6 Show-and-Tell

CHAPTER 6 SHOW-AND-TELL "Good morning, Ms. Treacle," says Mr. Slackoff. "I've caught some new students for you." "Thank you, Mr. Slackoff," says Ms. Treacle. "And welcome to you all. You're just in time for show-and- tell. Why don't you start by telling us a little about yourselves?" "Well," says Terry. "My name is—" "I'll handle this," I say, interrupting him. "I'm the narrator! My name is Andy, this is Terry, and this is Jill. We live in a 169-story treehouse. Well, Jill doesn't

live in the treehouse exactly. She lives in a cottage full of animals on the other side of the forest, but she hangs out with us a lot. We have a tank full of man-eating sharks and a bowling alley and an ice-cream parlor with 78 different flavors run by a robot called Edward Scooperhands—" "What an interesting story!" says Ms. Treacle, smiling. "You obviously have a vivid imagination, Andy!"

"Well, maybe," I say. "But I'm not making this up. It's the truth. We really do live in a treehouse. You can read all about it in our books." "Oh, we don't have books like that in our school," says Ms. Treacle. "Our principal, Mr. Gradgrind, insists that we have only nonfiction in our library." "But our books are nonfiction," I say. "Excuse me, Ms. Treacle," says Terry. "Incoming flying rabbit!" "A flying what?" says Ms. Treacle. "RABBIT!" says Terry. "Look out the window! There's a flying rabbit, and it's heading straight for us!"

I look up. Terry's right—there really is a rabbit flying toward us, and it's coming fast! Jill jumps up and opens the window just in time.

The rabbit flies through it and lands safely in her arms.

The class crowds around Jill, who turns to Ms. Treacle and says, "Can this rabbit be my show-and- tell?" "I think it already is," says Ms. Treacle, chuckling. "I wonder where it came from." "Just a moment," says Jill. "I'll ask it." She holds the rabbit up to her face, twitches her nose, and makes a series of small clicking noises. The rabbit does the same and soon the two of them are deep in conversation.