told him. "We won't even mind if they wake up.