12. The Stakeout

12 The Stakeout Before we could have a sleepover in the garden, Miss Nichol gave us permission forms to bring home and get signed by our parents. Basically, it said they won't sue the school if we get struck by lightning in the middle of the night or if we get attacked by wild animals.*

Sleeping outside is fun! We all brought flashlights and sleeping bags to school that night and spread them on the ground around the garden. Miss Nichol, Mrs. Stoker, Miss Banks, and Mr. Tony brought their sleeping bags too. The grown- ups agreed to take turns sleeping so that one of them would be awake and on guard at all times. "We're sure to catch that darn bunny, or whatever it is," said Miss Nichol. We climbed into our sleeping bags, but it was too early to go to sleep. I wasn't tired. "We should have a campfire and make s'mores," I suggested. "That would be cool." "We're here to save our veggies, Arlo," Andrea said. "Not to eat junk food." What does Andrea know? If we ate junk food all the time, we wouldn't have to bother growing veggies in the first place. Maybe if animals eat all our veggies, I won't have to eat them. I was going to say something mean to Andrea, but I didn't have the chance, because Mrs. Stoker held up her hand and made a peace sign, which means "shut up." We all pointed our flashlights at her.

"Hey, kids," she said, "do you know what tiny trees do in the army?" Oh no. Mrs. Stoker was going to do one of her comedy routines. "What do tiny trees do in the army?" we all asked. "They're in the infantry!" she said. "Get it? Infantry? Infant tree?"

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We all laughed. "But seriously," said Mrs. Stoker. "I was standing in the garden early yesterday morning wondering where the sun had gone. Then it dawned on me." Some of us laughed. "I'm making a belt out of herbs from my garden," said Mrs. Stoker. "But my friends say it's a waist of thyme." A few of us laughed. "I'd like to tell you about a girl who eats plants," said Mrs. Stoker. "But you've probably heard of herbivore." Emily laughed. "The other day, I cut down a tree just by looking at it," said Mrs. Stoker. "Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes." Nobody laughed. "I know why you're not laughing," said Mrs. Stoker. "You don't want to wake up the sleeping bags. Get it? Wake up the sleeping bags?" "I'm tired," said Alexia. "Isn't it bedtime yet?" "One more thing before we go to sleep," said Mrs. Stoker. "You should never tell secrets in a garden. Do you know why?"

"Why?" we all asked. "The potatoes have eyes," said Mrs. Stoker. "The corn has ears. And the beans talk. Get it? Beans talk? Beanstalk?" Thankfully, Mrs. Stoker had run out of gardening jokes. We settled in for the night. I don't know what happened after that because I fell asleep. When we woke up the next morning, the first thing we did was ask the grown-ups if they saw any bunnies or other animals in the garden during the night. "I didn't see a darn thing," said Miss Nichol. "I didn't see anything," said Mr. Tony. "Me neither," said Mrs. Stoker. "That makes four of us," said Miss Banks. "Maybe the bunny didn't come last night because it saw us sleeping here," suggested Andrea. Then we checked the veggies in the garden. And guess what? There was a bite taken out of a cucumber. Nobody gasped. It didn't surprise us anymore.