5. Elf Ladies

5 Elf Ladies My head clunked down on my desk real hard. Mr. Scary read the name on my paper. I raised up and looked at him. Then I clunked back down again. Mr. Scary said to please knock off the clunking. He took my hand and stood me up. "Boys and girls, Junie B. needs a little bit of help reading the name," he said. "We'll be right back." Then, quick as a wink, he hurried me into the hall. And he closed the door.

I crossed my mad arms again. "It's not fair, Mr. Scary. I hate that dumb name! I hate it. I hate it," I said. My teacher snapped his fingers.

"You know I don't allow that word in my classroom, Junie B.," he said. "We do not hate in Room One." I looked all around myself. "But I'm not hating in Room One," I said. "I'm hating in the hall." Mr. Scary looked at me. "We don't hate in the hall, either," he said. I raised my eyebrows real curious. "Really? No kidding," I said. "A lot of children will be surprised to hear that." Mr. Scary bent down next to me. "Look. I know you and May aren't the best of friends," he said. "But this is the time of peace and goodwill, remember? And being a Secret Santa to someone you don't like is the truest form of goodwill there is." I stared at him. How do teachers come up with this stuff?

"Really, Junie B.," he said. "If you do something nice for May, you'll feel so proud inside. It will feel like a gift that you've given yourself." I kept staring. Maybe they pick it up at teacher school. After that, he ruffled my hair. And he walked me back inside. Pretty soon, all of the children lined up at the door. And we followed Mr. Scary to the gift shop. The media center is down the hall and round the corner. There was a gift-shop lady in an elf hat. "Welcome, Room One!" she said. "Welcome to our Holiday Gift Shop!" She smiled at us with big white teeth. "I'm the president of the PTO," she said. "My name is Mrs. Hooks. But—just for today

—you can call me Elf Ellen." She looked all around. "Some of you might know my son, Jeff. Jeff is a big third grader." Roger raised his hand in the air. "I know Jeff Hooks," he said. "Jeff Hooks stole my milk money last year." Elf Ellen stood there very frozen. Then she quick pointed across the room. "Over there is Elf Wendy. Elf Wendy and I are here to help you with your gift selections. If you have any questions, please let us know." Roger waved his hand again. "Did Jeff Hooks ever get punished for what he did? I reported him to the office. But I never got my money back." Elf Ellen squinted her eyes at him. "I meant questions about the gift shop," she said. After that, she passed out lists with all the

gift items on them. And she told us about the prices. "Children, as you can see, each of our five gift tables has a number on it," she said. "The number on the table matches the price of all the gifts on that particular table." She pointed. "For example, all of the gifts on Table One sell for one dollar. And all of the gifts on Table Two sell for two dollars. And the gifts on Table Three sell for three dollars… and so on. Does everyone understand?" Sheldon raised his hand. "What about the gifts on Table Four?" he said. "How much do they go for?" Elf Ellen sucked in her cheeks. "Table Four has a four on it, doesn't it? Four means four. They sell for four dollars." Sheldon nodded very thoughtful.