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opened doors. After hooking the padlock onto one of the door handles, she returned thewooden spool and yarn snips, swiftly shutting the cabinet before Leon could get a peek inside.

    But as she was walking back to her desk, the weight of the lock on the handle caused one of the doors to swing open, providing Leon a view of the cabinet’s interior.
    And what a view it was!
    The top part of the cabinet was fitted with a piece of pegboard, from which hung dozens and dozens of tools, each labeled and outlined in black marker. Leon spotted the yarn snips Miss Hagmeyer had just used, along with twine nips, snappers, snapplers, zigzaggers, scallopers, pincers, pinking shears, and slishers. (And those were just the cutting tools!)
    Directly below the pegboard there were racks of thread displaying a rainbow of colors. But it was thedrawers dominating the lowest portion of the cabinet that attracted Leon most. One said CLAWS, another said FINGERS, a third said FLIPPERS AND FINS. There was a drawer marked ELEPHANT EARS—INDIAN and another (which was slightly larger) marked ELEPHANT EARS—AFRICAN.
    Noses of various kinds (beaks, bills, trunks, snouts) filled one row of drawers. Eyeballs filled another two. There were drawers for smiles, grimaces, and smirks. Drawers for teeth and tongues, freckles and fangs. A section devoted to the body parts of mythical creatures included a compartment reserved for unicorn horns.
    All the drawers were marked—with one exception. An especially large compartment lacked a masking-tape label.
    Curiosity gnawed at Leon. He wanted to know what the unlabeled drawer contained, but resisted the impulse to sneak a peek. The unpleasant consequences of his last unauthorized investigation (of his mother’s desk) were still fresh in his mind.
    He distracted himself by glancing about the room. All his classmates were focused on Miss Hagmeyer, who was busily writing numbers on the blackboard and droning on about “bringing down the six.”
    Leon had no interest whatsoever in bringing down the six, so while Miss Hagmeyer generated remainders and dividends, he reached over and wrapped hisfingers around the knob of the unidentified drawer. He gave the knob a gentle tug and peered inside.
    At first Leon couldn’t figure out what he was looking at. Once he had, he reared back slightly. The contents of the drawer confused him. And embarrassed him. And grossed him out. The dull gray tangle wasn’t as disgusting or fascinating as, say, teacher’s spit, but it came pretty close.
    “Mr. Zeisel,” Miss Hagmeyer said.
    Still puzzling over his discovery, Leon failed to hear his name.
    “Mr. Zeisel!”
Miss Hagmeyer repeated more forcefully.
    “Huh?”
    “Get your nose out of my PANTY HOSE!”
    It took a moment for the command to register. When it did, Leon felt the blood rushing to his head.
    The whole class went berserk, laughing and hooting as he sank into his chair.
    “Silence!”
Miss Hagmeyer shouted. She marched over to the cabinet. “Next time I’ll know better than to leave this open.” She padlocked the doors and turned to Leon. “Students who can’t thread needles shouldn’t poke through their teacher’s things, should they, Mr. Zeisel?”
    “No, Miss Hagmeyer,” Leon said abjectly.
    “They should listen to their teachers, should they not?” she further chided.
    “S-s-sorry,” said Leon. He felt dangerously close to tears.
    “Apology accepted—provisionally. However, in the future, I expect you to stay out of my drawers unless authorized. As it is, you have your hands full, what with the stitching practice and tonight’s assignment.”
    “What assignment?” Leon asked.
    Miss Hagmeyer released an irritated snort. “As I explained while you were rifling through my hose, I expect everyone to bring in a piece of cloth.”
    “What kind of cloth?”
    Miss Hagmeyer shook her head in despair. “I answered
that
question, too, Mr. Zeisel. It doesn’t make the slightest difference what kind.