“Everything,” she said.
“Why did you wear jaguar clothes since they’re so endangered?” asked Casey.
“I’m very shocked about that, by the way,” said Zachary.
“They’re not real jaguar clothes,” said Rosemary T.
“But still,” said Jack.
“I like what Rosemary T.’s wearing,” I said before I really thought about what I was doing.
“You do?” Rosemary T. looked at me like she could not believe her ears.
I sort of wished I hadn’t opened up my big mouth. I really was not a big Rosemary T. fan, especially since she had most likely hidden the books I needed. Now that I’d started, though, I might as well finish.
“Yes, I do. It shows that you can wear animal stuff without hurting any animals. I myself have a pair of fake leopard-skin flats.”
“Brilliant observation, Cinderella,” said Mr. Harrison. “And brilliant choice in clothing, Rosemary T.”
Rosemary T. and I smiled a little bit at each other. So far, this was the most shocking and amazing thing of the whole day. Maybe of the whole school year even.
“Okay,” said Mr. Harrison. “Let’s continue on. Since we lost yesterday to snow, we have a lot to fit in.”
Christopher did a PowerPoint on the Indian rock python, and Trevor shared a poster on the Aruba Island rattlesnake. We were all very shocked and amazed when Casey told about snow leopards, because we were all just sure she would do an endangered horse like Olivia and Kristy. Rosemary W. did another jaguar report, and Abby and Hannah did a huge poster on the very darling red panda.
Finally it was time for us, the Group in Cahoots. The first thing we had to do was push the tables in the front back a ways to make more room.
Rosemary W. raised her hand. “Cinderella doesn’t have her shoe on.”
“Oops.” I raced back to my seat and slipped on my new blue ballet flats. Then I faced our audience. “We are going to do a play for you about our endangered animals. First, though, we would like some volunteers from the audience.”
Trevor raised his hand. “Do we get to be dinosaurs?”
“No,” said Zachary, “you get to be trees.”
“We need to make a jungle of trees for our animals to live in,” said Erin.
“We would love it if any of the trees from dance class want to come up,” I said.
Abby and Hannah came up front and stretched out their arms like branches.
“That’s perfect,” I said.
Charlie raised his hand. “I’ll be one.”
“Me too,” said Olivia and Kristy at the same time.
“That’s good,” said Logan. “Now let’s begin ‘The Story of Limited Resources.’”
The class got quiet.
“Once upon a time there was a tropical rain forest all full of animals,” I said.
Jack raised his hand. “Is this in the dinosaur age?”
“No, it’s in today’s time,” I said. “And please hold all your questions and comments until the end.”
Erin reached into the big garbage bag we brought and pulled out her stuffed toucan. “There was a toucan that lived up high in the canopy. She had a very big beak that she used to eat fruit, insects, small lizards, and eggs.”
Erin flew her toucan over to Abby and sat it on her head. Everyone laughed.
“And there was a gorilla that lived on the forest floor.” Logan pulled his stuffed gorilla out of the bag and had him walk around the trees. “He weighed between three hundred and fifty and six hundred pounds, and ate about seventy pounds of food a day.” He leaned the gorilla against Charlie’s legs.
“And there was an ocelot.” I pulled out my stuffed ocelot and jumped it from one person’s arm-branch to another. “She spent most of her time in the understory of the forest and weighed about twenty-five pounds. She was a vexylent hunter and especially loved to eat rodents.” My ocelot ended up on Olivia’s shoulder and I cuddled it up against her neck.
“Then one day a very lost Pacific pocket mouse came to the tropical rain forest. He really belonged in California, so maybe he was on vacation or something. I don’t know.” Zachary pulled Tiptoe out of the bag and had him scurry all over the place. “He liked to hang out mainly in burrows in the forest floor, but he would scavenge all over the forest for things to eat. One day while he was looking for some lunch, by accident he met an ocelot.”
Zachary ran Tiptoe into my ocelot on Olivia’s shoulder, and I made a huge growl.
“Oh no,” said Olivia.
“Oh no is right,” I said. “It was lunchtime for the ocelot too, and she wanted to eat that Pacific pocket mouse.”
Me, holding my ocelot, chased Zachary, holding Tiptoe, all around the classroom.
“Run, mouse, run!” yelled people in the class.
When we raced through the tree where Erin’s toucan was sitting, Erin made a squawk and moved to a different tree. When we chased by Logan and his gorilla, Logan made a grunt and moved off too. Finally Zachary and Tiptoe came to the Charlie tree.
“Luckily, before he could get eaten, the Pacific pocket mouse found the perfect place to hide.” Zachary popped Tiptoe into the pocket of Charlie’s shirt with his head sticking out, and everyone laughed and clapped.
“Phew!” said Zachary.
“Rats!” I said.
“You mean ‘mouse,’” said Mr. Harrison.
Everyone laughed the loudest at that.
“Now you probably think that’s the end of the story, and the mouse was safe and sound,” said Erin.
“But it’s not,” said Logan. “A person who lives in the tropical rain forest had a family he needed to take care of. One of the ways he could earn money was by chopping down trees.”
“You’re on, Mr. Harrison,” said Zachary.
Mr. Harrison got up from where he was sitting and walked up to the front of the room, pretending to swing an ax.
“He took his ax and got to work,” I said. “He chopped down an Abby tree and a Hannah tree.”
Mr. Harrison pretended to chop down Hannah and Abby, and I whispered to them to fall. When Hannah fell, Erin and her toucan, who was sitting on Hannah’s head, squawked again and flew off to Charlie’s head.
“Then he chopped down an Olivia tree and a Kristy tree,” said Logan.
Logan’s gorilla lumbered over and sat by Charlie’s feet again. I jumped my ocelot to Charlie’s shoulder and pretended to stare at his pocket. Erin squawked and looked down at my ocelot from her head perch.
“Man,” said Charlie. “Am I a popular tree or what?”
Then Mr. Harrison came up to him with his pretend ax.
“Don’t do it!” yelled Jack from the audience.
“But I need to feed my family,” said Mr. Harrison.
“Figure out another way!” yelled Casey.
“What else can I do?” asked Mr. Harrison.
“Get a paper route!” yelled Trevor.
“Walk dogs!” yelled Abby from where she was lying on the floor.
“I saw a help wanted sign at Ace Hardware!” yelled Tom.
“Be an Avon Lady!” yelled Rosemary T. “I mean an Avon Man!”
“I’m not sure any of those jobs are available in a tropical rain forest,” said Mr. Harrison.
“Well, find something that is!” yelled Christopher.
“Yeah,” said Olivia, “like maybe taking care of the animals there or something.”
“I think you need to assign us another research report,” said Christopher, “on how to save the rain forest.”
“Yes! Yes!” yelled most of the class.
Mr. Harrison looked very surprised. “I think the Group in Cahoots might win the most-shocking-and-amazing-endangered-species report of all time. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a class so enthusiastic about doing a second report before!” He bounced up and down on his toes and smiled like you wouldn’t believe.
And that seemed to me to be the perfect place to end our play. We got all the chopped-down t
rees to stand up and hold hands. Even Mr. Harrison joined our line.
“That is ‘The Story of Limited Resources,’” said Logan.
“The end,” we all said together, and bowed to our audience.
The class clapped and cheered.
“We have just a few more minutes until school’s over,” said Mr. Harrison. “Let’s get this place cleaned up.”
Everyone pitched in and helped move the tables and chairs back where they belonged. Somehow, though, with all the confusion, one of my new blue ballet flats went missing. Alas.
Mr. Harrison usually didn’t get too worked up about stuff like this, but today he did. “Cinderella, I will not let you walk home with just one shoe on a day like this.”
I looked out the window. It was sort of slush-puppying outside.
“Can you call home and get your mom to pick you up by car?” he asked.
“I bet she’s already on her way,” I said.
“Well, maybe we can rig you up something with a plastic bag and some tape.” Mr. Harrison started looking around his desk.
“I know,” said Charlie. “I can give her a piggyback ride. I live right next door to her.”
“No way!” I said.
“And I have gloves,” said Zachary. “You could wear one on your foot so it didn’t get cold while Charlie carries you.”
“No, no way!” I said again.
“Maybe my mom can drive her,” said Rosemary T.
What in the world? I looked at Rosemary T. all full of surprise. Maybe she felt bad about hiding the books and was trying to make up for it. Or maybe she was being nice because I said I liked what she was wearing.
The surprise on Rosemary W.’s face was even bigger. “You’re coming over to my house after school to spend the night. Remember?”
“That’s right,” said Rosemary T.
“We can give you a ride,” said Erin. “Oh wait, no we can’t. I’m coming over to your house.”
“I know!” Charlie plowed through his duffel bag. “I have the best idea yet!” He pulled out a pair of high-top basketball shoes. “You can wear one of these. I brought them for basketball practice one day and forgot them.”
It did seem like the best idea so far. I sat down, and he slipped one of his shoes on me. Then he tied up all the laces just like when you go to the shoe store. I stood up. The shoe was a little big, but because of all the laces it stayed on just fine and dandy.
“Thanks, Charlie,” I said.
“Yes, thanks,” said Mr. Harrison. “Now that the disaster has been averted, let’s line up.”
My mom and Tess and Mrs. Thomas and Maggie and Louie were waiting outside in the cold and wet. They looked a little miserable, so Erin and I quick jogged over. By the time we got to them, my mom’s eyebrow was way, way up.
“What in the world?” She stared down at my feet.
Everyone looked, too, and Charlie bounced his basketball over to us.
“Is that yours, Tarlie?” asked Tess.
“Yep,” he said.
“Why is Cinderella wearing it?” asked Louie.
“I’ll give you one guess.” Charlie dribbled his basketball all around us. “And I’m not letting it out of my sight. I don’t want her to lose one of my shoes too.”
“Cinderella.” My mom’s eyebrow stayed way up. “They were brand-new.”
I felt very, extremely bad and looked down at my mix-matched feet.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Smith,” said Charlie. “I’ll help Cinderella find it on Monday.”
I looked up.
“It’s in the classroom somewhere,” said Erin. “It will be easy. I’ll help too.”
My mom’s eyebrow went down. “All right.” She started walking home with Mrs. Thomas, and Maggie and Louie and Tess followed.
I smiled at Erin and Charlie. “Thanks, guys.” I gave them a thumbs-up, and they gave me one back. Then we raced to catch up with the others and thumbs-up-bumped the whole way home.
About the Author and Illustrator
Sherry Loeser
In between tripping over abandoned shoes, chasing after escaped pets, and searching for lost belongings, STEPHANIE BARDEN wrote her first book, CINDERELLA SMITH, which was followed by CINDERELLA SMITH: THE MORE THE MERRIER. The author teaches classes at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, where she lives with her husband, Tom; son, Joe; and eighty-pound lapdog, Otis. You can visit her online at www.stephaniebarden.com.
Photograph by Diane Go
DIANE GOODE was born in Brooklyn, New York, and has a BA in fine arts from Queens College. Her distinguished picture books include the Caldecott Honor winner WHEN I WAS YOUNG IN THE MOUNTAINS by Cynthia Rylant. The artist lives and works in Watchung, New Jersey, with her husband, David, and their two dogs, Jack and Daisy. Catch her on Facebook or visit her online at www.dianegoode.com.
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Also by Stephanie Barden
Cinderella Smith
Cinderella Smith: The More the Merrier
Credits
Cover art © 2013 by Diane Goode
Copyright
CINDERELLA SMITH: THE SUPER SECRET MYSTERY. Copyright © 2013 by Stephanie Barden and Diane Goode. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-06-200443-7
EPub Edition March 2013 ISBN 9780062208415
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13 14 15 16 17 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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The Super Secret Mystery Page 7