6. The Truth about Mrs. Barr

6 The Truth about Mrs. Barr After school, the gang and I decided to hang around the playground for a while before going home. Andrea and Emily came over to bother us, of course. They couldn't stop talking about Mrs. Barr. "Mrs. Barr is so cool," said Andrea. "She's traveled all over the world." "When I grow up, I want to be a

globetrotter like her," said Emily. "No way," I told her. "You don't even play basketball." "Very funny, Arlo," said Andrea.* "It must be nice to have a job where you get to travel all the time," said Ryan. "That's not a job," I said. "Mrs. Barr isn't getting paid. If you don't get paid, it's not a job." "Then how does she earn a living?" asked Michael. "Beats me," said Neil. "I'm sad that tomorrow is Mrs. Barr's last day at our school," said Andrea. "Not me," I said. "What do you have against Mrs. Barr?" asked Neil. "Yeah," said Alexia. "She's a nice lady." I had given this a lot of thought. Ever since Mrs. Barr walked into our classroom, there was something about her

that bothered me. "That lady is no geography teacher," I announced. "She didn't even know what the word 'geography' meant until Andrea told her." "She never said she was a geography teacher, Arlo," said Andrea. "She's just somebody who Mr. Cooper met on his trip to Spain."

"That's right," I agreed. "She's just a stranger. I'll tell you what I think. Mrs. Barr is a phony. She's probably a criminal." "WHAT?!" everybody said. "Are you crazy, A.J.?" asked Ryan. "Look," I explained. "Do you know why Mrs. Barr travels all over the world? It's because she's on the run from the cops! She's probably a jewel thief." "That's just nuts, A.J.," said Michael. "Oh, yeah?" I said. "What about all that jewelry she wears? I bet it's stolen. That's why she doesn't have a job. She probably stashes her stolen jewels in that suitcase she rolls around all the time." "Arlo, are you feeling okay?" asked Andrea. "Maybe you need to talk to Dr. Brad." Dr. Brad is our school counselor. Kids can talk to him if they have problems. But I didn't have any problems.

"Think about it," I said. "Mrs. Barr loves wearing masks. You know who else wears masks?" "Who?" everybody asked. "Robbers!" I said. "People who steal stuff." "That's ridiculous, Arlo!" said Andrea. "Mrs. Barr is a world traveler. She's trying to help us learn geography. She's not even getting paid. She's teaching us out of the goodness of her heart. You should be thanking her instead of calling her a criminal." "Yeah, well, I don't trust her." "Dude, every time a new grown-up comes to our school, you say you don't trust them," said Ryan. "You say they're an imposter." "Sometimes people are who they say they are, A.J.," said Alexia. "Yeah," said Neil. "Sometimes people do nice things just because they're nice

people." "Hey, you don't have to believe me," I told them. "Good, because I don't," said Ryan. Even my best friends were ganging up on me. I went home by myself.