Read The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School for Free Online Page B

irresponsibility?”
    Cowering, the students stared nervously down at their corn chips and carrot sticks.
    And Ham whispered,
“Yawa og niar niar.”
    The cloud materialized, a bit bigger and a bit darker than before.
    Feeling powerful, Ham pointed at the lunchroom monitor.
    The cloud stormed across the lunchroom. It snatched the hairnet from Mrs. Bunz’s head. It ripped the apron from her ample hips. It grabbed the bullhorn from her tight fist and sent it skittering. Then—
    SPLASH!
    It drenched her with a cloudburst, and—
    Poof!
    It was gone.
    A stunned silence fell over the lunchroom. Then—
    “I always knew Mrs. Bunz was all wet!” cried Bruce.
    The place exploded in loud, roaring laughter that echoed all the way to the teachers’ lounge.
    “Do you hear that?” asked Mrs. Gluteal, her cake-laden fork stopping in midair. “It sounds like a riot.”
    Mrs. Chen nodded in agreement. “Perhaps one of us should go and see what’s happening,” she suggested.
    “Before someone makes a mess,” agreed Mr. Swill.
    “Or gets hurt,” added Nurse Betadine.
    “Or earns a detention,” said Mrs. Struggles.
    The teachers looked at one another for a moment.
    Then Mrs. Gluteal held up her plate. “Cake, anyone?”
    In the lunchroom, a now dripping wet Mrs. Bunz whirled on the students. “Who did that?”
    No one answered.
    Mrs. Bunz’s eyes became slits. “You haven’t heard the last of this,” she warned. “I’ll ferret out the culprit. I’ll find you. And when I do? Five minutes—
on the wall
!”
    On the wall!
    It was Mrs. Bunz’s favorite punishment—a unique form of torture involving a public apology and five long, humiliating minutes against the cold tiles of the lunchroom wall.
    On the wall!
    Those three little words caused everyone—first through fifth grade alike—to freeze.
    Perhaps
, decided Ham with a shudder,
I should keep my new powers a secret
.
    That afternoon, Mr. Jupiter said, “I understand something very unusual took place in the lunchroom today.” He studied each of his students’ faces. “Does anyone know what happened?”
    “I believe it was simply one of life’s mysteries,” said Lil. And she waxed poetic:
    “Ah! Sweet mystery of life, at last I’ve found thee
.
    Ah! At last I know the secret of it all.…”
    “No mystery should go unexplained,” said Emberly. “Arty McFardy says—”
    Stanford interrupted with a snort. “Get serious. There is a logical and scientific explanation for what happened.”
    Mr. Jupiter looked around the room. “Does anyone
have
that explanation?”
    The classroom fell silent.
    In the back row, Ham plastered an innocent look on his face.
    “One last question,” said Mr. Jupiter. “Who watered the Venus flytrap? It’s been spitting and sputtering since lunchtime.”
    The classroom stayed silent.
    “Anyone?” persisted Mr. Jupiter.
    “Pa-tooey!” coughed the flytrap.
    Disappointed, Mr. Jupiter shook his head. “If no one will answer my question, then I guess we’ll just have to move on.” Picking up a stack of papers, he began handing them out. “I hope you all did your zoology reading last night, because we’re having a pop quiz.”
    Ham leaned forward. “Zoology reading?” he whispered in Victoria’s ear. “I didn’t even know we had a zoology book.”
    “Too bad for you,” she replied with a flip of her hair.
    Ham gulped and read the first question: “Bactrian camels have two humps. What is a one-humped camel called?”
    Ham had no idea. Guessing, he wrote, “Humphrey.”
    He moved on to the second question: “What do ducks do in the fall when food is scarce?”
    Ham guessed again. “Go to the store and say, ‘Put it on my bill.’”
    He read the third question: “What animal has three heads and smells bad?”
    Ham wrote, “Victoria,” but he knew that wasn’t right. He was pretty sure his first two answers weren’t right either. As for the next ninety-seven questions? He didn’t have a clue.
    He did,