CHAPTER 4

The next day, Miss Greer’s class learned about the candidates. One by one, the students gave short speeches about their nominees. The presentations lasted until lunch. Then, after recess, it was finally election time!

“Write your vote on a slip of paper, and put it in this ballot box,” said Miss Greer. “The pet with the most votes wins.”

After the voting, Miss Greer counted the votes and wrote the nominees on the board.

“One vote for aardvark,” she said. “One for butterfly. One for turtle. One for miniature giraffe? One for . . .”

Finally, Miss Greer pulled the last ballot from the box. “Last vote . . . goes to a skunk? Oh, dear! Well, let’s see who won.”

She stepped back from the board and frowned. Each pet had exactly one vote. Every student had voted for the pet they had nominated.

There were seventeen winners, but there could only be one pet.

“Oh dear,” said Miss Greer. “We can’t have seventeen pets!”

“Why don’t we do it like elections for the president?” asked Sofia. “We could have an election to find the top two candidates. That’s called a primary election. Then we’ll vote for one of the top two in order to pick the class pet.”

“Wouldn’t everyone just vote for their own choices again?” asked Ada.

“Hmm,” said Miss Greer. “First, we need to adjust the requirements. Some of these nominees have very sharp teeth. And we can’t have a pet someone is allergic to. Imagine the sneezing! How could we get any work done? We don’t want a stinky pet. Or a noisy one!”

“Most elections have rules for the candidates,” said Sofia. “American presidents have to be at least thirty-five years old and must have been a U.S. citizen since they were born. And they must have lived in the country for at least fourteen years.”

“I don’t think those rules will work for pets,” said Iggy. “Animals aren’t citizens, are they?”

“Some animals don’t even live fourteen years. But some live a lot longer,” said Ada. “African elephants can live over seventy years. And Greenland sharks can live two hundred seventy-five years!”

“Sharks?!” said Miss Greer.

“And eels can live for decades,” said Ada. “And lay millions of eggs! Zowie!”

“Millions of eggs?!” Miss Greer said.

Miss Greer plopped into her seat. She looked queasy for a moment. Then, she shook it off, patted her hair neatly back into place, and stood up.

“It will be okay,” she said. “It will be okay.”

“Is she talking to us?” Ada whispered to Iggy.

“I don’t think so,” Iggy whispered back.

“Perhaps . . .” said Miss Greer. “Perhaps we should make a list of requirements.”

She erased the board and started a list.

The students made suggestions, and soon the list was complete.

Miss Greer stood back and smiled.

“There,” she said. “That seems reasonable.”