9. Emma’s Question

Chapter 9 Emma's Question The next day at circle time, Ms. Diz made an announcement. "Class," she said, "this morning I put a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board. The whole school is having a celebration for Mrs. Herman in a couple weeks. She's retiring at the end of the school year." Mrs. Herman is one of the kindergarten teachers. She is about one hundred and sixty years old.

"Do you realize that Mrs. Herman has been a teacher here for thirty-seven years?" asked Ms. Diz. She closed her eyes for a moment. "Wow. Imagine that! Thirty. Seven. Years." She looked a little woozy when she opened her eyes. "Anyway," she went on, "we're going to have a talent show as part of the celebration. That's what the sign-up sheet is for." Emma nudged me with her elbow. "Roscoe, you know what I was thinking?" she whispered. "Nope," I said. Half the time I don't even know what I'm thinking. "You and I could enter the talent show. We could do 'The Mice and the Elephants' dance."

I thought about being the only boy in Miss Trixie's class. "Please?" Emma begged. "Mrs. Herman was my kindergarten teacher and she was the best. I really want to be in her show!"

I thought about the tap-dancing guy on the DVD Ms. Diz had shown our class. And then I thought about being the loudest elephant in the history of elephants. "PLEASE?" Emma looked at me with a hopeful, we're-best-buddies face. How could I say no?

"Okay," I agreed. "Emma and Roscoe," Ms. Diz said. "Is there something you want to share with the class?" That is Teacher for "Your mouths are open when they are supposed to be closed." "Sorry, Ms. Diz," said Emma. "We were just deciding to enter the talent show. As tap dancers." Wyatt made a pig-snort laugh. "Roscoe's going to dance? Will he be wearing a tutu?" "That's just for ballet dancers," I said. "And tap dancers get to make lots of noise. It's way fun." "I think it's wonderful that you want to be in the show," said Ms. Diz. "You two will make a great addition." I watched Emma go over to the bulletin board and sign our names.

Then I rolled my eyes at Wyatt. Which is like sticking out your tongue with your eyeballs. I decided that having Wyatt make fun of me wasn't so bad. After all, I was used to it. Besides, nobody else had laughed at the idea of me being a tap dancer. Max was probably wrong about that whole teasing thing. Max is almost always wrong. Emma came back to the circle doing a heel-toe on the carpet. "We're all signed up," she said. "I'm so excited! This is going to be a blast!" She looked so happy and sure that I felt happy and sure too.