4. Clucks

4 clerks We drew and drew in our journals. Mr. Scary waited until all of us were done. Then he walked around the room. And he looked at everyone's pictures. He gave out shiny gold stars. First, he gave stars to Camille and Chenille. "What great-looking dogs you drew, girls," he said. "Look at those floppy ears." Lucille raised her hand.

"Look at mine, Teacher!" she said. "I drew a cat with pointy ears. See? My rich nanna has an expensive cat just like this. Its fur is a foot thick, almost." Mr. Scary looked strange at her. "Really, Lucille? A whole foot of fur?" he said. "My, my." He gave her a gold star and moved on. He went to a boy named Roger. Roger was in my same class last year. "Excellent job, Roger," Mr. Scary said. "You drew a man wearing a coat. The words man and coat were both on the board, weren't they?" I did a little frown. 'Cause none of these words were actually sounding familiar. After that, Mr. Scary walked to Sheldon and Shirley.

"Cool bat and ball, Sheldon," he said. "And, Shirley! You drew a bat and ball, too, didn't you?" I put my head on my desk. Something was very wrong here. Finally, Mr. Scary got to May. "Oh, May," he said. "What a special clock you drew. The big hand has five fingers. That's very unusual." "Yes," said May. "I created it myself. Plus, clock was the hardest word up there, wasn't it, Mr. Scary? I am the only one who even knew the word clock, I bet." Just then, my stomach felt sickish inside. I quick closed my journal and stuffed it in my desk. Mr. Scary saw me. "Junie B.?" he said. "Don't you want to show me your drawing? Don't you want a

gold star for today?" I shook my head real fast. "Nope. No, thank you. No, I don't," I said. "Not today. I really, really don't care for a gold star today. But thank you for asking." Mr. Scary kept on standing there. "The end," I said. He did not budge. "Please move along," I said. Finally, Mr. Scary bent down next to me. He lowered his voice so no one could hear. "I'm sorry, Junie B. But I'd really like to see what you drew," he said. "I need to make sure that you understood the assignment." Then–before I knew it–he took my journal out of my desk. And he gave it to me to hold.

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After that, he walked me into the hall. And he let me show him my drawing in private. And guess what? He liked it, I think! "Oh, wow. Look at that, Junie B.," he said. "You drew a wonderful picture of a a He kept on looking. "A a "A screaming chicken," I said finally. Mr. Scary did a strange face. "Yes. Right," he said. "It's a "Screaming chicken," I said again. I pointed at the chicken's mouth. "See how it's screaming, 'CLUCK! CLUCK! CLUCK!'? I used capital letters for the clucks. Capitals are for screaming. Correct?" "Well, yes. I suppose so," said Mr. Scary.