3. The Mystery of Mr. E

3 The Mystery of Mr. E We were in Mr. Cooper's class that afternoon, working on a boring writing exercise. "Pencils down," said Mr. Cooper. "It's time for fizz ed." Yay! Fizz ed is my favorite subject. We walked a million hundred miles to the gym.

"Do you think we'll have relay races today?" Neil asked as we walked down the hall. "Maybe we're going to climb the ropes," said Ryan. Our fizz ed teacher is Miss Small. One time, she fell out of a tree and broke her leg.* When we got to the gym, we saw the weirdest thing in the history of the world. There was a giant map that covered the whole floor! And the gym is big. "What's up with the map?" I asked Miss Small. "We have an exciting activity today," she replied. And you'll never believe who walked into the door at that moment. Nobody! It would hurt if you walked into a door. Didn't we go over that in chapter two?

But you'll never believe who walked into the doorway. It was Mrs. Barr! She had her globe and suitcase with her. "Do you mind if I open a window?" she asked. "Go right ahead," said Miss Small. "What's our activity?" asked Alexia. "We're going on a globetrotting adventure," said Mrs. Barr. "We're gonna play basketball?" I

asked. "Cool!" "Not that kind of globetrotting, dumbhead!" Andrea told me. I was going to say something mean to Andrea, but I didn't have the chance because Mrs. Barr and Miss Small led us over to a part of the giant map. We were standing on the United States. Mrs. Barr gathered everybody around her like a football team in a huddle. She lowered her voice as if she had a big secret. "There's something fishy going on," she whispered. Huh? Why is everybody always talking about fish? "An international jewel thief named Mr. E is on the run," Mrs. Barr whispered. "We've got to catch him." "How are we going to do that?" asked Emily. "He left a series of clues that will tell

us where he is," whispered Mrs. Barr. "Look! There's the first clue!" She went over and picked up a piece of yellow paper that was taped to the floor. She unfolded it and showed it to us... I AM HIDING OUT NEAR A CLOCK CALLED BIG BEN. —Mr. E. "Big Ben is in London!" shouted Alexia. "That's right!" said Mrs. Barr. "Let's go to England!" "We'll have to swim across the Atlantic Ocean," said Miss Small. "Everybody get down and swim!" We all got down on the floor and pretended to swim across the ocean. It's hard to swim without water. Mrs. Barr told us we swam over three thousand

miles. "Okay, we're in London, England," said Mrs. Barr. "And look! There's Big Ben." "And there's another clue!" shouted Ryan. Mrs. Barr picked up another piece of yellow paper. This is what it said... I AM HIDING OUT IN THE SMALLEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. —Mr. E "Rhode Island!" I shouted. "Mr. E is in Rhode Island!"