"Like Where the Wild Things Are," Ben suggested.
"Or Little Red Riding Hood," Beanie said. "When the wolf appears, and you don't expect it!"
"Oh, I'm so scared of the wolf!" Keiko whispered loudly. "Every time the wolf appears, I—"
"Shhhh," the children said.
Gooney Bird continued.
Gooney Bird walked down Park Street, and turned the corner onto Walnut Street, and when she was halfway down Walnut Street, halfway to school, suddenly...
She paused. "I've explained before," she said, "about the word suddenly. It makes things exciting. Sometimes, class, if you're creating a story and you get stuck, just say the word suddenly and you won't have any trouble continuing at all."
"What a good idea!" Mrs. Pidgeon said. "We should start a list called 'Writing Tips.' What happened suddenly on Walnut Street, Gooney Bird?"
Gooney Bird continued.
Suddenly she saw an enormous red and white bus coming, very slowly. Each window had a head in it. The bus was quite full of people.
Gooney Bird was amazed. Even though she had lived in Watertower only a short time, about a week, she knew that the town of Watertower did not have enormous red and white buses.
Watertower had two medium-sized yellow school buses, Gooney Bird knew. And she knew, also, that one of the Watertower churches had a small white bus, really a long van, that had a rainbow painted on it, and said JESUS IS LORD on each side.
But an enormous red and white bus was completely new to Watertower.
As Gooney Bird watched, it moved very, very slowly down Walnut Street. She could see that the driver, though he was steering carefully, was also trying to look at a map in his hands.
The bus driver saw Gooney Bird, and he beeped his horn a very small beep. He pulled the bus to a stop with a breathy sound of brakes. Then he pushed the handle that opened the folding door.
"Excuse me?" the bus driver said. "You look as if you're on your way to school."
"Yes, I am," Gooney Bird replied, "and I certainly don't want to be late. I am never, ever late."
The bus driver looked as if he might begin to cry. "I feel exactly the same way," he said. "I am never, ever late. But this morning I have a terrible problem." He held up his unfolded map.
"Do you need help folding your map?" Gooney Bird asked. "It is hard to fold a map. But I find that if you follow the creases very carefully—"
"No," the bus driver said. "My problem is that I'm lost."
"Oh, dear," Gooney Bird said.
"And," the driver continued, "we are going to be late for a concert."
"A concert?"
"Yes. I have an entire symphony orchestra on this bus."
Gooney Bird paused. "Questions about orchestras?" She asked. "Class?"
Barry Tuckerman was waving his hand wildly. "We know all the parts of an orchestra! We listened to A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra!"
"Winds!" Ben called.
"Strings!" Tricia called. She pretended to play an imaginary violin.
"Brass!" Chelsea called. She tried to make a trombone noise, not very successfully.
"Percussion!" said Malcolm loudly, and he began to tap his two pencils in rhythm on his desktop.
"And also," Barry called out, his hand still waving, "we listened to Peter and the Wolf!"
"Oh," Keiko said in a small voice, "I hate when the wolf comes. Every time the wolf appears, I—"
"Shhhh," the children said.
Gooney Bird continued.
So Gooney Bird climbed up the steps and got on the bus.
Every seat was filled. There were men and women in the bus, all of them dressed in black. All the men were wearing black turtleneck shirts. The women were all wearing long black skirts.
They definitely looked like an orchestra. But they looked very distressed.
"Where are you supposed to go?" Gooney Bird asked the bus driver.
"To the Town Hall Auditorium," he said. "We are supposed to play a concert there this morning." He looked at his watch. "It begins in twenty minutes," he said in a worried voice.
"I will get you there," Gooney Bird said.
The bus driver called to the orchestra players. "This wonderful girl is going to direct us!" he said.
"Yay!" the orchestra players all called.
Luckily, even though she had lived in Watertower for only a week, Gooney Bird knew exactly where the Town Hall Auditorium was, because her father had pointed it out when they drove around the town.
"There is the hospital," her father had said. "Go there if you happen to fall from a ladder and break your arm.
"There is the police station," he had said. "Go there if you happen to see a bank robber on the loose.
"And there is the Town Hall Auditorium," her father had said. "Go there if you want to see a ballet or a concert."
"Start the bus," Gooney Bird told the driver, "and turn right at the very next corner." It was a good thing that she was wearing her long black gloves. When she pointed, everyone could see her long black pointing finger.
There was no place for Gooney Bird to sit down. And we all know that it is dangerous to stand while a bus is going. But she had no choice. She stood beside the driver and held on to the side of his seat. He promised to drive very, very carefully.
"Next, turn left," Gooney Bird said, and pointed.
"And there we are!" she told him. "See that large brick building? That is the Town Hall Auditorium!"
"Yay!" the orchestra players called again. The women began to comb their hair.
"Thank you for directing us!" they all said to Gooney Bird as they got out of the bus. The driver had opened the luggage compartment and was lifting out cellos.
"You will be late to school," one man said as he picked up a large black case. "Trombone," he explained.
"Yes, I will," Gooney Bird said. "I will be tardy."
"Is there some way that we can thank you for leading our orchestra?" he asked.
Gooney Bird thought for a moment. Finally she thought of a way, and she whispered it to the trombone player.
He nodded. "Yes," he said. "We will do that."
One by one the musicians thanked Gooney Bird. She said goodbye and hurried down the street to Watertower Elementary School.