6 Crazy-Hat Day

Chapter 6 Crazy-Hat Day Wednesday was Crazy-Hat Day. Usually we're not allowed to wear hats in school. We were at recess one day and I asked everybody why. "Hats might spread germs," Andrea said. "Maybe the teachers are afraid we would hide stuff in our hats," said Ryan. "Like what?" asked Michael. "Like a mouse," said Neil. "Who's gonna hide a mouse in their hat?" I asked. "A few years ago," Neil said, "I heard about some kid who hid his mouse in his hat and brought it to school." "So just because some weird kid hid his mouse in his hat, that means nobody can

ever wear hats in school?" I asked. "That doesn't make sense. What if that kid hid his mouse in his pants? Would they say we can't wear pants to school? Would we have to come to school in our underwear?" "Nobody hides mice in their pants, Arlo!" said Andrea. "Well, nobody hides them in their hat either," I told her. Anyway, for Crazy-Hat Day I wore a hat with a little propeller on the top. Michael wore his football helmet. Ryan wore a pirate hat. Neil the nude kid wore an army helmet with leaves attached to it. Andrea wore a hat with pieces of fruit piled on top of it. Emily wore a stuffed animal on her head. Everybody had on crazy hats.

The only bad thing was that it was raining outside. That meant we had to have indoor recess, in our classroom. Bummer in the summer! Indoor recess is no fun at all because we don't get to run around. Mr. Granite told us that Mr. Klutz was going to come and keep an eye on us while he went to the teachers' lounge to eat lunch. He said we should be on our best behavior while he was gone. So as soon as he left the room, Ryan and I got up and shook our butts at the class. Most of the kids laughed.

My friend Billy who lives around the corner told me that the teachers' lounge is a secret, magical world where the teachers play pin the tail on the donkey and swim in hot tubs and watch big-screen TVs. But when I went in there once, the teachers were just sitting around eating lunch. I think maybe they heard I was coming so they quick got rid of the hot tub and the TV so I wouldn't know they were having so much fun. While we were waiting for Mr. Klutz to show up, guess who came into our

classroom? It was Mrs. Lizzy! She was holding an accordion and wearing one of those green Robin Hood hats with a feather sticking out of the top. "Hi boys and girls!" she said. "Hi Mrs. Lizzy!" "Did you wear that for Crazy-Hat Day?" asked Emily.

"No," she said. "I always wear this hat on Wednesdays." "What are you going to teach us today for recess enrichment?" asked Michael. "Today I'm going to teach you how to yodel," Mrs. Lizzy said. "Yodel?" I asked. "What's that?" "Yodeling is a kind of singing," said Little Miss I-Know-Everything. Andrea keeps a dictionary on her desk so she can look up words and show everybody how smart she is. "That's right, Andrea," said Mrs. Lizzy. "Yodeling was developed in Switzerland as a way for people to communicate on mountain peaks. It sounds like this…. Yo-delay-hee-hoo!" I never heard anybody sing like that before. It was the weirdest kind of singing in the history of the world.