5 The Famous Jameses

The Famous Jameses

On Monday morning, when Stink told Mrs. D. about the G.D.I. (Garbage Disposal Incident), she said, "Let's just tell the class Newton ran away. It'll be our little secret." She wasn't even mad. She told Stink she was going back to New Hampshire for Presidents' Day weekend, and she could get another newt. Class 2D wrote stories about the adventures they thought Newton was having in the big, wide world. Webster wrote about Newton joining a baseball team called the Newt York Yankees. Sophie of the Elves wrote about a magic kingdom where Princess Salamandra was under an evil spell and a newt in shining armor came to rescue her. And Stink wrote about Newton sailing down

the river on a raft to Legoland and riding the roller coaster. The stories made everybody feel much better. Especially Stink. Mrs. D. even told Stink he could keep Newton's skin. As in, for real. For good. Forever.

Mrs. Dempster talked about Presidents' Day for the rest of the week. Stink's class made cotton-ball portraits of George Washington. They made milk- carton-and-pretzel-stick log cabins in honor of Abraham Lincoln. Everybody said how tall Abe

was. How tall his hat was. Tall, tall, tall. They acted like Abraham Lincoln was a giant. "What's so great about living in a log cabin?" Stink asked Webster. "Lincoln carved his math problems on the walls, right in the logs." "He should have gotten in trouble for writing on the walls!" Stink said. All week, nobody said a word about Stink's favorite president, James Madison. Not one peep. James Madison had a birthday, too. March 16. Mrs. Dempster told the class, "Okay, 2D. Homework is on the board." "I know! I know!" said Calvin. "Presidents' Day means you see flags." "It means we don't have school on Monday," said Webster.

"It means you can buy stuff on sale, because presidents are on money," said Heather S. "Let's not give away all our ideas," said Mrs. D. "I want everybody to write one page about what Presidents' Day means to you." "Can we draw something, too?" asked Lucy. "Can we write a poem?" asked Sophie of the Elves. "Can we dress up?" asked Stink. "Yes, yes, and yes," his teacher said. "But I still want my one page." Stink took out his Big Head book of presidents. He flipped to the best president ever. President number four, James Madison.