Mom said, “How was school today?”
I said, “It was okay.”
She said, “Come on, now, what’d you do?”
I said, “I got an A.”
“An A?” she gasped, “Hooray for you!”
I said, “It’s no big deal.
I copied all the answers that
Samantha let me steal.”
She raised an eyebrow, glared at me,
And said, “Let’s hear the rest.”
I heaved a sigh and said,
“I couldn’t study for the test.
You see, I was exhausted
From the running that we did.”
“In gym?” she asked.
“No, no,” I said, “away from Dino-Kid!”
“From what?!” said Mom.
“This kid,” I answered, “in a T-Rex suit.
He chased us down the hallway
With a bear in hot pursuit!
It turns out they were all dressed up
To do the Winter Play.
They didn’t mean to scare us,
But they had to run away!”
“From what?!” said Mom. “The bees!” I said.
Mom asked, “The play as well?”
“No, real bees from a beehive.
Hold your horses, and I’ll tell.
The science class had bees today
To study how they work,
And Ryan knocked them over—
Boy, he’s such a little jerk.
But Ryan couldn’t help it,
’Cause the sirens freaked him out.”
“The sirens?!” Mom exploded.
“Yeah, to put the fire out!
The fire engines got there
When the fire bells went off—
The smoke was hot and black and thick
And made us choke and cough.”
“What caused the fire?” Mom demanded.
“Cooking class,” I said.
“They left the oven on too hot
And burned up all the bread.
I guess they got distracted
By the elephants and clown—
Who knew the circus train was gonna
Knock the classroom down?
They probably were startled
By the Bigfoot on the track,
Or maybe from the ninjas
Starting up their sneak attack.”
“Hold on,” said Mom, “these things all happened
At your school today?”
“Uh-huh,” I said. “It’s like I said before.
It was okay.”