donât know.â
âI thought you had it.â
âI put the cage on your desk.â
âI put it on the floor over there.â
âThe cage is empty!â shouted Mrs. Patty. âThe ferret must have escaped!â
âOh no!â
âMr. Wiggles!â screamed Neil the nude kid.
He totally freaked and went running out of the class. Meanwhile, Mr. Klutz and Mrs. Patty were still talking over the loudspeaker.
âWe have to find the ferret!â shouted Mr. Klutz.
âIt mustbe around here somewhere!â
âHow far could a ferret get?â
âIt could be anywhere!â
âWeâll have to search the school!â
âLock the outside doors!â shouted Mr. Klutz. âDonât tell the students that the ferret is missing! They might freak out!â
But it was too late. By now everybody knew that President Wiggles was missing, and everybody was freaking out. Miss Daisy told us to stay in our seats, but there was no way I was going to stay in my seat with a ferret running around loose. Those things look like long rats! It could be in my desk for all I knew.
We all went running into the hallway, and guess who we saw there?
Iâm not going to tell you.
Okay, okay, Iâll tell you. It was Dr. Carbles, the president of the Board of Education!
âWhatâs going on here?â asked Dr. Carbles. Unlike Dr. Seuss, heâs a real doctor, but he isnât very cool.
We couldnât tell him what was going on, because the whole school was going crazy. Kids dressed up like presidents were spilling out of classrooms and running all over the hall, shouting and smashing into one another.
âHelp!â somebody screamed. âThereâs a wild ferret on the loose!â
âRun for your lives!â
âFind the ferret!â
Mr. Macky was shouting at us, trying to control the situation.
âEveryone back to your classes!â he yelled. âPlease remain calm!â
Calm? Was he nuts? There was a ferret running around the school!
Somebody knocked over Dr. Carbles. The teachers were yelling for us to go back to class. If President Wiggles was smart, he would have found a good hiding place where he wouldnât get trampled by some kid.
Meanwhile, me and Ryan and Michael were sneaking around like Secret Service agents on the hunt for President Wiggles.
It was cool. You should have been there.
11
President Wiggles, Reporting for Doody
Well, we searched all over the school, but we just couldnât find President Wiggles. When we finally returned to our class, everybody was looking around the room. President Wiggles could be anywhere . Poor Neil the nude kid was really upset. If his ferret was lost, his parents were goingto be mad.
Miss Daisy said President Wiggles was sure to turn up and we had to get back to work. It was time for us to give our oral reports. Little Miss Perfect Andrea got to go first. She was dressed up like John F. Kennedy.
ââAsk not what your country can do for you,ââ Andrea said. ââAsk what you can do for your country.ââ
I had to admit that Andreaâs oral reportwas pretty good. She told us that John F. Kennedy was a war hero and that he started the space program and the Peace Corps. He was cool.
âExemplary!â Miss Daisy said as Andrea walked back to her seat. (That means âexcellentâ in grown-up talk.)
âWait until you hear my oral report,â I whispered to Ryan. âIâm gonna blow Andreaâs doors off.â
Next it was crybaby Emilyâs turn. She was dressed up like Abraham Lincoln with a suit, tie, big black hat, and fake beard.
Emilyâs report was really sad. She told us that Abraham Lincoln was dirt poor asa kid, his three-year-old son died, his wife went crazy, and the country was at war with itself the whole time he was president. And then, to top it all off, a few days after the war ended, some guy shot