THE PEST

“It is time for roll,” said Ms. Colman. “I will call you in alphabetical order by your last names. A names first, B names next, and so on. When I call your name, please raise your hand and say, ‘Here.’ ” Ms. Colman’s attendance book was open. She was holding a pencil. “Tammy Barkan,” she called.

“Here!” One of the twins raised her hand.

“Terri Barkan.”

“Here!” The other twin raised her hand.

“Nancy Dawes.”

“Here,” said Nancy softly.

Ms. Colman made a check in her book each time someone said, “Here.” She had made three checks so far.

“Sara Ford, Bobby Gianelli, Jannie Gilbert.” Check, check, check. “Audrey Green, Omar Harris, Ian Johnson, Chris Lamar, Leslie Morris.” Five more checks. “Hannie Papadakis, Hank Reubens, Natalie Springer, Ricky Torres.” Check, check, check, check. Fifteen checks in all.

Ms. Colman put her book down. “Good. Everyone is here today. Now boys and girls, please raise your hand if you brought a pencil to school.” Nine kids raised their hands. “That is fine,” said Ms. Colman. She handed out fat blue pencils to the kids who had not brought any. “I keep spare pencils in my desk,” she went on. “And paper will be kept on the shelf by the pencil sharpener.”

Ms. Colman had a lot of first-day-of-school things to do. She reminded her students where the nurse’s office was. She reminded them where the bathrooms and the cafeteria were. Then she began to hand out workbooks and reading books and math books and science books.

Ricky poked Hannie with an eraser.

“Pest,” said Hannie. She edged closer to Nancy.

Nancy looked around the room. Who would be her new best friend? Maybe Leslie. No. Leslie was whispering to Jannie. They were already best friends.

“Excuse me, Ms. Colman?” said Natalie. “I lost my pencil.” Natalie pulled up her socks as she searched under her desk. Finally Ms. Colman gave her a new pencil.

Bully Bobby leaned over to Chris and whispered, “I am going to get you on the playground today.”

Hannie took the reading book Sara Ford passed back to her. Then she whispered, “Hey, I like your barrettes. I have a barrette collection. My best barrettes are shaped like a hamburger and French fries.”

Nancy decided Hannie was a chatterbox.

Ricky must have thought so, too. He poked her again.

“Quit it, pest!” Hannie whispered loudly.

“Ahem,” said Ms. Colman from the front of the room. (But she was smiling.) “May I have your attention, please? I want to tell you about our first class project this year. The project is about pets, but it is also about getting to know one another. Today, tomorrow, and Thursday we will work on three activities about pets. We will work in groups. The groups will change each day. By Friday, you will have had a chance to work with most of your classmates. And something special will happen on Friday. Friday will be Pet Day during Show and Share time. On Pet Day, you may bring a pet to school if you have one. You may show it to the class, and tell us something about it. If you do not have a live pet, you may bring in a stuffed animal.”

“Hmphh,” whispered Hannie. “A stuffed animal. What good is that? That is stupid.”

“We will end our pet unit,” Ms. Colman went on, “next week. We will end it with a field trip to the pet store. At the store, we will buy a pet for our classroom. The Parent-Teacher-Student Organization has raised enough money so that each class may get a pet.”

The kids in Ms. Colman’s class looked at each other and grinned. Even Bobby said, “Cool!”

“What kind of pet will we get?” asked Ian.

“That is what our pet activities will help us decide,” replied Ms. Colman. “We will work on our first pet activity after recess today. Right now, it is time for reading.”