7 Ch7-The Truth About Mr. Docker

Chapter 7 The Truth About Mr. Docker "Mr. Docker, if I weigh sixty pounds," Michael asked when we got to the science room, "how much would I weigh on the moon?" "About ten pounds," said Mr. Docker, who knows everything. "My mother should go to the moon," I

said. "She's always trying to lose weight." "Mr. Docker, when I smell something really bad," asked Ryan, "is that yucky thing inside my nose?" "Well, yes, tiny particles of it," said Mr. Docker. "The air carries dust, chemicals, and even animals! Some of that clings to the hairs of your nose." "Gross!" Just having hair in your nose is dis- gusting! Not to mention all that other stuff. "No more questions today," Mr. Docker said "I want to show you something." He had a big pot on his desk, and smoke was coming out of it.

"What's that?" Andrea asked. "Liquid nitrogen," said Mr. Docker. "It's a gas that has been turned into a very cold liquid. Now don't try this at home, kids." He took a long rose and dipped it in the pot. Then he took it out and hit the rose against the chalkboard. The rose petals cracked off like they were potato chips! "Cool!" we all said "It's so cool, it's three hundred fifty degrees below zero," Mr. Docker said. Then he blew up a balloon and dipped it in the liquid nitrogen. When he took it out, it was tiny. "Cold air makes things smaller," said

Mr. Docker. "Now watch this." He took a piece of wood out of his desk drawer. There was a nail sticking out of it. Then he took a banana and held it in the liquid nitrogen for about a minute. When he took it out, he started whacking the nail into the piece of wood with the banana! Cool! I never saw anybody hammer in a nail with a banana before.

After science we went to the vomito- rium for lunch. Usually I shoot straw wrappers at Andrea and her annoying friends at the next table. But I had to be nice to her because I didn't want her telling everybody what A.J. stands for. Andrea and Emily came over to our table. "Is anyone sitting here?" Andrea asked. Usually I would say something obnoxious like "The Invisible Man is sit- ting here, so get lost." But I didn't. "You can sit there," I said. Michael and Ryan giggled and made kissy faces. Ryan gave me his cupcake and I gave him my asparagus. Ryan will eat anything.

"I wonder what Mr. Docker is eating," Michael said. "Probably spiders." "Yeah," Ryan said, "I bet he's sprinkling them on his cereal." "That's crazy," I said. "Nobody eats cereal for lunch." "Something tells me that if you sprinkle bugs on your food," said Andrea, "you don't care which meal it is." "Mr. Docker sure is weird." Emily said "Maybe he's not a science teacher at all," I said. "Did you ever think of that?" "What do you mean?" asked Emily. "Maybe he's just pretending to be a science teacher," I said. "Yeah," said Ryan. "Maybe he's a mad