Chapter 28

Stephen had green hair. He had purple ears and a blue face. He wore his sister's pink dancing shoes and green leotards. The leotards matched his hair. He was all dressed up as a goblin for Mrs. Jewls's Halloween party.

But unfortunately it wasn't Halloween.

"Ha, ha, ha, you sure look stupid," said Jason. Jason was Stephen's best friend.

"So do you," said Stephen.

"Boy, are you dumb," said Jenny. "Halloween is on Sunday. Today is only Friday."
112"You're the one who's dumb," said Stephen. "Ha, ha, you'd probably come to school on Sunday. Mrs. Jewls said we'd have the party today."
But none of the other children wore costumes², only Stephen.

"All right, class," said Mrs. Jewls. "It is time for our Halloween party."

"See," said Stephen.

Mrs. Jewls gave each child a cookie that looked like an orange witch³ with a black hat. She laughed when she saw Stephen and forgot to give him one. Stephen didn't ask for it. He was afraid that she'd laugh again.

The children finished their cookies in less than thirty seconds.

"All right, class," said Mrs. Jewls. "The party is over. We have a lot of work to do."

Stephen felt like a fool. The party lasted less than a minute. And he had to spend the rest of the day wearing his stupid goblin suit.

"Look, Stephen's wearing his sister's leotards," laughed Dana.

"They're green, just like his hair," said "Fatso."

Everybody laughed.

Mrs. Jewls began the arithmetic⁴ lesson. She wrote on the blackboard. "Two plus two equals five."

"That's wrong!" Joy shouted.

Mrs. Jewls tried again. "Two plus two equals three."

That wasn't right, either. She added⁵ two and two again and got forty-three. It was useless. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get two plus two to equal four.
113"I don't understand it," she said. "They've always equaled four before."
Suddenly she screamed. The chalk turned into a squiggling worm⁶! She dropped it on her foot.

Then all the lights went out, and the blackboard lit up like a movie screen.

A woman appeared on the screen. She had a long tongue and pointed⁷ ears. She stepped off the screen and into the classroom.

It was the ghost of Mrs. Gorf.

Mrs. Gorf ran her fingernails⁸ across the blackboard. "Trick or treat, you rotten⁹ kids," she said. "Now I'll get even with every last one of you. Where's Todd?"

"Who is that?" asked Mrs. Jewls.

"Mrs. Gorf," said Dameon.

"Who's Mrs. Gorf?" asked Mrs. Jewls.

"She was the meanest teacher we ever had," said Rondi.

"What happened to her?" asked Mrs. Jewls.

"Louis ate her," said Jason.

"Well, I'm not going to allow this," said Mrs. Jewls. "Get out of my classroom!" she demanded.

"It's Halloween, sweet teacher," said Mrs. Gorf. "Ghosts can go anywhere they like. I've come for a little class reunion."

"But it isn't Halloween," said Mrs. Jewls. "Halloween is still two days away."

"I know," said Mrs. Gorf, "but Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, so we are celebrating it on the Friday before."

Stephen leaped up from his seat. "See, I was right,"he said.
114"Today is the day we celebrate it, the Friday before! Mrs. Gorf proved it."
He ran up to Mrs. Gorf. "They all laughed at me and made me feel stupid because I was the only one who got dressed up. But they were the ones who were wrong. You and I are right."

He put his arms around Mrs. Gorf and hugged her.

Mrs. Gorf gasped¹⁰ and disappeared.

The lights came back on.

Mrs. Jewls picked up the piece of chalk from the floor. She wrote on the blackboard, "Two plus two equals four."

"That's good," she said. "When two plus two doesn't equal four, anything can happen."

All the children who had laughed at Stephen now called him a hero. But they told him to change out of his stupid costume¹.

So at lunch, Stephen went home, washed up, and changed. He came back wearing blue jeans and a polo shirt. Of course, his hair was still green. It always was.

1 costume   

n.装束，服装

参考例句：

• She had excellent taste in costume.她对衣着特别讲究。
• The kimono is part of the national costume of Japan.和服是日本民族服装的一部分。

2 costumes   

n.服装；装束

参考例句：

• The costumes and lighting in the play were restrained. 这出戏的服装和灯光都很朴实。
• The waitresses are all done up in costumes. 女服务生都穿着制服。

3 witch   

n.巫婆，女巫；vt.施巫术，迷惑

参考例句：

• The witch changed the prince into a frog.巫婆把王子变成了青蛙。
• The heartless witch cast a spell on the poor little girl.狠心的女巫对孤苦无助的小女孩施了妖术。

4 arithmetic   

n.算术，算法；adj.算术学的，算术的

参考例句：

• The waiter got his arithmetic wrong.服务员算错了账。
• John was competing against James for the prize in arithmetic.约翰和詹姆斯比赛争夺算术奖。

5 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

6 worm   

n.虫，蠕虫，蚯蚓，小人物，螺纹，蜗杆；vi.蠕行，慢慢前进；vt.使蠕行，慢慢地走；网络病毒，（可以在网络上传播的病毒）

参考例句：

• She believes that an early bird can catch the worm.她相信早起的鸟儿有虫吃。
• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 fingernails   

n.指甲( fingernail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She dug her fingernails into my neck. 她的指甲戳进我的脖子里了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Farm life did not permit long fingernails. Until now it hadn't mattered. 干农活不能养长指甲，至目前为止，她从来没有在乎。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

9 rotten   

adj.腐烂(朽)的；令人不愉快的；糟糕的

参考例句：

• The book was pretty rotten.这本书糟透了。
• Rotten eggs give off a bad smell.臭蛋散发出难闻的气味。

10 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》