Treasure Fever!
Page 12
Then Principal Greenbeard turned to me. ‘Henry, I truly appreciate the effort to which you and your friends went to locate the treasure. As a reward, I’d like you each to choose a piece of treasure to keep.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ I said, ‘but you don’t have to do that. It’s your treasure!’
‘Which I would never have seen again if it hadn’t been for you,’ said Principal Greenbeard. ‘You’ve earned it. Go on, choose a piece!’
I looked at the treasure. To tell you the truth, there was nothing I particularly wanted, but as I looked, my hand was mysteriously drawn to the pencil, and before I even realised what I was doing, I’d picked it up.
‘I guess I’ll take this pencil if you don’t mind,’ I said. It was green with black stripes and had a little white eraser on the end in the shape of a skull. To this day I still don’t know why I picked it up, and I sure came to regret it, but that’s a whole other story.
Principal Greenbeard was delighted with my choice. ‘I don’t mind at all!’ he said. ‘That pencil belonged to my best friend, Mark Fortuna. He loved that pencil. He’s not alive anymore, but I know he’d be happy for you to have it. He was a great one for writing and storytelling—not unlike yourself, Henry.’
‘Thanks!’ I said. ‘I’ll take good care of it.’ As it turned out, this was a lie because I spent a lot of time trying to destroy it. But, like I said, that’s a whole other story.
Then Newton bravely stepped forward. ‘May I have the lucky rabbit’s foot?’ he said. ‘I’ve always wanted a lucky rabbit’s foot.’
‘Of course!’ said Principal Greenbeard, putting it into Newton’s hand. ‘A bit of extra luck never hurt anyone!’
As Newton’s hand closed around the lucky charm he seemed to grow six inches before our eyes. ‘Thank you, Principal Greenbeard,’ he said, not looking quite as nervous as before.
After that, Gretel chose the shark’s tooth, Jack chose the water pistol and Jenny took the ring. After we thanked Principal Greenbeard, he stood to attention and saluted us all.
He picked up the black eye-patch and slipped it on, positioning it over his left eye. ‘Thank you, everybody,’ he said. ‘You’ve made an old sea-dog very happy.’
55
Learning to fly
We headed back to Skull Island where the rest of the class were trying—not that hard—to get Fred out of the hole. We told them the good news about Mr Brainfright becoming our regular teacher and everybody cheered. Well, everybody except Fred, whose head was still down the hole. Then Gretel lifted Fred out, and we spent the rest of the morning filling in all the holes we’d dug.
When we were settled back at our desks, Mr Brainfright clapped his hands.
We all craned forward, wondering what crazy and amazing lesson he would attempt to teach us this time.
‘I’d like you all to take out your Maths is Fun textbook and turn to page forty-five,’ he said.
Nobody moved. It wasn’t exactly what we were expecting.
‘Is there a problem?’ said Mr Brainfright.
‘Yes,’ said Fiona.
‘But I thought you liked maths, Fiona,’ said Mr Brainfright.
‘I do,’ said Fiona, ‘but, well, after learning how to breathe, skid on a banana peel, re-enact history and dig for treasure, maths somehow just doesn’t seem as much fun as it used to.’
‘Is that so?’ said Mr Brainfright, slamming his book shut and frisbeeing it expertly out the window. ‘In that case it’s lucky I was just kidding! What we’re actually going to do today is learn how to fly.’
‘With our own personal jet-packs?’ asked Grant.
‘No,’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘Like birds. It will come in handy if you are ever jumping out of a plane and your parachute fails! Now, everybody stand up and flap your arms!’
‘I’m scared of flying!’ said Newton. ‘It’s dangerous!’
‘Not if you have a lucky rabbit’s foot, it’s not,’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘And especially not if you keep flapping your arms. It’s only when you stop flapping your arms that flying is dangerous.’
I smiled at Jenny. She smiled back.
‘Will we be tested on this?’ asked Fiona.
56
Mr Brainfright’s last really important lesson
It is only when you stop flapping your arms that flying is dangerous.
57
The last chapter
Well, that’s my story.
And, just in case you’re wondering, it’s all true.
Every last bit.
If you’re ever passing through Northwest, and you happen to be passing Northwest Southeast Central School, feel free to drop in.
We’re pretty easy to find. Our classroom is the first on the left as you go up the steps.
And our teacher wears a purple jacket.
But don’t forget to call in at the office first and sign the visitors’ book.
And don’t waste time while you’re doing it. As I think I have mentioned, Mrs Rosethorn does not like time wasters.
Anyway, it would be great to see you, and if you enjoyed that story then don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more!
And they’re all true.
Every last one.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Mr Brainfright did teach us to fly. It’s not easy, though. You do have to keep flapping your arms the whole time.