Jenny came to school on the back of her father's motorcycle. She was late. Wayside School began at nine o'clock. It was almost nine-thirty. She kissed her father good-bye and raced up the thirty flights of stairs to Mrs. Jewls's room.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Mrs. Jewls, but my father's motorcycle lost a. . . ." There was nobody there. The room was empty.
"Hello, hello," she cried. "Mrs. Jewls, Dana, Todd, anyone?"
There was no one in the room.
94"Maybe I'm early," Jenny thought. She looked up at the clock. It was exactly nine-thirty.
"Oh, I hope they didn't go on a field trip without me." She looked out the window. Nobody was there, not even Louis.
Jenny didn't know what to do. She sat down at her desk. She watched the second hand go around on the clock. "I might as well catch up on my spelling," she thought. She opened her desk and took out her speller.
M-U-D spellsmud.
"Where is everybody?"
B-L-O-O-D spellsblood.
"I hope nothing happened to them."
B-L-A-C-K spellsblack.
Jenny heard footsteps coming down the hall. She began to work very fast.
H-A-C-K spellshack.S-M-A-C-K spellssmack.Someone opened the door. Jenny turned around. "Ack!" she gasped.
He was a man Jenny had never seen before. He had a black mustache and a matching attach case.
Jenny jumped out of her seat.
"Get back in your seat," the man said.
Jenny slowly sat down.
The man walked over and sat down in Dana's seat, facing Jenny. He opened his attach case and removed some papers.
"What is your name?" he asked her.
"Jenny," Jenny whispered.
"Jenny?" the man repeated as if he didn't believe her.
95"Well, it is actually Jennifer, Jenny for short," said Jenny.
"I see," said the man. He took the speller from Jenny's desk. Jenny's name was written across the top. He put the speller in his attach case.
"What are you doing here, Jennifer?" he asked.
"This is my classroom," said Jenny.
"Are you sure?" the man asked.
"Yes, I think so. I mean-"
"Where is the rest of your class?" the man asked.
"I don't know," said Jenny, "maybe they went on a field trip."
"No," said the man. "They didn't go on a field trip."
"Well, I don't know where they are!" Jenny cried. "I was half an hour late today, and when I got here everybody was gone. Really! Did something happen to them?"
The man didn't answer her. He wrote something on a piece of paper. "Tell me something, Jennifer. When you came to school today and saw that nobody was here, weren't you somewhat puzzled?"
"Yes. Yes," said Jenny. "What happened to them?"
"If you were really so concerned and so puzzled," said the man, "why did you work on spelling?"
"I don't know," said Jenny.
"It would seem to me," the man said, "that if a child came to school and nobody was there, she might play games, or walk around, or go home, but certainly not work on spelling."
Jenny started to cry. "I didn't know what to do. I was late and had to ride on a motorcycle and nobodywas here and now you are asking me all kinds of questions and I'm afraid of what has happened to Dana and Mrs. Jewls and Rondi and Allison."
96The man didn't understand a word she said.
Jenny heard more footsteps. The man got up and opened the door. Two more men came in. One had a black mustache like the first man. The other man was bald.
Jenny was frightened by them.
"Does she know?" asked the newcomer with the mustache.
"She claims she knows nothing," the first man answered. "She says she was late today, and when she got here everybody was gone."
"Do you believe her?" asked the man with the bald head.
"I'm not sure. She was working on her speller when I walked in." He reached into his attach case and took out Jenny's speller. He handed it to the man with the bald head.
The bald man read Jenny's name across the top of it. "Tell me, Jenny," he said, "why are you the only one here?"
"I don't know," said Jenny.
"Has this ever happened before?" he asked.
"No, never," said Jenny.
He gave Jenny her speller. "Put this inside your desk."
Jenny put it away.
"I'm satisfied," said the man with the bald head.
"Okay, Jennifer," said the first man, "you may go now."
97Jenny got out of her seat.
"Jenny," the bald man called.
Jenny turned slowly around. "Yes?" she whispered.
"Next time, don't come to school on a Saturday."