5. A Fresh Canvas

5 A Fresh Canvas Winding his way through the streets of Paris, Stanley finally found a grand stone building in a maze of cobblestoned streets. The sign above the doorway read L'école d'Art, the same words that were on the sketchbook.

Stanley pushed open the giant door. Once inside he realized what l'école d'art meant: It was an art school. He crept down a dimly lit hallway lined with empty classrooms until he came to one at the end, where he spotted the spidery teacher from the museum through the door's window. Inside, a handful of students were painting.

Stanley scanned the room.... There was Etoile, painting near the back! He'd found her! Now all he needed to do was find a way to return her sketchbook. Stanley quickly removed his scarf, hat, boots, and gloves. The less he wore, the more invisible he could make himself when he snuck inside. He even pulled off the puffy-sleeved shirt from the painting, so he was wearing only a white undershirt and his pants. He folded everything into a neat pile and hid it behind a trash bin in the corner of the hall. Then, holding nothing but Etoile's sketchbook, he slipped beneath the closed door. Stanley stayed low, skirting the edge of the room until he was directly behind Etoile. She was painting a young woman bending over a piece of lace she was mending. It reminded Stanley of one of the paintings he'd seen at the Louvre.

When the teacher's back was turned, Stanley popped up between Etoile and her painting. Her big blue eyes widened in surprise, but she stayed quiet. Then her eyes darted across the room—she was clearly worried that Stanley would get caught. As the teacher looked their way, Stanley quickly handed Etoile her sketchbook and folded his head and arms back behind her easel so his white T-shirt looked like a blank canvas itself. Etoile immediately started painting on him. Stanley tried not to giggle as she gently dabbed her brush against his chest.

Fifteen minutes later Stanley held his breath as the teacher came to look at Etoile's painting. "Très bien, Etoile," the teacher said in an unusually soft voice. Stanley remembered that meant "very good." Soon class was dismissed. Etoile said something to her teacher in French as the other students filed out—Stanley guessed that she was

saying she wanted to finish her painting. The teacher left, closing the door behind her. And then they were alone. Etoile said something excitedly in French. Stanley rose up and shook his head. "I don't understand a word you're saying," he told her. She grinned and poked his shoulder. "You were in the painting at the Louvre!" she said in English.