Chapter 9 Something Different about Mrs. Jewls

The children returned from Christmas vacation. On each desk were two knitting needles and a hunk of yarn¹.

"Today we are going to learn how to knit," said

Mrs. Jewls.

She showed the class how it was done. "See, you stick this needle through here, then wrap this around this like this, stick this through this, pull this like this, and then you stick this here. Any questions?"

Everyone stared at her.

"Good," said Mrs. Jewls. "I want everybody to make socks. Okay, get started."

Dameon looked at his knitting needles. He didn't have a clue.

He looked back at Mrs. Jewls. Now, more than ever, he was sure she was somehow different.

She was sitting at her desk, knitting and eating Baloneos. Dameon couldn't remember Mrs. Jewls ever eating a Baloneo before.

A Baloneo was an Oreo cookie, except instead of the white part, there was a round hunk of baloney.

Miss Mush invented them.

"Hey, Mac," whispered Dameon. "Does Mrs. Jewls seem different to you?"

"She's fat," said Mac.

"That's not a nice thing to say," said Dameon.

"I didn't say it to Mrs. Jewls," said Mac. "I didn't go, 'Hey, Mrs. Jewls. You're fat!' "

Mrs. Jewls cleared her throat as she stood up. She walked around the room. "Very nice, D.J.," she said. "You're doing fine, Rondi."

She stopped at Joe's desk.

"Oh, Joe!" she gushed². "Look, everybody, I want you to see Joe's sock!" She held it up. "Isn't it the most beautiful sock you ever saw?"
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It was a great sock. Everybody oohed and

aahed.

Joe was as surprised as anyone. He didn't know he knew how to make socks. But the boy was born to knit.

Mrs. Jewls started to cry. "I love this sock," she sobbed³.

"Uh-oh," said Kathy. "I think she's finally

flipped⁴ out!"

"I love you, Kathy," said Mrs. Jewls. She looked around the room. "I love all of you."

She put her hand on Kathy's desk. "I love this desk," she said. "I love the blackboard. I love the clock on the wall."

There was a ruler on the floor.

Mrs. Jewls picked it up. "I love this ruler," she declared.

"Hey, that's mine!" said Dana. "But, uh, that's okay, Mrs. Jewls. You can have it."

"I don't want your ruler, Dana," said Mrs. Jewls, handing it to her.

"You want my pair of scissors?" offered Sharie.

"Don't give her anything sharp!" warned Kathy.

Mrs. Jewls wiped away her tears and smiled at the class. "I'm going to miss all of you very much," she said.

"Are you going away?" asked Dameon.

"Yeah, to the loony bin," whispered Kathy.

"Are you sick?" asked Eric Ovens.

"No, I'm not sick," said Mrs. Jewls. "In fact, I'm better than I've ever been." She beamed. "I'm going to have a baby!"

Everyone gasped⁵.

Dameon couldn't believe it! He was so happy he jumped out of his seat and hugged Mrs. Jewls.

She was soon surrounded by all her students, even Kathy, wanting to hug her.

"Today is my last day here," Mrs. Jewls told her students. "My doctor doesn't want me walking up and down thirty flights of stairs every day, I wasn't even supposed to come today, but I just had to say good-bye."

"I thought you were getting fat," said Mac. "But I didn't want to say anything."

"Thank you, Mac," said Mrs. Jewls. "You are very considerate."

"Can I touch your stomach?" asked Stephen.

Mrs. Jewls laughed. "Sure," she said.

The children took turns touching⁶ her stomach.

"What are you going to name your baby?" asked Allison.

"I don't know yet," said Mrs. Jewls. "What do you think?"
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"Well, if she's a girl," said Allison, "I think you should name her Rainbow Sunshine."

"That's a nice name," said Mrs. Jewls. "And if

he's a boy?"

"Bucket Head," said Allison. She didn't like

boys.

"If he's a boy, you should name him Jet Rocket!" said Joe.

"Jet Rocket Jewls," mused⁷ Mrs. Jewls. "That has a nice ring to it. And what if she's a girl?"

"Cootie Face," said Joe.

Mrs, Jewls laughed. "So let me get this straight," she said. "If he's a boy, I'll name him Bucket Head."

"Right," said Allison and Rondi.

"And if she's a girl, I'll name her Cootie Face."

"Right," said Joe and John.

Dameon laughed. He knew Mrs. Jewls was only joking. At least he hoped she was.

Terrence placed his palm flat against Mrs. Jewls's stomach. "Hey," he exclaimed. "The dude kicked me!"

Suddenly Dameon felt very sad. He was going to miss her a lot! He wiped a tear from his eye. "It's unfair!" he shouted. "We finally come back to Wayside School after being gone for so long. And now you're leaving us!"

"I have to," said Mrs. Jewls.

"I know," whined⁸ Dameon. "You have to make sure that you and your baby are healthy. But it still isn't fair!"

"I think you'll like your substitute teacher," said Mrs. Jewls. "I spoke⁹ to him over the vacation. He seems like a very nice man."

"A man?" asked Dameon. "Cool!"

They all thought it was pretty neat to have a man teacher.

"Yes," said Mrs. Jewls. "His name is Mr. Gorf."

"Mr. Gorf," muttered Joy as she walked down the stairs to recess¹⁰. "Did she say Mr. Gorf?"

Maurecia nodded.

Leslie caught up to them. "Did she say Mr.

Gorf?"

"I think so," said Maurecia.

"Do you think-?" Leslie asked.

"I don't know," said Maurecia.

"I hope not," said Joy.

Before Mrs. Jewls ever came to Wayside School, the children had a teacher named Mrs. Gorf. She wasn't very nice.

Even Myron was worried. And Myron had never gotten in trouble in his whole life.

"Mr. Gorf might be a good teacher," said Eric Bacon. "Just because he has the same last name as Mrs. Gorf doesn't mean he'll be horrible."

"That's right," said Eric Ovens. "People with the same name can be different."

"I agree," said Eric Fry.

"There are probably lots of people named Gorf." Dameon said hopefully. "I bet if you looked in the phone book, you'd find ten whole pages of Gorfs."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not coming to school tomorrow," said Joy.

"Me neither," Maurecia agreed.

But the next morning their parents made them all go to school.

Everyone arrived on time. Nobody dared to be late.

But there was no teacher.

Deedee sat down next to Myron. "Is he here?" she whispered.

"Sh!" whispered Myron. He folded his hands on his desk and stared straight ahead.

1 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

2 gushed   

v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话

参考例句：

• Oil gushed from the well. 石油从井口喷了出来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Clear water gushed into the irrigational channel. 清澈的水涌进了灌溉渠道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

4 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

5 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》

6 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

7 mused   

v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事）

参考例句：

• \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们，”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道：‘我们这是在干什么？” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

8 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。