10. A Brilliant Idea!

10 A Brilliant Idea! We left the TV studio. Everybody was sad and angry about Uncle Fred getting fired. "This is all your fault!" I told Andrea. "You're the one who told him he needed to act like a grown-up!" "No, it's all your fault, Arlo!" Andrea replied. "You're the one who taught him

how to act like a grown-up!" "Oooooooooh," said Ryan. "A.J. and Andrea are having a lover's spat. They must be in love!" "When are you gonna get married?" asked Michael. It was probably all our fault that Uncle Fred got fired. He was a famous celebrity, and we ruined his life. I felt terrible about it. I wanted to run away to Antarctica and go live with the penguins. "Bingle boo!" Mrs. Kormel said as we got back on the bus. "Did you have fun at Funderama?" "Don't ask," mumbled Andrea. "It was a disaster," said Mrs. Stoker. We took our seats on the bus. Nobody was talking to anybody else. We just sat there. That's when the weirdest thing in the history of the world happened. Mrs. Kormel was about to pull out of the parking lot when we saw Uncle Fred walk

out the back door of the studio. He was hanging his head and shuffling his feet as he walked slowly to his car. "He looks so sad," said Emily. "I feel sorry for him." Suddenly Mrs. Stoker got up from her seat. "STOP THE BUS!" she shouted. Mrs. Kormel slammed on the brakes. The bus screeched to a halt. Mrs. Stoker ran off the bus and went over to Uncle Fred. We opened the bus windows, so we could hear what they were saying to each other. "Uncle Fred!" shouted Mrs. Stoker. "We all feel terrible about what happened." "My career is over," Uncle Fred replied sadly. "I'm finished." "I just had a crazy idea," said Mrs. Stoker. "The music teacher at our school, Mr. Loring, just retired." "So?" asked Uncle Fred. "Would you have any interest in

becoming... a music teacher?" asked Mrs. Stoker. "What?!" asked Uncle Fred. "Me? A music teacher? Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious," said Mrs.

Stoker. "You love music. You're great with kids. And you're extremely silly. You're just the kind of person we need to be the new music teacher at Ella Mentry School!" Mrs. Stoker is a genius. She should get the Nobel Prize for that idea. That's a prize they give out to people who don't have bells. "Well, uh, I... suppose... maybe, uh," said Uncle Fred, thinking it over. "Sure! I'd love to be your music teacher!" "YAY!" we all shouted out the bus windows. That's also "YAY" backward.*