Read The Magical Ms. Plum for Free Online Page A

saw!” she suddenly said.
    “Emiko!” cried Becky Oh. “No!”
    “Well, he was. Did you see how adorable his green eyes were? And I think he was very smart. You could just tell by his expression.”
    The whole class groaned.
    Ms. Plum didn’t say anything. She held up the valentine she had just made. It seemed to have more glue than glitter, but Ms. Plum smiled happily and started her next valentine.

    “What is Ms. Plum?” asked Eric one windy March day at lunch
.
    Most of the kids from Ms. Plum’s class sat together in the cafeteria. There was just so much to talk about and no one else to talk about it with. If they kept their voices low, they found they could speak out loud to each other about what really happened in Ms. Plum’s class
.
    “Ms. Plum is our teacher. Duh,” said Brad
.
    “Yeah, but is she like a witch? I mean, how can she do those things?”
    “She would have to be a good witch,” said Darma
.
    “I think she’s a magic fairy,” said Emiko
.
    “Maybe it’s the closet that’s magic,” said Carlos. “Maybe it’s not Ms. Plum at all.”
    “Nah, I think Ms. Plum is the magic,” said Brad
.
    He sounded so certain that Carlos suddenly wondered how Brad could be so sure. Had Brad had some sort of magic experience?
    “I bet if some other teacher got that room, it would just be a regular old closet,” Tashala said
.
    “Hey, what do you think would happen if Ms. Plum went in the closet herself?” said Becky Oh. “Have you noticed, she never gets anything for herself.”
    “Would she get an animal?” asked Nadia
.
    “I know,” said Eric. “Next time she asks for something, nobody raise your hand. Then she’ll have to go in herself.”
    Everyone liked this idea, except Carlos. But he was outnumbered and had to go along with the plan
.
    “Remember,” said Eric. “No one raises their hand.”

“Who can get me a box of pushpins?” asked Ms. Plum a few days later.
    Not a student raised a hand.
    Ms. Plum looked surprised. She glanced over at Carlos.
    Carlos clasped his hands together in front of him and held on tight. He pretended to be interested in something on his thumb.
    “Well, I, uh …” Ms. Plum stood uncertainly. “I guess I’ll have to get them myself.”
    She gave the class one more puzzled glance, then stepped into the closet.
    In a moment she was back out, a box of plum-colored pushpins in her hand.
    For a second it looked like nothing else had come out with her. (“Of course,” whispered Darma, “because she’s perfect.”) Butthen a small peacock came bobbing out. It followed her to the front of the room.
    Its tail feathers were down, drab and dragging along the floor. It didn’t look very smart either.
    “I expected like a tiger,” whispered Tashala.
    “Or a unicorn,” Emiko whispered back.
    “Now, class, let’s get back to our science lesson.”
    Ms. Plum had set up an experiment on sound. Twenty water glasses sat across a table—each one filled with a little more water than the last.
    She began to tap each glass with a metal spoon.
    “Notice the different sounds.”
    “Oooooooooh,” breathed the class in awe.
    Ms. Plum smiled, then noticed that everyone had their eyes on something behind her.
    Ms. Plum turned around. She had the distinct impression that the peacock had just snapped its tail feathers shut behind her.
    She turned back to the class and began pinging on the glasses, going up the musical scale. This time, just as the class began to ooh and aah, she whirled around.
    “Aha!” she cried.
    The peacock’s tail was spread into a glorious fan of luminous blues and greens and golds.
    The bird quickly shut its tail and pecked at the floor, not meeting Ms. Plum’s eye. Slowly it wandered away.
    “Now then,” Ms. Plum said. “Who can tell me why each glass sounds different?”
    “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” cried the class.
    Ms. Plum frowned and glanced over at the peacock. Clearly, it was just shutting its tail, pretending it hadn’t been showing