8 A BONE TO PICK

A BONE TO PICK Bean could hardly wait for the end of the day. Finally, Ms. Aruba-Tate said, "Put up your chairs, boys and girls," just like she always did. Bean and Ivy put up their chairs—wham, wham—and hurried out of the classroom. "Wait, you guys!" Leo ran down the breezeway and stood in front of them. They waited. "Did you really?" he said. "What?" said Ivy in a huffy voice. "Find dinosaur bones?" He looked at them with narrow eyes. Bean's face got hot again. Leo was their friend, and friends believed you. He shouldn't think they were lying. It made her mad. "Yes! We did!" she yelled. "And

we have proof! Anyone who doesn't believe us can come over and see! Four o'clock! Today! My house! Dinosaurs!" She glared at Leo. "Bring everyone you know! Bring your stupid soccer team! I don't care!" "Jeez," said Leo. "Lighten up." "Excuse me," said Ivy, still in a huffy voice. "We have work to do." She pulled Bean by the arm. A skinny first-grader plucked at her jacket when she reached the stairs. "I heard you found dinosaur bones," he said. "Yes, we did" said Bean in a loud voice., "We found dinosaur bones." He looked at her nervously. "Can I see them?" "Oh." Bean had been ready for a fight. She tried to make her face into a smile as she told the kid where she lived. "Come by later this afternoon" she said., "Okay," he smiled. "Can I bring my

mom?" "Bring anyone you want." As they walked home, Ivy said, "Nobody believed Mary Anning, either. They thought that the bones were just weird rocks. They told her to stop wasting her time. But in the end, she was right. Who cares what other people think?"

Bean stepped over a crack in the sidewalk. "I do. I want other people to know I'm right. Especially when I really am right." Ivy thought for a moment. "But you're still right, even if they don't think so." "I guess." Bean sighed. "I just feel better if other people think I'm right, too." "Hardly anybody ever thinks I'm right," said Ivy. Bean nodded. That was true. A lot of

people didn't understand Ivy's ideas. She had had plenty of practice at not being believed. That's probably why she didn't get as mad about it as Bean did. She just went ahead with her ideas anyway. You can do whatever you want if you don't care what people think, Bean realized. But you have to do it alone a lot of the time. They climbed the stairs to Bean's front porch. "We need a good snack," said Bean. "We have lots of digging to do." "A great big snack," agreed Ivy. "What do you have?" "Trail mix" said Bean. "The kind with, chocolate chips." "Cool. We can eat it while we dig." "We should be kind of quiet," Bean added. "I think my dad is still a little grumpy from yesterday." But he wasn't. He was standing in the front hall with a big smile on his face. "Hi,

girls!" he called out. "How was school? Learn anything good? What's two plus two? Eight?" Bean giggled. Sometimes her dad was a goofball. "Four," she said. "Wrong again!" He slapped his head. "You want a snack? I made banana bread." "You did? How come?" Bean said. "Because I make great banana bread. Duh," he said, bustling toward the kitchen. He was awfully cheerful. Bean put her hands on her hips. "What's going on around here, Dad? Why are you so happy?" Dad stopped bustling toward the kitchen. "I'm glad to see you," he said.