"That's a bib!" Malcolm bellowed. "That's what babies wear! Babies wear bibs!"
"I know that," Gooney Bird replied calmly. "Actually, I bought this one in the baby section of the Goodwill store."
"But why would you wear a baby thing?" Beanie asked.
"It's sensible," Gooney Bird replied. "Babies wear bibs to keep their clothes clean. That's a sensible thing to do. I am a sensible person. So I have decided to wear a bib." She smoothed the bib over her chest. It had an embroidered duck on it.
"But aren't you embarrathed?" Felicia Ann whispered.
"I am never ever embarrassed," Gooney Bird replied.
Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Malcolm said, "We have a whole lot of bibs at home. A million bibs. We have—"
Mrs. Pidgeon interrupted him in a kindly way. "Time to eat, Malcolm," she said gently. Then she turned to Tricia. "Did you want to ask me something? I think we all got distracted by Gooney Bird's bib."
Tricia nodded. "Me and Ben—" she began. Then she stopped. Mrs. Pidgeon had held up a finger—she called it her grammar finger—as a reminder.
"Ben and I," Tricia corrected.
"Good. That is much better grammar," Mrs. Pidgeon explained.
"How come Tyrone can use bad grammar when he raps?" Malcolm asked. "And you never once hold up your grammar finger?"
"Ahhh," Mrs. Pidgeon said with a chuckle. "Good question, Malcolm. Rap is a special art form. And it uses a different grammar. So Tyrone can say, in a rap—well, give us an example, Tyrone, would you?"
Tyrone looked down at his lunch, a pear and a sandwich on a paper napkin in front of him. He thought for a moment, then chanted,"Ain't no pear as big as my hair, cuz pears be small and my hair be tall..."
Mrs. Pidgeon laughed. "All right," she said. "Now, Tyrone, tell us that in proper grammar."
Tyrone grinned. Then he said, "There isn't any pear as big as my hair, because pears are small, but I always comb my hair up to make it look pretty large."
"See the difference?" Mrs. Pidgeon asked, and the children nodded.
"So: what were you going to ask me, Tricia? About you and Ben?"
"Is it okay if Ben and I do our fable together?"
"Certainly."
"Because we were talking about our initials, and Ben was going to do BEAR, but Beanie already did. But we thought of a fable you already read to us, by Aesop—"
"Which one?" Mrs. Pidgeon asked.
"'The Tortoise and the Hare,'" Tricia said.
All of the children nodded. "I remember that one!" Keiko said. "I liked that one."
"But there's no B animal in it!" Chelsea pointed out. "Tortoise. Hare. T and H."
Ben explained. "We're going to make it 'The Tortoise and the Bunny.' T and B for Tricia and Ben."
"Bunny!" shrieked Chelsea. "Ben's going to be a bunny!"
"Bunny's a baby word!" Malcolm said, sputtering with laughter. "Babies say 'bunny'! Bunny is—"
Mrs. Pidgeon put her calm-down hand on his shoulder. "But a minute ago," she said, "we were talking about bibs. Bibs can be called baby things. But look at Gooney Bird."
Everyone looked. Gooney Bird was still wearing her bib with the embroidered duck on it. "I have another bib at home," Gooney Bird said, "and I'll wear it tomorrow. It features a bunny."
"Good," Mrs. Pidgeon said. "And tomorrow Tricia and Ben can do their fable, 'The Tortoise and the Bunny.'"
"I am never ever embarrassed," Ben said proudly.
Walking back to the classroom after lunch, Nicholas trudged slowly, dragging his feet. The other children hurried ahead, all but Gooney Bird. She walked beside Nicholas. Mrs. Pidgeon, walking slowly too, took his hand.
"Nicholas," Mrs. Pidgeon said softly, "do you want to tell Gooney Bird and me what is wrong?"
Nicholas shook his head. But now they could see that there were tears on his cheeks.
Mrs. Pidgeon called to the rest of the children. "Go on into the classroom," she said, "and start studying your spelling words! I'll be there in a minute."
She knelt beside Nicholas. "You know," Mrs. Pidgeon said, "every single person has something that they feel upset about. It's one of the reasons that we read fables. They teach us about things."
Nicholas sniffled. He looked at the floor.
"For example, I know there are some children in my second grade who think they don't like school, and it isn't important.
"But Tyrone's fable about the T. rex had a moral, remember?"
Nicholas didn't look up. But he was listening. He shook his head.
"Gooney Bird? Do it with me?" Mrs. Pidgeon asked. Then she and Gooney Bird chanted together,"Big mean nuthin' if you don't do school!"
They could see Nicholas smile just a tiny bit.
"And," Mrs. Pidgeon went on, "let's see. Beanie's fable about the bear taught us that being the smallest doesn't make you less of a hero. Remember how the little cub saved his brother?"
Nicholas nodded.
"And Felicia Ann's taught us how to be proud of your color, didn't it?"
Nicholas nodded again. "Even your legth," he said, imitating Felicia Ann.
Mrs. Pidgeon chuckled. "Even your legth," she agreed.
Gooney Bird said, "And Malcolm. He's upset about those triplets. Maybe we could figure out a fable that would help Malcolm with that. Do you have your fable done yet, Nicholas?"
"No."
"Neither do I," said Gooney Bird. "I'm going last. But we could do one together, Nicholas! Would you like that?"
But surprisingly, Nicholas began to cry loudly. "I can't!" he sobbed.
"Why not?" asked Gooney Bird.
"Why not, sweetie?" asked Mrs. Pidgeon, patting his back.
Choking back the sobs, Nicholas told them the reason. "I don't have an animal!" he wailed.
"My goodness," Mrs. Pidgeon said. "That shouldn't be a problem!"
"It has to be an N!" Nicholas wept. "I thought and thought every day, and at night! I tried and tried, but there isn't one! I'm the only one who doesn't have an animal!"