by Suzy Kline
“Let’s start with the first person in row one,” she said.
Ida popped out of her seat.
Miss Mackle put a blindfold over her eyes to make sure she couldn’t see what was on each plate. “Now, hold your nose, Ida,” she said.
“I will,” Ida replied. Her voice sounded nasal.
Everyone leaned forward in their chair.
“Taste this,” the teacher said, giving her one small sample.
Ida held her nose and took a bite.
“Is it apple or potato?” Miss Mackle asked.
Ida shrugged. “I don’t know. It just tastes crunchy.”
“Taste it now without holding your nose,” the teacher said.
Ida took her fingers away and tasted the sample. “It’s an apple!”
“We need our schnozz to taste stuff ?” Harry blurted out.
“We sure do!” Miss Mackle replied. “Our sense of taste depends on our sense of smell. Next!”
By the time everyone got a turn, it was almost lunchtime.
We couldn’t wait!
As soon as the bell rang, we lined up and hurried down to the cafeteria. Harry had his detective hat on.
“So who is in the lucky place, Harry?” ZuZu asked.
Mary answered before he could say one word.
“It has to be the sixth place because that’s where Harry is standing!” Mary snapped. “If he knows what place in line is going to get the lucky lunch tray, he’ll be standing in that place. Harry wants that light-up Wiffle Ball from the Student Store!”
“That’s true,” Harry said. “I do want that Wiffle Ball, but I’m not standing in the lucky place.” Harry took out a piece of paper from his pocket and read it. “The eighth person is!” he announced.
We turned around and quickly counted.
“Sidney!” everyone replied.
Sidney was clapping his hands and jumping up and down.
“Save your energy,” Mary said. “Harry botched up his last case, remember?”
Sid stopped jumping and made a face.
One by one, Mrs. Funderburke handed us our blue lunch tray with a milk carton on it. A few people asked for juice instead. One by one, the cafeteria aides added a large square of pizza, a bag of carrot sticks, a plastic container of applesauce, a big chocolate chip cookie, and a packet with a spork and napkin.
When we got to our lunch table, I checked under my milk carton. The orange sticker wasn’t there.
“Boo again!” Mary said. “I don’t have it!”
“Me either,” Ida said.
Mary lifted up Harry’s milk carton. “He doesn’t have it!”
“I do!” Sidney said, ripping it off his lunch tray. He held the orange star sticker high in his hand. “I’m getting a gold coin!”
“Well,” Harry cooed. “Like I said, Sidney was the eighth person in line. What do you have to say, Mare?”
Mary slowly sank down in her chair. In a very soft voice she said, “You got it right this time.”
We all clapped for Harry.
Harry took a bite of pizza and leaned back in his chair. He was feeling good!
“So, how come you didn’t stand in the eighth place in line, Harry?” I whispered. “You could have gotten that gold coin.”
“’Cause solving a tough case is the best prize of all,” Harry said. “Cracking a code beats getting a light-up Wiffle Ball.”
I nodded.
Harry wasn’t just a real detective. He was a real winner.
A real winner doesn’t need a prize.
Epilogue
Mrs. Funderburke used these Fibonacci numbers for her February fun: 5, 8, 13, 21. She was planning to make 1 her next number after 21.
But Mary’s tattling changed that.
Mary waited three days before she tattled again. And when she did, it was to Mrs. Funderburke. “Harry knows your special set of numbers,” Mary said. “He cracked the code. But he doesn’t tell us until we’re all lined up, and he never stands in the winning place.”
Mrs. Funderburke said Harry was an honorable detective. But she would no longer use the Fibonacci numbers. She was just going to pick a number out of a jar.
Harry’s reign as the world’s second-best detective only lasted four days. But he loved every minute of it!
Who was Leonardo Fibonacci?
Leonardo Fibonacci was a famous Italian mathematician who lived from around 1175 to 1250. He recorded a unique sequence of numbers found in patterns in nature and musical chords: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 . . .
How did Mr. Skooghammer teach Harry the Fibonacci numbers?
In the book Horrible Harry and the Dungeon, Mr. Skooghammer taught Harry about the Fibonacci sequence. He showed Harry things from nature like pineapples and pinecones that illustrate this number pattern.
Starting with this sequence, you can figure out the rest of the pattern: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . .
You add the last two numbers and the sum is the next number. So one plus one is two, one plus two is three, two plus three is five, three plus five is eight, five plus eight is thirteen, and eight plus thirteen is twenty-one!
Can you guess which number comes next?
Can you write the Fibonacci numbers up to almost one thousand?
(Go to www.suzykline.com to find out the answer!)