THE PETASAURUS

When Ms. Colman’s kids returned to their class after recess they found a surprise. Their desks had been pushed into three groups, with five desks in each group.

“Good afternoon, girls and boys,” said Ms. Colman. “Are you ready to start thinking about pets?”

“Yes!” said her students.

“Terrific. Then I will divide you into your groups. In the first group will be Tammy Barkan, Sara Ford, Ian Johnson, Nancy Dawes, and Leslie Morris. You may sit here.” Ms. Colman pointed to the desks by the windows.

Nancy walked to the desks. She sat down at one. Her back was turned toward Ms. Colman, but she could hear her teacher calling out the names of the kids in the other two groups. She looked around at Tammy, Sara, Ian, and Leslie. Who could be her second-grade best friend? Not Ian. He was a boy. Tammy? Maybe. But Nancy thought Tammy’s best friend was probably her twin, Terri. Sara? Maybe. But she was the new girl. Nancy did not know a thing about her. That left Leslie. Leslie already had a best friend, Jannie. But at least Jannie was not her twin sister. Maybe Leslie could have two best friends like Karen Brewer did. Nancy sort of remembered Leslie from kindergarten, and she thought Leslie seemed okay. A little bossy, but okay.

“Class,” Ms. Colman said loudly.

Nancy turned around in her seat. She smiled at Leslie as she did so. But Leslie was waving across the room to Jannie.

“Today,” said Ms. Colman, “we are going to talk about what makes the ideal pet. That means the best pet or the perfect pet. I want you to make a list of those things together. I will walk around the room and help you. Then I want you to use this list to invent an imaginary perfect pet, and name it. Later, you can choose one person in your group to tell the other groups about your pet.” Ms. Colman handed each group a large piece of paper and a red crayon. “Okay. Go to work,” she said.

Nancy looked at the crayon in front of her. “Who should do the writing?” she asked her group.

“I will,” said Leslie. “I am sure I have the best handwriting.” Leslie grabbed the crayon. “All right. What makes a good pet?”

“It is easy to take care of,” replied Ian.

“It eats neatly,” said Tammy.

“It keeps you company,” said Sara.

“How do you spell ‘company’?” asked Leslie.

“We better ask for help,” said Nancy. She turned to look for Ms. Colman. “Mommy!” she called.

“Mommy!” Leslie repeated. “Hey, you called Ms. Colman Mommy!” Leslie began to laugh. She could not stop.

Nancy’s face turned red. She hoped Ms. Colman had not heard her. She did not think she had. Ms. Colman was busy with another group.

“You called her Mommy!” Leslie said again. “Hee hee hee hee hee.”

Nancy glared at Leslie. Leslie certainly was not going to be her new best friend. She was way too mean.

After Leslie stopped laughing, Nancy tried to think about the perfect pet. With Ms. Colman’s help, her group made a long, long list. They wrote down things about how their pet should act, how it should look, and tricks it could do.

They named their perfect pet the Petasaurus.

By the end of the day, Nancy felt a little better — until she heard Leslie whisper to Jannie, “You know what Nancy Dawes did? She called Ms. Colman Mommy!”

Jannie turned to look at Nancy. She and Leslie were both laughing.

I knew second grade would be horrible, thought Nancy.