Read The Magical Ms. Plum for Free Online

a pink, sparkly collar. Oh, look, he wants to be petted.”
    The alligator lurched toward Brad’s foot, snapping his jaws viciously.
    Brad jumped back just in time.
    The gator turned and hurtled himself at Tashala, who scrambled atop her desk chair a hair ahead of his jaws.
    “Look, he wants to play,” cried Emiko. “Here, Bubbles. That’s a good Bubbles. Yes, you are a good doggy. Mmmm. Mmm. Mmm.”
    Emiko bent down and urged the alligator toward her with little kissy sounds.
    “Watch out,” said Carlos. “He’ll bite your nose off!”
    But before the alligator reached her, he lunged at Eric’s hand. Eric scrambled onto his chair, too.
    Emiko giggled, as if Bubbles had done something sweet.
    “Come on, Bubbles. Let’s go for a walk,” Emiko said. Then she looked at Ms. Plum. “Can I show him around?”
    Ms. Plum, who was intently working on her valentines for the class party, glanced upand nodded. She seemed surprised to see several kids on top of their chairs.

    “Class, let’s the rest of you focus on your art project.”
    With a tug on his rope, Emiko pulled Bubbles toward the back of the room. The alligator seemed unhappy to leave all those ankles and toes, but soon he caught a whiff of Clyde, the hamster. He lunged at the table by the window, clawing at the table leg, trying to reach the helpless animals on top.
    Hip-Hop quickly opened his eyes. Clyde scampered in terrified circles around his cage.
    “Emiko, make Bubbles stop! Can’t you see what he’s doing?” said Mindy.
    “Can’t you see what he is?” asked Lucy.
    Emiko seemed confused by the questions. For the first time ever, she looked a little hurt. “I don’t see why everyone’s being so mean about Bubbles.”
    “He’s a dangerous animal!” said Lucy.
    With that, Emiko burst out laughing. “You guys are such jokers. Come on, Bubbles, let’s go back to our desk and work on our valentines.”
    The alligator followed Emiko, his slit eyes glaring, his tail lashing back and forth.Everyone in the front row quickly pulled their feet back.
    But Jeremy was too slow. Suddenly Bubbles’s jaws locked onto the hem of Jeremy’s blue jeans, and the alligator began to pull him from his chair!
    “Alligators drag their prey into the water to drown them,” observed Carlos.
    “Emiko! Stop him!” cried Nadia.
    “He’s just playing. What is everybody’s problem?”
    “Help!” cried Jeremy, who was jumping about, trying to throw off Bubbles.
    “Emiko! Look!”
    Bubbles had stopped pulling and now had his claws sunk into Jeremy’s pant leg. He looked up at Jeremy with a nasty grin on his face.
    “Help!” Jeremy swung at him wildly, afraid to get any fingers too close. “Help!”
    The whole class screamed at Emiko. “Do something!”
    Emiko hesitated, then pulled off her glasses and peered at Bubbles.
    Her face dropped. Her eyes widened. Her hand flew to her mouth in astonishment.
    “Bubbles, stop!” she commanded. “Get down right now!”
    Bubbles glanced over at her.
    She stamped her foot. “Now!”
    Bubbles grumbled, but then he released Jeremy’s pant leg.
    Emiko grabbed his leash. She squinted at the rope for a moment.
    “I thought this was pink with sparkles,” she said sadly.
    Emiko led Bubbles back toward the closet.
    “I thought you were a poodle. I’ve always wanted a poodle.”
    Bubbles made a casual swipe of a claw toward Becky Oh’s foot. Emiko frowned.
    “You’re not a poodle at all,” she concluded, scooting him into the closet and closing the door.
    She turned back toward the class.
    “Sorry,” she said. “I guess he really was an alligator.”
    “Yes,” was the general agreement. What a relief! At last Emiko saw the world as it really was.
    “Just an alligator,” Emiko sighed, heading back toward her desk. She sat down. She cleaned off her glasses. She looked over at Hip-Hop, the toad, and frowned sadly. Then slowly, slowly, she began to smile.
    “But wasn’t he the cutest little alligator you ever