Chapter 15 An Elephant in Wayside School

The bell rang for recess, and the children exploded out of the building.

Louis, the yard teacher, was ready with a big pile of red and green balls.

The kids called, "Hi, Louis!" and "Over here, Louis!" as he tossed the balls to them: over his shoulder, behind his back, through his legs.

Deedee came charging out of the building. Usually by the time she got to the playground, there were no good balls left, but she could see one red ball by Louis's foot.

She knocked over a kid from the tenth floor and shouted, "Hey, Lou-"

Suddenly she stopped.

She had just remembered where she'd heard of Mrs. Drazil.

It was from Louis! He had once told her about the meanest teacher he'd ever had when he was a kid.

She hurried over to her friends to make sure. "Hey, Todd!" she called.

Todd was playing tetherball with Ron. As he turned to look at Deedee, the ball came around and bonked him on the head.

"Do you remember when Louis told us about the meanest teacher he ever had?" asked Deedee.

Todd shook his head. After being conked by the tetherball, he couldn't remember anything.

"I remember," said Jason, who was in line to play. "Whenever Louis got in trouble, the teacher used to put the wastepaper basket on his head!"

"That's right!" said Jenny. "And then Louis would have to keep it there the rest of the day. And everyone would laugh at him. And then the teacher would call on him to answer questions from the blackboard, but he couldn't see the questions, so she'd give him an F!"

"Do you remember the teacher's name?" asked Deedee.
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Her friends shook their heads. Todd couldn't even remember his own name.

"I think it was Mrs. Drazil," said Deedee.

They ran to Louis.

"Hey, Louis!" said Jason. "What was the name of that mean teacher you once had when you were a kid?"

"Which one?" asked Louis.

"The one that put the trash can on your head," said Jenny.

Louis shuddered just thinking about her. "Mrs. Drazil," he whispered.

The kids looked at each other.

"What color hair did she have?" asked Jason.

"Brown," said Louis. "Why?"

"We have a substitute teacher," explained Deedee. "She's real nice."

"Good," said Louis.

"Her name is Mrs. Drazil," said Deedee.

"Whoa, I'm getting out of here," said Louis. He started to run, but the kids grabbed him.

"It's okay," said Jenny. "It can't be the same teacher. Our teacher is nice."

"And her hair isn't brown," said Jason. "It's white."

Louis relaxed a little bit

"You want to come up and meet her?" asked Deedee.

"No way!" said Louis.

"Oh, you're so silly, Louis," said Deedee. "She's not the same teacher. And besides, you're a teacher now too."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," said Louis.

"C'mon, Louis," said Deedee. She held his hand and led him up the stairs.

They entered the classroom.

Mrs. Drazil was putting some of the children's work on the bulletin board.

"Mrs. Drazil," said Deedee. "We brought our yard teacher up to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet you," said Mrs. Drazil as she pinned up Joe's arithmetic test. "Exercise is so important for young minds and bodies." She turned around.

Louis's face paled. "Well, it was nice to meet you," he said very quickly. "I've gotta go. Bye!"

"Stay right where you are, Louis!" ordered Mrs. Drazil.

He froze.

Mrs. Drazil slowly walked to her desk. She picked up the old blue notebook.

"The notebook!" whispered Louis.

Mrs. Drazil opened it and flipped through the pages. "Here we are," she said. She removed a piece of paper and handed it to Louis. "Is this your homework?" she asked.
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Louis looked at it.

"You were supposed to copy it over, weren't you?" asked Mrs. Drazil.

"That was over fifteen years ago," said Louis. "I don't remember."

"I do," said Mrs. Drazil.

"Oh, now I remember!" said Louis. "I was going to copy it over. But then my pencil point broke, so I went to sharpen it, but the pencil sharpener fell on my foot so I had to go to the hosp-"

"I don't want any of your famous excuses, Louis," said Mrs. Drazil. "I just want the homework. You may share Deedee's desk."

Louis sat next to Deedee.

"And remember, Louis," said Mrs. Drazil. "I know your tricks."

Deedee watched Louis struggle with his homework. "Sorry, Louis," she said.

"Don't be sorry," said Mrs. Drazil. "It's for his own good. And I expect neatness, Louis, or else you'll just have to do it again."

He frowned.

Mrs. Drazil stood over him and watched him work. "Your fingernails are filthy," she said.

"I'm the yard teacher," Louis tried to explain. "I spend a lot of time outside, in the grass and dirt and stuff."

"I don't want excuses," said Mrs. Drazil. "I want clean fingernails. And while you're at it, shave off that mustache. It looks like a hairy caterpillar crawling across your face!"

"Not my mustache," said Louis.

"Unless you want me to rip it off for you," said Mrs. Drazil.

Deedee felt terrible. "I can't believe Mrs. Drazil still remembers you after all this time," she said.

"An elephant never forgets," muttered Louis.

"I heard that," said Mrs. Drazil. She put the wastepaper basket on Louis's head.
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Joy, Maurecia, and Jenny were playing jump rope out on the playground. School hadn't started yet. Maurecia and Jenny were twirling. Joy sang as she jumped:

"My mama wore pajamas to the

grocery store. She smashed a bunch of eggs on the

grocery floor. One dozen, two dozen, four dozen, six. She dumped a bunch of jelly jars into

the mix. Grape jelly, apricot, don't forget

cherry. Orange marmalade and wild

strawberry.

A man walked by and fell in the glop. He slid next door to the barber shop. His icky-sticky body got covered in

hair. He tore a hole in his under-"

Joy tripped over the rope. It wasn't her fault Maurecia had suddenly stopped twirling.

"Hey!" said Joy. "What's the big idea?"

"Look!" said Maurecia.

A very handsome stranger was walking toward them.

The girls stared at him.

"Good morning, Maurecia," said the stranger. "Jenny. Joy."

"How do you know my name?" Maurecia asked nervously. She wasn't supposed to talk to strangers.

"I've known you a long time," said the stranger. "I see you almost every day."