Pencil of Doom! by Andy Griffiths Read Free Book Online Page A

still had the room to myself.
    I kneeled and started scooping the pens and pencils back into Jack’s pencil case. Pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, textas, rulers, staplers: I couldn’t believe how much stuff he managed to fit into one pencil case.
    There was only one thing missing . . . my pencil!
    I stood up and put the pencil case back in Jack’s desk. He must have guessed what I was going to do and had taken the pencil home for safekeeping. I clenched my fist and punched the desk. I was too late.
    That’s when I heard it—a faint sound on the far side of the room. It was the pencil, rolling towards the door!
    I don’t know if it was still rolling from the impact of being dropped or if it was trying to escape . . . but I did know that I had to stop it before it got out that door.
    I leaped across the room in one bound and landed sprawling in front of the door, just ahead of the pencil.
    I looked up.
    It was rolling straight towards me, and probably would have rolled right over the top of me if I hadn’t reached out and grabbed it just in time.
    The pencil seemed to squirm in my grasp as if it were a living thing.
    Well, it wouldn’t be living for much longer.
    I got up, ran down the corridor and out into the yard, looking for a suitable place to get rid of it. But before I could do so, I saw Jack and Jenny coming through the school gate on the other side of the yard.
    â€˜Hi, Henry!’ Jack called.
    Oh no! I looked around. There was a rubbish bin a few metres away. I had no choice. I threw the pencil in, and walked across the yard to meet them.
    â€˜Hi, Jack!’ I said, as innocently as I could manage. ‘Hi Jenny! How are you?’
    â€˜I’m all right,’ said Jenny. ‘The real question is, how are you? You seem a little upset.’
    â€˜I’m fine!’ I said, perhaps a little too quickly.
    â€˜Are you sure?’ said Jack. ‘You don’t look fine.’
    â€˜Oh, you know,’ I said. ‘I guess I’m still a bit rattled after what happened yesterday.’
    Jack looked at me closely and nodded. ‘I guess we all are,’ he said. ‘Just think about it. Of all the schools in Northwest the lion chose NorthwestSoutheast Central, and of all the classrooms in the school it chose
ours
! Talk about bad luck!’
    â€˜Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t,’ I said.
    â€˜What do you mean, Henry?’ asked Jenny. ‘That it wasn’t bad luck?’
    â€˜Who can say?’ I said. ‘And I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s all over now.’ I shrugged, suddenly feeling very light and free. The pencil was safely in the bin. It couldn’t hurt anybody ever again.
    Or so I thought . . .

35
Wishes

    â€˜Well, yesterday was exciting, wasn’t it?’ asked Mr Brainfright.
    â€˜Exciting?’ said David. ‘Jenny was almost killed!’
    â€˜No thanks to you!’ said Gretel.
    â€˜What do you mean by that?’ said David.
    â€˜You were so scared you jumped out the window!’
    David shook his head. ‘I didn’t do it because I was scared,’ he said. ‘I went to get help!’
    â€˜By jumping out a window?’ said Gretel.
    â€˜Well, I couldn’t exactly go out the door, could I? There was a lion in the way!’
    â€˜All right, calm down,’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘It’s over now. And thanks to Newton’s quick thinking, nobody was hurt.’
    Newton’s face reddened. ‘It wasn’t really quick thinking,’ he said. ‘I just got such a fright when thelion roared that my arm jerked and the rabbit’s foot flew out of my hand.’
    â€˜Nevertheless, you managed to distract Kitty at a crucial moment, thus saving Jenny’s life,’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘You should be very proud of yourself, Newton. Not only did you save Jenny, but you confronted nine of your top ten fears