The Magical Ms. Plum by Bonny Becker Read Free Book Online

what?” said Carlos, his heart beating fast.
    “You’ve been in the closet,” said Eric.
    “Have not,” said Carlos. How could Eric tell?
    “Where’d that wolf come from, then?” said Eric.
    “What wolf?”
    “Right there,” said Eric, pointing at Carlos’s heel. “Right behind you.”
    Carlos whirled around, but there wasn’t anything there.
    “Now he’s behind your leg. He turned when you did,” said Eric.
    “You’re just making that up,” said Carlos, twisting around. He couldn’t see anything.
    Just then Mindy came in. Her eyes widened.
    “You’ve been in the closet, haven’t you?” She pointed toward Carlos’s heel.
    “Have not!” cried Carlos.
    But it was no use, because everyone could see the little wolf. Everyone except Carlos. No matter how fast he turned, the wolf turned faster, so he was always out of sight behind Carlos.
    “What’s he look like?” Carlos asked.
    “Like he would eat a passel of baby chickens,” said Tashala.
    “Scraggly and mean,” said Becky Oh.
    “His teeth are really long,” Nadia added nervously.
    “I think he’s kind of cute,” said Emiko.
    Carlos ran to the mirror. But still he couldn’t see it.
    “He moves whenever you do. Like he’s hooked to you or something,” said Brad.
    “It’s not true!” said Carlos, swallowing back the lump in his throat.
    Then Ms. Plum came in. Carlos felt his heart jump like there was a squirrel inside his chest. What would happen when she found out he’d gone into the supply closet without permission?
    But Ms. Plum didn’t seem to notice the wolf.
    And even though every kid in Ms. Plum’s room knew Carlos had sneaked into the supply closet, no one told on him. They went over their spelling words as if it were just a regular afternoon.
    Ms. Plum asked Carlos to come to the blackboard to write out their first spelling word:
kleptomaniac
.
    “Someone who can’t stop stealing things,”announced Becky Oh. She liked the especially hard words Ms. Plum sometimes gave. They were always interesting.
    Carlos stood to go to the board. That’s when he saw the wolf reflected in the window glass.
    It was thin, low-slung, like a giant rat. And it followed him up to the chalkboard.
    Now he could feel its warm breath, sensed it nearly touching him with its long, sharp nose. He hurried up to the blackboard, wrote out the word, and hurried back to his desk.
    Ms. Plum announced their next word. “Jealousy.”
    Carlos didn’t hear it. All he could feel was the presence of the wolf at his heel. He felt like the wolf might bite him on the back of his ankle, and he wanted to rub his ankle, but he was afraid he would touch the wolf.
    When the bell rang, Carlos sat at his desk, waiting. All the kids glanced at him as they went out the door. Carlos didn’t look at them.
    Finally, when they were all gone, Carlos went up to Ms. Plum’s desk.
    “Can I take him back, Ms. Plum? Please?” he whispered.
    “Take what back, dear?” said Ms. Plum, looking up from the work sheets she was grading.
    “The wolf.”
    “Wolf?”
    “Can’t you see it?” Carlos waved toward his heel.

    Ms. Plum stood up, leaned over her desk, and squinted.
    “I don’t see anything, Carlos,” she said.
    Carlos hung his head.
    “I went in the closet,” he said. “Without permission. I took some licorice.”
    Carlos set the limp red vine on her desk. “And then
he
came out,” Carlos added, nodding toward his heel.
    “Oh, I see.”
    “Can I take him back? Please, Ms. Plum.”
    “Yes, I think that would be the smart thing to do.”
    Carlos hurried into the closet and back out again.
    “Do you see him, Ms. Plum?” he asked.
    “No.”
    “You sure?”
    Ms. Plum nodded.
    “But you never could see him,” Carlos pointed out.
    “True. But what do you think?” said Ms. Plum. “Is he still there?”
    Carlos knew he was gone. He could feel it inside.
    “I’m glad you couldn’t see him. He was really creepy,” Carlos said. “Why couldn’t you see