ALMOST THE WHOLE CLASS already played the WHOLE COSTUME GUESSING GAME. Except for Savannah. And I need a do-over.
“Mrs. D., I’m not going to be Strawberry Sweetie Pie,” I say. “Can I go again?”
Mrs. D. looks at me. Then at Savannah. Then she nods.
“I’m picking a new costume,” I tell everyone.
Amanda’s mouth drops open. So does Jessie’s.
“I’m round as a circle,” I say.
Madison Rogers’s hand shoots up. “The sun?”
“Nope. I have a hole in my middle,” I say.
Ruby Snow waves her hand. “A donut?” she guesses.
“Nope. I’m three minus three.”
“Zero!” Sam Noonan yells. I pretend I don’t hear him ’cause teachers don’t hear yellers.
Gwendolyn waves her hand in the air. I call on her.
“Zero?” she asks.
“That’s right!” I say. “You’re next.” Only Gwendolyn already went, since almost the whole class played the game without us.
Mrs. D. writes Lola at the end of one long column and then Zero at the end of another. She luh-huvs columns.
I sit down.
Savannah hurries to the front. “I’ve got pink legs.”
“A flamingo!” Madison guesses.
“I have a pretty dress with a bow.”
“Santa!” Rita Rohan guesses.
“I have a strawberry on top of my head.”
“Strawberry Sweetie Pie,” Amanda calls out. She has a big smile on her face. Fishsticks.
“Yes,” Savannah says, only she kind of yells it.
Amanda’s up next. I guess she couldn’t figure out anyone’s costume. Poor, poor Amanda. Even Timo guesses Chocolate Cherry Cupcake Queen.
Timo says, “I am Finnish.”
“Are you Timo?” Harvey asks.
“Yes, I am.”
“You can’t be yourself for Halloween,” Harvey says, but not mean.
“Is your Halloween character also Finnish?” Mrs. D. asks.
“Yes. I am the son of Ilmatar.”
“In real life or are we guessing your costume?” Rita asks.
“Guessing my costume,” Timo says. “Here’s another clue. It took 730 years for me to be born.”
“Are you Finnish molten lava?” Ben Wexler asks.
Timo shakes his head. “I discovered fire in the belly of a fish in the belly of a fish in the belly of a fish.”
We all groan.
“Timo, perhaps you could give us one more clue,” Mrs. D. says. “And then you may have to tell us if no one can guess.”
“Very well,” Timo says. “I will give you a very good clue. I am the popular folk hero of the Finnish national epic poem The Kalevala.”
“You’re Väinämöinen,” Sam shouts. “’Cause you told me at recess yesterday that Väinämöine is the Finnish Superman.
“Yes!” Timo says with a big smile.
After Timo, there’s only Charlie and we all know he’s Sir Rodney Strong from Charlie’s most absolute favorite book series, Sir Rodney and the Battles of Glockenshnitt.
Mrs. D. stands in front of us. “Now everyone gets to guess who I will be for Halloween,” she says. “I love mud.”
“Are you a pumpkin seed?” Dilly Chang guesses.
“No, I’m not, but that’s a lovely idea,” Mrs. D. says. “I travel by crawling,” she adds.
“Are you a baby?” Gwendolyn asks.
“No. But you’re right, babies do love mud and they do crawl.”
“Not me,” Harvey says. “My mom said I never crawled. I just started walking.”
Mrs. D. says, “That seems believable. Okay, here’s another clue. I breathe through my skin.”
We’re stumped.
“One more. I eat garbage,” Mrs. D. says.
“You’re a worm!” I yell. “An earthworm!”
“You’re right, Lola!”
I’m happy until I remember what I’m about to forget—all my lines in Once Upon a Pumpkin. Fishsticks.
