2 Rosie Twirls, Simon Digs

CHAPTER TWO ROSIE TWIRLS, SIMON DIGS 25 degreesfahrenheit WE GOT TO class early because we hustled on the walk to school. We took our regular seats at Table 5 and Rosie started twirling her hair right away. I knew that meant she was thinking hard about something. Simon and I both wondered why. I didn't ask her. I didn't want to interrupt. But Simon doesn't care about things like that. He just says whatever he wants —whenever he wants. That's the way he operates. "What are you thinking about?" he asked as he dug around in the bottom of his backpack. Rosie turned to him. She stopped twirling her hair. "It will be eight degrees on Monday," Rosie

whispered. Her face turned kind of stern and serious- looking. "I don't want to be cold walking to school. We have to figure out a way to stay warm." "We can't control the weather," Simon said, still digging. "What are you looking for?" I asked. "Money," he answered. "Sometimes coins fall to the bottom of my backpack." "Did you forget your lunch money?" Rosie asked. "No, I packed today," Simon said. "My dad's birthday is coming up and I have a cool idea for a gift. But it's expensive." "What's your idea?" I asked. "Tickets to a monster truck show," he answered as he pulled his hand out of the backpack. "Bad news— no coins. But I have good news for you, Rosie." "What's that?"

"I have some ideas for how to stay warm on the way to school." "Really?" Rosie asked. She sounded a little excited. She definitely didn't want to be cold on Monday morning. "Let's hear them."

We were glad class hadn't started. Mr. Willow was writing the day's schedule and other stuff on the whiteboard. That usually took a few minutes. When he was done, that's when class officially started and we had to get totally quiet. Simon had plenty of ideas. And once he got going, he really got going. "First, we could just move," Simon suggested. "You know, closer to the equator. Maybe to the rain forest. Or a desert or something. I mean, if we want to be warmer in the winter, we should just go to a place that doesn't have winter."

"Umm," Rosie said and paused. "I don't think our parents will move just because we're cold walking to

school." Simon nodded. He seemed to have already thought of this. "Okay, I have a couple of other ideas," Simon said. He started to talk faster. "I was thinking about the warmest place in our house. It's by the fireplace. And I thought we could use that." "Use your fireplace?" I asked as I looked toward the front of the classroom. Mr. Willow was halfway done with the schedule. "No, just the fire part," Simon explained. "We could each get a log and light one end on fire. As we walk to school, we poke the fire end at each other. Wave it around real close! Toasty!"