4 Ch4-Are We There Yet？

Chapter 4 Are We There Yet? We hadn't even met him yet, but sud- denly everybody on the bus was buzzing about the nude kid. "Some people don't believe in wearing clothes," said Andrea, who thinks she knows everything. "They're called nudists." "I call 'em freaks," said Ryan.

"My parents say we should respect and celebrate people's differences," Emily said. "Your parents are weird," I told her, "What's the big deal?" Andrea asked. "After all, we were born without clothing." "You were born without a brain," I couldn't resist adding. Anytime anyone says anything about being born, always say they were born without a brain. That's the first rule of being a kid. "I'm nude under my clothes," Ryan told us. "Thanks for sharing that with us," I told him. "Now I'm totally grossed out." Andrea said that nudists save a lot of

money because they don't have to buy clothes. But Michael said that nudists have to spend a lot of money because they always have to buy sunscreen. But Emily said that nudists save a lot of money because they don't have to do laundry. But Ryan said that nudists have to spend a lot of money to heat their

houses because they're so cold. "The nude kid probably doesn't even have a closet at home," I said, "because he doesn't have any clothes to put in it." "Do you think nude kids are allowed to wear hats?" asked Michael. "Zingy zip!" yelled Mrs. Kormel. Mrs. Kormel had pulled out a big map and she had it opened up on top of the steering wheel. She told us we had to be quiet while she figured out the direc- tions. I bet it's hard to drive and look at a map at the same time. To make things even worse, it started raining. Mrs. Kormel put the windshield wipers on. All the girls started to sing,

"The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish, swish swish swish, swish swish swish!" "Zingy zip!" Mrs. Kormel yelled again. "I can't concentrate." We drove for a long time in the rain. It was hard to go so long without talking. "Are we there yet?" somebody asked. "No," said Mrs. Kormel.

"Are we lost?" Emily asked. "Of course not," said Mrs. Kormel. "I just don't know where we are." "Oh no, we're going to miss Show and Share!" Andrea said to Emily, like she was all worried. "And I spent all weekend making my spelling flash cards." Ha-ha-ha! I spent all weekend playing football. Nah-nah-nah boo-boo on her! We were going to be late for school. It was great! I hoped Mrs. Kormel wouldn't find the right way to the nude kid's house for a while. Because right after Show and Share, we have math. And I hate math.