2. C-A-P-T-A-I-N

2/C-A-P-T-A-I-N That day at school, Room Nine was very excited. We kept laughing and jumping and giggling and shouting. Me and my bestest friends Grace and Lucille runned and skipped all over the room. 'Cause we had to warm up our muscles for Field Day, that's why! All of a sudden, my teacher hollered our names. "Lucille! Junie B.! Grace! Please take your seats right now!"

We stopped real fast. My teacher's name is Mrs. She has another name, too. But I just like Mrs. and that's all. "Yes, but we need to keep on skipping," I said. "'Cause Grace said we have to warm up our muscles for Field Day. If you don't warm up your muscles, your legs will get clams."

"Clamps," said Lucille. "Cramps," said Grace. Mrs. smiled a little bit. "You girls will have plenty of time to warm up outside," she said. "But right now, we have an important job to do. Right now, we're going to pick a captain for our Field Day team." Just then, everyone got excited all over again. A boy named Meanie Jim waved his hand in my teacher's face. "Me! Me! Pick me!" he hollered. "I will make a great captain!" "No, pick me, Teacher!" shouted another boy named Paulie Allen Puffer. "I will be better than him!" "No! Pick me! I'm the fastest runner in all of kindergarten!" hollered that Grace.

Mrs. sat down in her chair. She crossed her arms and waited for the yelling to stop. I hurried to her desk speedy quick. "Mrs.! Mrs.! Guess what? I did not shout just then!" I said. "Did you hear me? Huh? Did you hear me not shouting? I was the only one in the whole room who didn't shout, I believe." I pulled on her sleeve. "Maybe you should reward me for that behavior," I said. "Huh, Mrs.? What do you think? Maybe you should make me the captain of Field Day. 'Cause that would teach the other children a good lesson, probably." Mrs. stood up. She walked me back to my table. And she pointed her finger at me. "Sit," she said. "Stay," she said.

After that, she went back to her desk. And she held up a little basket. "Boys and girls, please listen carefully. In this basket, there are eighteen folded slips of paper. Seventeen of the papers are blank. But one of the papers has the word captain printed on it. Whoever picks that one will be the captain of our Field Day team." After that, Mrs. carried the basket around the room. She stopped at every table. And she let all the children pick a paper. "Keep your papers folded until everyone has chosen," said Mrs. "We'll all open our papers together." My stomach felt nervous and jumpy inside. 'Cause I didn't want anyone else to pick the captain paper, of course. When Mrs. got to my table, my heart was

pumping very much. She held up the basket for me to pick. I reached in real careful. Then I digged and digged all around in there. Mrs. tapped her foot. "Please, Junie B. Just pick one, okay?" she said. "Yeah, but I don't think my fingers have touched the right paper yet," I said. "I am waiting to get the right vives." "Vibes," said Mrs. "It's short for vibrations." "Whatever," I said. Then I digged and digged some more. "For the love of Pete!" said Mrs. "Just pick one." After that, I quick picked a teensy paper from the basket. Then I waited at my seat very patient until all the rest of the children picked, too.