The kids backed away.
“What is her name?” asked Natalie Springer.
Good question, thought Bobby.
“Guys, come here,” Sara said to Bobby and Karen. “We have to name the mouse.”
Bobby and Sara and Karen peered into the cage. They watched the little mouse. The mouse watched them.
“What about Ralph? After Ralph S. Mouse,” said Karen. “In the book by Beverly Cleary.”
“Ralph is a boy’s name,” said Sara.
“What about Flopsy? Or Mopsy?” said Bobby.
“Flopsy and Mopsy are rabbits,” said Karen.
The kids thought. “I know,” said Sara finally. “Remember when Ms. Colman read Stuart Little to us?”
“We cannot name her Stuart,” said Bobby.
“No, but we could name her Harriet, for Stuart’s good friend,” replied Sara. “That is a very nice name, a girl’s name. And even though Harriet was not a mouse, she was mouse size.”
Bobby and Karen looked at each other.
“Okay,” said Karen.
“Good idea,” said Bobby.
Ms. Colman let the groups work on their science-fair projects that morning. Bobby, Sara, and Karen moved their desks together. They set Harriet’s cage on one desk. Sara gathered up some papers and pencils and a calendar.
“Now then,” said bossy Karen, “what we have to do is decide what we are going to keep track of.”
“I think we should weigh Harriet every day on a little scale,” said Sara. “We can find out if she weighs more as the babies grow inside her.”
“Hey, can I hold the mouse?” asked Ricky Torres. He was leaning over from the next group of desks.
“Her name is Harriet,” said Sara. “And you may not hold her.”
“Can I pat her?”
“No.”
Sara and Karen would not let the other kids near Harriet. Bobby did not say so, but he thought that was a good idea. He did not want anyone poking at the little mouse. Bobby also did not want to have to weigh Harriet, or write anything about her, or make any stupid old charts. Why couldn’t they just enjoy watching Harriet? The science-fair project was ruining everything.
WATCHING HARRIET
“Bobby Gianelli!” cried Sara.
“What? What did I do?” replied Bobby.
It was a week later. The kids in Ms. Colman’s class were working on their science-fair projects. Harriet was growing fatter.
“You did not do anything,” said Sara. “That is the problem. You were supposed to write the part about what Harriet ate yesterday. And you did not do it.”
“You did not weigh her today, either,” said Karen. “You were supposed to do that, too.”
Bobby looked at Harriet in her cage. He looked at the things spread on the desks in front of Karen and Sara. He saw the pages with the girls’ notes about what Harriet ate and did, how much she slept, how she looked. (Ms. Colman called the notes “observations.”) He saw the chart on which the girls wrote down how much Harriet weighed each day. He saw the Polaroid pictures they took of Harriet each morning.
It was true. Bobby had not helped with anything. Except taking care of Harriet. Bobby loved taking care of her. He liked feeding her. He liked filling her water bottle. He even liked cleaning her cage. And he especially liked holding Harriet and stroking her fur with one finger. But he did not like weighing or measuring or writing. So he had not done any weighing or measuring or writing.
“Yeah?” said Bobby to Karen. “So I did not weigh her. So what? What are you going to do?” Bobby leaned over and stuck his face in Karen’s face. “Huh?”
Karen pulled back. “I am — I am —” she started to say.
“Yeah?” said Bobby again.
“Bobby, I know that you do not care about the science-fair project,” said Sara. “But I do. And Karen does. We want to do a good job. We want our project to be chosen to be displayed in the gym. We want to win a prize.”
“So go work on your project,” said Bobby. “I am not stopping you.”
“You are supposed to be helping us,” said Karen. “You are part of our group.”
“Only because Ms. Colman put me in your group.”
“Okay, then I am going to tell Ms. Colman that you are not helping. I am going to tell her that you have not done one single bit of work,” exclaimed Karen.
“Go ahead … tattletale.”
“Okay. Okay, I will,” said Karen. “Right now.”
“Okay,” replied Bobby. “I am waiting. And while I wait, I will think about recess.”
“Recess?” said Karen and Sara.
“Yup,” said Bobby. “I will think about how I am going to beat both of you up. I will think about how you better watch out.”
“Oh, you cannot beat us up,” said Karen.
“He can’t?” said Sara.
“Of course I can,” said Bobby.
“If you do, then we will tell Ms. Colman and you will be in trouble,” said Karen.
“But it will be too late. I will already have beaten you up.”
Karen and Sara looked at each other. Finally Sara said, “Okay. We will not tell Ms. Colman.”
“Yet,” added Karen.
“I knew you wouldn’t,” said Bobby.
Bobby turned away from the girls. “Hi there, Harriet,” he whispered into the mouse cage. “I am sorry you have to be a science project.”
THE MISSING MOUSE
One morning Hannie Papadakis hurried into room 2A. She was early and she was glad. She wanted a chance to see Harriet alone, and maybe to hold her. But she knew she had to reach her classroom before Sara or Bobby or Karen did. They never let anyone near Harriet.
Hannie glanced around the room. Only Leslie Morris and Hank Reubens were there. Perfect.
Hannie ran to Harriet’s cage. “Harriet! Hi, Harriet!” she said in a loud whisper. She waited for Harriet’s nest to rustle. Or to see her pink nose peep out from somewhere. But nothing happened.
“Harriet?” said Hannie.
Hannie glanced behind her. No one was looking at her. She lifted the lid off Harriet’s cage. She poked around in the shavings and in Harriet’s nest. Hannie’s heart began to beat faster. She realized something awful.
Harriet’s cage was empty.
Harriet was gone.
“Hey! Hey, Leslie! Hey, Hank!” cried Hannie. “Harriet is missing. We have to look for her.”
“How can she be missing?” asked Hank.
“I don’t know. But she is.”
Hannie, Hank, and Leslie began to search the classroom. They looked under desks. They looked inside desks. The twins arrived and joined the search. No Harriet. Ricky and Chris arrived and joined the search. No Harriet.
Then Bobby showed up.
“Bobby! Your mouse is gone!” cried Hank.
“What? Oh, no!” said Bobby. He joined the search.
Then Sara showed up.
“Sara! Your mouse is gone!” cried Hank.
“Oh, no!” said Sara. She joined the search.
Then Karen showed up.
“Karen! Your mouse is gone!” cried Hannie.
Karen put her hands on her hips. She narrowed her eyes. “Gone?” she repeated. “If Harriet is gone, then I know who took her.” She pointed at Bobby. “He did!” she said.
“Took her? I did not take her!” exclaimed Bobby.
“I bet you did,” said Karen.
“Yeah,” said Sara. “You never did like our project. And now we do not have a project to work on.”
“But — but —” sputtered Bobby.
“I bet you let her out of the cage. That was a horrible thing to do!” said Natalie.
“Anything could have happened to Harriet, and it is all your fault,” added Tammy Barkan.
“But —” said Bobby again.
“Class, what on earth is going on in here?” said Ms. Colman. She was setting her things on her desk. “I could hear you halfway down the hall.”
Karen told Ms
. Colman about Harriet. (She left out the part about Bobby, but she glared at him anyway.)
“We better search some more,” said Ms. Colman.
Ms. Colman and her students searched the classroom until the bell rang. No Harriet.
“Soon it will be time for the science fair,” wailed Sara. “What are we going to do without a mouse?”
“I guess we need to go to the pet store again,” replied Ms. Colman.
But all Bobby could think was, Poor Harriet. What happened to you?
HUNCA MUNCA
Ms. Colman called the parents in Bobby’s science-fair group that night. The grown-ups decided on a trip back to the pet store the very next afternoon. Bobby’s mother said she would go along.
“If we have not found Harriet, that is,” said Bobby.
Bobby peered hopefully into Harriet’s cage the next morning. But it was still empty. Bobby sighed. Where could Harriet be? Was she lonely? Was she scared? Did she have enough to eat?
That afternoon Bobby, Sara, Karen, Ms. Colman, and Mrs. Gianelli walked through the doorway to Pet Time.
No one was standing behind the cash register.
“Where is Angela?” asked Sara.
“Angela is not here!” called a voice from the back of the store. “It is her afternoon off. Hold on. I will be right with you.”
A boy stepped out from behind a shelf. He was wiping his hands on an apron. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Jim. I work here after school.”
Bobby decided Jim was about fifteen years old. And that he had a very cool after-school job.
“What can I do for you?” asked Jim.
Ms. Colman explained to Jim about Harriet and the science fair.
“So you need a mouse who is going to have babies soon?”
“Very soon,” replied Ms. Colman.
“Hmm.” Jim scratched his head. “Well …” He looked into one of the mouse cages. “I don’t know. Let me see. Um, this mouse is fat,” he said, holding up a wiggly white mouse. “She is probably going to have babies. Soon … I guess.”
“Really?” said Ms. Colman.
“Well … sure.” Jim put the mouse in a box and handed it to Ms. Colman. “Here you go.”
“Thank you,” said Ms. Colman. “And I insist on paying you back for losing Harriet.”
The next day Karen and Sara named the new mouse. They named her Hunca Munca, after a mouse in a story by Beatrix Potter.
“I hope she has her babies today,” said Sara.
LOSERS
Hunca Munca did not have her babies that day. She did not have them the next day. Or the next. Soon it was the day before the science fair. And still no babies.
No Harriet, either.
Nobody had seen Harriet since the day before she disappeared.
“Class,” said Ms. Colman, “it is time to finish up your projects. You must finish them this morning. This afternoon the judges for the science fair will be here. They will choose the projects that will be displayed in the gym tomorrow night.”
Bobby saw Karen and Sara look at each other. Then they looked at Bobby. They scowled at him.
“Well, thanks a lot, Bobby,” said Sara a few minutes later.
“What?” said Bobby.
Sara and Karen were looking at their charts and notes and Polaroid pictures. Their work was spread across two desks.
“We did this all for nothing,” said Sara, pointing at the papers.
“And it is all your fault, Bobby,” added Karen.
“It is not my fault!” cried Bobby. “I did not do anything to Harriet!” Bobby almost said, “I love Harriet.” He stopped himself just in time.
Karen did not answer Bobby. She peered into Hunca Munca’s cage. “Why haven’t you had your babies yet?” she asked.
Bobby looked around the room at the other science-fair projects. Ricky and his group had made a model of the solar system, with the sun and moon and nine planets. Another group had made a terrarium. Their project had something to do with rain and clouds and a cycle that was not a bicycle.
Natalie’s group had tried to build a model of the Grand Canyon. (Bobby did not know why.) Bobby thought it looked much more like a falling-down mud castle. The last project was about birds. Bobby did not know anything more than that. What he did know was that his group’s project was a disaster. And it was the only disaster. Even the pile of mud was better than the silly wrecked mouse project. At least the kids had written a report about the Grand Canyon. They had put it neatly into a notebook. And they had pasted down photos and postcard pictures of the Grand Canyon.
Bobby saw that Karen and Sara were looking at the other projects, too. He thought Sara might be crying a little.
“We are losers,” said Bobby.
“Oh, what do you care?” cried Karen. “You got what you wanted, didn’t you? You did not have to do any more work on the project. You are so selfish.”
“That is not fair!” exclaimed Bobby. “I did not touch Harriet. Honest.” He paused. “I really did not!”
That afternoon the judges for the science fair came to room 2A. They were a fourth-grade science teacher and Mrs. Titus, the principal. The five projects were lined up in front of the blackboard. The judges looked at them for a long time. They frowned when they looked at Bobby’s project.
Finally Mrs. Titus said, “We are pleased to announce that the projects to be displayed at the science fair are Our Solar System and Plants and How They Grow.”
“Boo and bullfrogs,” muttered Karen.
But all Bobby could think of was Harriet.
THE SCIENCE FAIR
The science fair was held the next evening in the gym at Stoneybrook Academy. A group of students and teachers spent the afternoon decorating the gym. They tied bunches of balloons here and there. They hung streamers from the ceiling. They set up a long table and put a sign on it that said REFRESHMENTS.
When Mrs. Gianelli picked Bobby up after school that day, she asked, “What time does the science fair begin?”
“Mom, our project is not in the fair,” Bobby reminded her.
“I know. But don’t you want to go anyway? It will be fun. All four of us will go. You can talk to your friends and look at the projects. We will stay until the prizes are awarded.”
“Okay,” said Bobby. At least there will be refreshments, he thought.
That evening the four Gianellis walked into the gym.
“Ooh,” said Alicia. “Look at the balloons.”
Bobby spotted Ricky. “See you!” he said to his parents. He ran to Ricky.
“Hey, Bobby!” said Ricky. “Isn’t this exciting? Look — a newspaper reporter is here. And a photographer! If our project wins, maybe I will get my picture in the paper.”
Bobby and Ricky wandered around the gym. They looked at models and experiments and electrical gadgets. They looked at volcanoes and rocks and plants.
Finally Mrs. Titus stepped up to a microphone. “Welcome,” she said. “Welcome, students and teachers and parents and guests. Tonight is the night we have been waiting for. It is time to award a prize to the best project in each grade. I will let our judges do that.”
The judges announced the winners. The second-grade winner was from Mr. Berger’s class. Ricky looked disappointed. But not for long. “Hey!” he cried. “There’s a star on our project. That means we got an honorable mention. Cool!”
Bobby tried to smile. But he could not. He had just realized how long Harriet had been missing. Harriet, where are you? wondered Bobby.
THE FAT MOUSE
On Monday morning Bobby hurried into room 2A. He ran to Hunca Munca’s cage. He peered inside. Just Hunca Munca. No babies.
“Where are your babies?” Bobby asked the mouse crossly.
But it really did not matter. The science fair was over. It had been over for nearly three days.
“What are we going to do with Hunca Munca?” Bobby asked Ms. Colman later that morning. “Are we going to keep her?”
“No,” replied Ms. Colman.
“I think we should return her to Pet Time. Maybe we can do it tomorrow afternoon.”
“Why do we have to return her?” Bobby asked. Bobby liked Hunca Munca. He did not like her as much as Harriet. But he did like her. “We paid for her,” he reminded Ms. Colman.
“I know. But we already have one pet in our classroom. Hootie is enough.”
“Okay,” said Bobby. And he let out a sigh.
On Tuesday afternoon Bobby, Sara, Karen, Karen’s mother, and Ms. Colman returned to the pet store. Bobby carried Hunca Munca in her cage.
“This is our third visit here,” said Sara.
“Three visits and no babies,” said Karen.
Ms. Colman opened the door to Pet Time. When Bobby stepped inside, he saw Angela behind the counter.
“Hi, kids!” called Angela. “Back again?”
“Yup,” said Bobby and Karen and Sara.
“I heard you lost the first mouse,” Angela went on.
“We are very sorry about that,” said Ms. Colman. “We still do not know what happened to her.”
“And this mouse,” said Sara, pointing to Hunca Munca, “did not have her babies. We did not win anything at the science fair.”
“Our project was not chosen to be shown in the gym,” added Karen.
“I’m sorry,” said Angela. And she looked truly sorry.
“When is Hunca Munca going to have her babies?” asked Bobby.
Angela took the cage from Bobby. She lifted Hunca Munca out.
“I am sure she is going to have them any day,” said Karen, the know-it-all.
“Well, actually, I do not think so,” replied Angela. And she began to laugh. Then she put Hunca Munca back in the cage.
“What is so funny?” asked Bobby.
“Is this the mouse Jim picked out for you?” asked Angela.
“Yes,” said Ms. Colman.
“Well, you would have to wait a long time for babies. Hunca Munca is a boy. He is just fat.”
Bobby wanted to laugh, too. It was funny. At least, it was a little bit funny. But then Bobby thought of poor Harriet. And then he glanced at Sara and Karen. They certainly did not look as if they wanted to laugh.