Chapter 21 Motorcycle mouse-7

By late Sunday night, the weather had changed.The snow starts to melt.On Monday morning, the school buses lined up in the snow and headed towards the school.When the students in boots and snow boots walked through the mud and icy water to the hall of Ivan Jay Sneed Primary School, the first thing they saw was Mr. Coster holding a big mop. Ralph, who had just returned from a long, lonely weekend, felt a burst of joy, relieved by the sound of the school bus, and slipped back into classroom five with a sense of relief.He hid it in that old glove.Anything is better than that long, cold, miserable weekend, and maybe Jean has found a way to fix his motorcycle.

The students in Miss Ka's class came to the school one by one with dissatisfaction.Snow is nice, muddy water is a nuisance.The children appeared more chaotic than usual with their coats and boots off.Many held in their hands small pieces of paper cut out of the "Voice of Quecaricha" newspaper.For some reason, Miss Ka greeted them in the classroom. Malice was wearing wet shoes and boots in hand, and Gordon told her he was sure static electricity wouldn't stick mice to socks.Malice told Gordon that he had no imagination. Brad arrives, one arm dangling from his chest.Soon, a rumor circulated that Brad hit the handicap so hard that he broke his own hand.The children divided into several factions and quarreled with each other.

Jean glared at Brad. "You owe me a motorcycle, the one you broke. You deserved it for hurting your hand." "You said that motorcycle belonged to Ralph," Brad sneered, "what's the use of that stupid rat?" One of the kids dropped the clipping on the floor, and before it was picked up, Ralph saw a picture of himself, looking small and frightened in the fishbowl.The picture is well taken, quite well.His eyes are bright and every hair is clearly defined.Ralph was glad he was such a handsome mouse, and wondered if Matt was in the shop—if he was, he'd see the picture, recognize him, and maybe Matt would miss him.

After the class bell rang, Miss Ka hurried into the classroom with an uneasy expression on her face. Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered the classroom, she was surrounded by excited children, all of whom were waving the clipping of the "Voice of Queca Richard". "It's not like what the paper says!" they said. "That reporter got it wrong!" "A string of lies!" "Our pictures never appeared." That rat. He's fine!" "They're behaving like a bunch of little mice," thought Ralph.At the same time, he was anxious to know what the papers had said about him.Say he is not good?impossible.

Miss Ka stood in front of the classroom without saying a word.Gradually, the classroom calmed down. "That's right." Miss Ka said. "It's marvelous," thought Ralph. "This teacher silenced the class without saying a bad word." He was even a little ashamed of how he treated his little fellows. After the whole class had recited "All are free and all are equal" (not to me, thought Ralph), Miss Carr said, "Students, we have a lot to talk about this morning, and if we keep talking tongue, then we can’t talk. Brad, tell us first, what’s wrong with your arm?”

Brad looked embarrassed. "Oh, I sprained riding in the dirt. I'm preparing for my first dirt bike race this spring." The whole class admired Brad's feat, and Ralph's heart lit up: Brad was just the kind of boy who could understand him. Brad changed the subject again and said, "Is Ralph going to run the maze again?" "Well, Jean," asked Miss Carl, "have you brought Ralph today?" "He's lost." There was a bit of anxiety in Jean's voice, "He's crazy because... oh, he went crazy on Friday afternoon and he disappeared."

"I haven't lost it," Lalda said to himself, "I know where I am, in this glove." There were sighs of disappointment in Room 5. The students liked Ralph, and besides, watching the rats in the maze was much more fun than sociology and spelling. "Miss Carr," said Gordon, "even if Jean finds Ralph, I don't think it's necessary to make him run the maze again. Because he's proved that there are better ways to get peanut cheese without hitting a dead end." .” "Yes, he's right," said Ralph, cheered up by Gordon's support. "I'm smarter than I thought."

"Students, do you agree?" Miss Ka asked, she always likes to let students think independently. The whole class is thinking.Brad spoke first: "In dirt bikes, it's foul to go up and down. I think Ralph is cheating." Several people were quick to point out that a puzzle using a maze is not the same thing as a bicycle race, not even a BMX-style one. "Maybe he was stunned to do that." Malice Gerger smiled and offered her opinion. "Well, I think he's proven he's smart and intelligent," Lauria said, using what seemed to be the language of a school's conduct review for children.

Miss Ka asked for a show of hands. Twenty-one kids are sure Ralph has found a better way to run the maze; five kids think he's cheating.The matter was just let go.Ralph was an extraordinarily clever mouse, of which he had only doubted for a little while in the past. "Speaking of settling problems," Miss Ka said, "do you think fighting is a good way to end a dispute?" "No!" the girls said in unison. Jean defended himself by saying, "Brad pushed me first, and the fight wasn't equal because Ralph was in my pocket and I didn't want to hurt him."

"What do you have to say, Brad?" asked Miss Ka. "He pissed me off, and was always going around bragging about how smart his mice were, and trying to make the maze easy." Brad slipped into the chair. "Anyway, how did I know he still had that old rat in his pocket?" Jean whispered to Brad, "Just because you come to school in a big trailer makes you think you're great." "Just because you live in a hotel, you feel better than everyone else," Brad said angrily. The class didn't respond to these arguments because the girls were tired of the scuffle-like discussions.They were waving clippings from the Queqa Richard's Voice newspaper. "Miss Ka,"

"I don't think that reporter was fair, and everything she said about us was wrong," Lauria said. Some people stated that they did not subscribe to the "Voice" newspaper at home, and they demanded to know the content of the article. Miss Ka read the headline aloud: A CLASS CAPTURES THE RAIDERS AT SNEED ELEMENTARY. "What did she say?" Ralph was puzzled.He shifted from the glove to the overturned Malice's boot so he could see better.What is an intruder? Miss Carr went on: "Underneath Ralph's photograph was written: 'Friday afternoon there was a mouse on display in the class of Miss Banbi Kuckenbacker, Fifth Grade, Evan Jay Snead Elementary School, They thought it was one of many rats that were infesting the school. They also discussed the damage rodents are doing to food crops and food supplies, and how the rats are multiplying at an alarming rate.'” There was a murmur of disapproval in the class as Miss Ka continued to read. "The school board held its monthly meeting that evening and heard a report on the rat infestation, and superintendent Corrid A. Rothman said a thorough investigation would be conducted at Snead." The children sat there too angry to say anything.Ralph was also in a daze.Just a little mouse—one intruder turned the whole of Snead Elementary upside down? Suddenly the whole class started shouting and chatting. "Our class isn't like that at all." "We thought it was fun, but she made our school so horrible." "Poor little Ralph didn't offend us, he was brought to school." "She said Our school is so dirty, but Coster is actually working hard." "She was too stingy to put our picture in the newspaper." "She was only there for 5 minutes and didn't even understand what we were doing." Gordon felt it was all his fault for the essay, so he was to blame. "I don't mean to put Ralph under investigation," he said. "I just wrote down the material from the books in the library. I don't mean to accuse Ralph of the mouse of running around and ruining the crops." "How to investigate me?" Ralph wondered. Brad was flattered to see other people make mistakes. "I thought that reporter was a bastard who falsely accused rats." This is his contribution to this discussion. Miss Ka asked if she couldn't find a better way to express herself. After a while, Brad added: "I think that reporter just said what she wanted to say, and didn't care about us at all." One boy said, "My dad said bad news sells more than good news." Everyone agrees that the reason the reporter speaks so badly of their school is to sell more La Quecaricha newspapers is mean, unfair, and clever.What they were doing at school was a good thing, she should have said so. "I think we should all write letters to the newspaper and say this story is not true and that there is and was only one mouse here," Malice said. "That's a great idea, Malice," said Miss Ka, who was always eager for new projects. "We can write draft letters to our liberal arts classes. However, I think we should be careful and tell the truth." Of course, the students in Class 5 love to tell the truth.They always tell the truth, except for the occasional little lie. Miss Carter continued: "Can we be sure that Ralph is the only mouse in the school? The principal told me that after reading the article in the "Voice" last night, the workers in the coffee shop reported this morning that a bag of sugar There was a hole in it, and there were tail marks on the sugar that flowed out. The fourth grade teacher reported that the mosaics her class made with seeds were missing the seeds; ; the first grade teacher also said she found teeth marks on a bottle of paste." The news silenced the class, leaving Ralph alone with a self-blaming unease. He's just a little mouse trying to fit into the world, and he didn't mean to cause trouble. Malice said, "Maybe there are other mice, and we can catch Ralph again, find him a girlfriend, and have a mouse wedding." "Oh, yes." The girls said longingly. The boy was polite to the suggestion.So did Ralph. "We don't know where Ralph is," Miss Ka said. "Maybe we should wait until after the investigation. We may end up finding more rats at the school." The students who had been planning to write to the newspaper expressing their outrage had to agree. "But Miss Ka," said Lauria, "isn't your name Heidi?" Miss Ka smiled and said, "Yes." "But why does this reporter call you Madarabi?" Lauria asked. "She must have mixed up the letters in the notes." Miss Ka replied quite amusingly. Ralph saw nothing interesting.What does the survey mean: Cats or rodent exterminators with traps and poison?Or the fumigation of lethal fumes into the halls?The kind of electronic mouse repellent that makes a sound that only mice can hear, but can drive them into the night crying for their father and mother? There was only one thing Ralph was sure of.He has to escape from Evan Jay Snead Elementary School, and he has to escape as fast as possible.