The Perfect Prize!

That afternoon, Harry kept watching the minute hand tick away on Room 3B’s clock. It was 2:30 p.m. and still no sign of Mr. Deltoid.

Mrs. Flaubert handed out popsicles so the wait wasn’t painful for me. There was just one more thing I had to clear up. “Hey, Harry,” I asked. “Why did you bring that water bottle to school with the squirt nozzle?”

“If you stay cool, it gives you an advantage! And sometimes, I get an occasional tickle in my throat.” Then he flashed his white teeth.

Harry! I thought.

“Well, you’re right,” I added, “I need to stay calm. I can’t think straight if I’m freaking out! I really need to keep a cool head!”

“You do!” Harry said, then he squirted me in the face.

“Thanks!” I laughed.

Finally, at three o’clock, Mr. Deltoid came. He was carrying that big brown box. When he let it drop to the ground, it hardly made a sound.

“Harry and Doug, come on up. You boys get to award this last prize to your class.”

Everyone cheered and clapped except Harry.

“It’s the last prize left?” he inquired.

“Yes,” Mr. Deltoid replied. “I went by winning score totals. The other room winners had more than eight points. But you guys did a terrific job!”

Harry looked like his cat died.

“The perfect prize is gone then,” he moaned. “You can open it, Doug.”

“Are you sure?” I said.

Harry nodded.

I lifted the flaps and reached down to the bottom of the box. It was a rolled-up poster.

Oh man, I thought. Probably the five food groups. What a bummer!

Suddenly, Harry grabbed it. “Wait a minute!” he said, unrolleding the poster.

It was a picture of a HUGE HAIRY BROWN TARANTULA!

Everyone stared at it.

No one said a word.

“The perfect prize for Room 3B!” Harry shouted. “I wonder why nobody else took it first.”

Then he ran to the front closet door and held the poster up high. “This hairy beauty will remind everyone in Room 3B that Spiders rule!”

It was the perfect prize for Harry.

The only horrible one in the box!