Chapter 28 Flowers for a Very Special Person

Of course Miss Nogard knew all about Louis. The children's brains were buzzing about him.

Louis likes Miss Nogard, thought Stephen.

Louis is in love with Miss Nogard, thought Todd.

Louis wants to marry Miss Nogard, thought Sharie.

But even if she couldn't listen to their brains, she would have found out anyway. "Louis, the yard teacher, is madly in love with you," said Jenny.
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"Oh, really?" said Miss Nogard.

"He dreams about you every night," said Calvin.

"He thinks your eyes are like the moon," said Bebe.

Miss Nogard smiled.

"Do you like him?" asked Jenny.

"He's kind of cute," said Miss Nogard.

"Ooooh," Bebe and Calvin said together.

"What about his mustache?" asked Jenny. "Do you like his mustache?"

Miss Nogard thought a moment. "It would probably tickle¹ if he kissed me."

The children gasped² as their mouths fell open.

They returned to their desks and told everyone around them what Miss Nogard said.

Miss Nogard smiled. She wondered just how she'd break Louis's heart.

Ever since Xavier broke her heart, she'd become an expert at breaking other people's. She listened to men's brains and knew just what to say to make them fall in love with her.

And then she knew just the right thing to say, at just the right moment, to shatter their hearts into a million pieces. Even the biggest and strongest man would cry like a baby.

She was incapable³ of love. Her heart was clogged⁴ with bitterness and hate. And besides, she knew no one would ever love someone with three ears.

For just a second she felt a pang⁵ of sadness. Because she really did think Louis was kind of cute. Like a puppy dog.

She could almost feel the tickle of his mustache.

"Miss Nogard thinks you're cute," Jenny told Louis at recess⁶.

"She's hot for you, Louis!" said Mac.

"She wants to kiss you!" said Bebe.

"C'mon, let's play kickball," said Louis.

They played kickball, but it was weird⁷. Louis, who was probably the best kickball player ever, did terribly. He tripped over the ball when he tried to kick it. And when Terrence kicked a pop-up, Louis tried to catch it, but the ball bounced off his head.

"What's wrong with Louis?" asked Ron. "Is he sick or something?"

"Yes," said Jenny. "He's got a real bad disease. And it's spelled L-O-V-E."

The next morning Louis came to school with a bunch of flowers in his hand.
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Jenny saw him. "Are those for Miss Nogard?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know," said Louis. "I passed a field of wildflowers on the way to school. I thought I might give them to someone special." He winked⁸ at her.

He headed toward the school building. Jenny followed.

"Oooh flowers!" said Bebe.

"Are you going to give them to Miss Nogard?" asked Calvin.

"Oh, I don't know," said Louis. "I think she might have a pretty face, I mean vase."

Calvin and Bebe followed along with Jenny.

Louis entered the building.

Miss Nogard was in the office. She was getting her mail from her box. Her back was to him.

Louis froze.

"Go on, Louis," urged Jenny.

But Louis just stood there. The flowers rattled⁹ in his shaky hand, and several petals¹⁰ fell to the floor.

Mr. Kidswatter came out of his office. "Good morning, Louis," he said. "What have you got there?"

"Uh, these are for you," said Louis. He thrust the flowers into Mr. Kidswatter's hand.

"They're lovely!" said Mr. Kidswatter. Miss Nogard turned around. "Those are very pretty, Mr. Kidswatter," she said, then headed up

the stairs.

Louis watched her go.

"No one's ever brought me flowers before," said Mr. Kidswatter. "You may not believe this, Louis, but I don't have many friends." He put his hand on Louis's shoulder. "You're like a son to me," he said.

"And you're a maggot-infested string bean," muttered Louis.

"What?" asked Mr. K.

"I said, you're a magnificent human being."
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"Did anyone have any trouble with the homework?" asked Miss Nogard.

They all shook their heads.

Ron shook his head too. Homework? he thought. What homework?

"Good," said Miss Nogard. "Well, in that case, there won't be any homework tonight."

Everyone cheered.

"Let's just quickly go over the answers," she said. "Ron, what was your answer to question one?"

Ron's stomach flipped¹¹ over. He fumbled¹² with his notebook. "Uh, just a second," he said.

"That's okay, we'll wait," said Miss Nogard.

Ron flipped through the pages. "What question are we on?" he asked.

"Question one," said Miss Nogard.

"Um, I couldn't get that one," said Ron.

"Oh," said Miss Nogard. "Well, that's okay, Ron. As long as you tried. Who knows the answer to question one?"

A handful of hands went up in the air.

Seven lima beans, thought Jason.

Seven lima beans, thought Rondi.

Six cucumbers, thought Deedee.

Seven lima beans, thought Stephen.

1 tickle   

v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒

参考例句：

• Wilson was feeling restless. There was a tickle in his throat.威尔逊只觉得心神不定。嗓子眼里有些发痒。
• I am tickle pink at the news.听到这消息我高兴得要命。

2 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》

3 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

4 clogged   

（使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞

参考例句：

• The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
• The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。

5 pang   

n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷

参考例句：

• She experienced a sharp pang of disappointment.她经历了失望的巨大痛苦。
• She was beginning to know the pang of disappointed love.她开始尝到了失恋的痛苦。

6 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。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

10 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 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。

12 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。