2. Letting Go

2 Letting Go It is not easy to hold your nose and eat a sandwich. You cannot swallow good like that. Also, you can't actually breathe. The reason I know this is because Room One kept on holding our noses while we ate lunch. My ears felt blocked when I chewed. I tapped on my friend Herbert. "I am not enjoying my cheese sandwich

today," I said. "Me too," said Herb. "I am not enjoying my sandwich, too. Plus I don't even know what I'm eating. 'Cause I can't taste what's under my lettuce." I thought for a minute. Then I tapped on him again. "Yeah, only what if you're eating something you hate?" I said. Herb thought, too. Then he quick put down his sandwich. And he lifted up the bread so both of us could see. We leaned our heads in real close. Lennie and José leaned their heads in, too. "Hmm," said José. "This is only a guess… but I'm thinking tuna salad." Lennie shook his head. "I'm thinking ham spread."

Herb made a face. "I'm thinking I'm done," he said. After that, he got out his apple. And he tried to take a bite. Only he couldn't actually get it in his mouth. On account of he was still holding his nostrils. Finally, Herbert got frustration in him. "I give up," he grouched.

Then he let go of his nose. And he breathed in a big sniff of air. "Mmm… ahhh… air," he said. It looked good to do that. I let go of my nostrils and breathed, too. "Mmm… ahhh… air," I said. Next to me, May's whole mouth came open. She did the cuckoo sign at us. "You two are crazy to do that," she said. "Dirty, nasty germs are getting sucked right up your nose this very minute, I bet." I looked surprised at that news. "Really, May?" I said. "Thank you for telling me that." Then I leaned over next to her. And I breathed out my nose air on her shoulder. "There. All gone," I said. May did a gasp.

"EW! EW! EW!" she hollered real loud. Then she jumped right up. And she tattletaled to Mr. Scary at the front of the table. "Mr. Scary! Mr. Scary! Junie Jones breathed nose air on my shoulder! And now I've got germs on me!" she yelled. Mr. Scary kept on eating his lunch. He was pretending May was not there, I believe. May kept on tapping on his arm. And she wiped her shoulder. "Nose air! Nose air! Nose air!" she hollered in his ear. Finally, Mr. Scary stood up real calm. And he walked May back to her seat. "Boys and girls, I know that many of you are still worried about what happened to Roger this morning," he said. "And I promise

that we'll talk more about this after recess, okay? But right now, I want all of you to release your nostrils. And eat your lunch." He stood there and waited. One by one, all of us let go of our nostrils. Only not Sheldon. Instead, Sheldon ducked his head under the lunch table. And he said he was looking for his pickle. I peeked at him under there. He was hiding under his napkin holding his nose. When the bell finally rang for recess, Room One was the first class out the door. "FRESH AIR! FRESH AIR! FRESH AIR!" we shouted very joyful. Then all of us breathed big snorts of breath. Because Roger couldn't have shot his germs all the way outside, probably.