Gooney the Fabulous by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online

story!" Keiko said. "
There's no place like home
!"
    "Any one of the morals fits just fine," Gooney Bird pointed out. "Chelsea? What did you have in mind for the moral of your Chihuahua fable?"
    Chelsea fingered the leather rhinestone-trimmed collar that was still buckled around her neck. "Here is the moral of my fable," she announced. "
Rich is good. If you have a mink coat, you should stay put.
"
    The classroom was silent.
    Mrs. Pidgeon looked at her watch. "You know what?" she said. "It's lunchtime. And I'm hungry."
    "Me, too!" Gooney Bird said. "And guess what! I have an anchovy sandwich today, on date-nut bread. I'll trade half if anyone wants."

10.

    No one wanted half of Gooney Bird's sandwich. No one even wanted to sit near Gooney Bird's sandwich.
    "Are you sure you wouldn't like some? Last chance," she said. "Keiko?"
    "Not I," said Keiko.
    "Nicholas?"
    "Not I," said Nicholas.
    "Barry?"
    "Not I," said Barry.
    "Tricia?"
    "Not I," said Tricia.
    The children began to giggle as they went around the table, answering one by one.
    Gooney Bird tied her bib. "Well," she said, "in that case, I will eat it all myself." She took a bite and said, "Yum."
    "We told the story of the Little Red Hen!" Chelsea said. "Cluck cluck cluck!"
    "I can't believe Mrs. Pidgeon thought my fable was going to be about a chicken," she grumbled.
    "Here, have a piece of fried chicken," Nicholas said, and handed her a crispy wing from his lunchbox. "Can I have your orange, for a trade?"
    Chelsea considered that. "Okay," she said, and handed him her orange. She bit into the chicken wing. "Nobody would eat a Chihuahua," she said. "None of our fable animals are edible."
    "Bear is," Beanie pointed out. "Some people eat bear."
    "Yuck. Well, not panda, though, or kangaroo, or—what others did we have?"
    "Bunny, and tortoise," Tricia said. "People eat those."
    "And bison," Barry added. "Bison is a very healthful food. You should eat bisonburgers instead of hamburgers. Less cholesterol."
    "Nobody would eat a flamingo," Felicia Ann said. "I think it would make you thick."
    "How about T. rex?" asked Ben.
    Tyrone, whose mouth was full of tuna fish sandwich, began to wiggle rhythmically in his seat."
Teee rex, Teee rex,
" he murmured. "
See my muscles flex, if I munch on ol' T. rex...
" He lifted his arm and tried to demonstrate the muscle.
    "How about Malcolm?" Tyrone asked suddenly, interrupting his own performance. "You didn't do your fable yet, Malcolm. Want me to make you up a rap? What animal you gonna do?"
    Malcolm grinned. "Not telling," he said. "Secret. Surprise."
    "Well," Gooney Bird pointed out, "your turn comes right
after lunch, Malcolm, so it won't be a surprise for long."
    "How about Nicholas? Want a rap, Nicholas?" Tyrone was shifting back and forth in his chair, eager to dance.
    "I'm going last," Nicholas said.
    "You can't! Gooney Bird's going last! She already said so!
The day go fast, and Gooney Bird be last—
"
    "Nicholas and I are doing our fable together," Gooney Bird explained. "Look what I have for dessert! A kumquat!" She held it up, and the other children examined it with interest.
    "Kumquats are native to China," Barry announced, "although they are now cultivated in the United States. The kumquat tree is slow-growing and compact. Because of their thick rind, kumquats keep well and are easy to ship long distances."
    "I thought you only read up through D in the encyclopedia, Barry," Gooney Bird said.
    "I peeked into the K," he explained, "because I'm interested in kites."
    "You're amazing." Gooney Bird bit into her kumquat.
    "You can't do your fable with Gooney Bird, Nicholas," Ben said. "You're an N and she's a G."
    "True," Gooney Bird replied. She grinned at Nicholas and Nicholas grinned back.
    "Me and Gooney Bird have a surprise," Nicholas said.
    Gooney Bird, imitating Mrs. Pidgeon, held up a grammar finger.
    "Gooney Bird and I," Nicholas said. Then, to everyone's surprise, he chanted,"
You and I, me and you, we gotta