  At this surprising remark from their teacher, the young folks’ faces drooped with disappointment. For several seconds none of the three had anything to say. Mr. Garland idly fingered the two checks they had handed him. Finally Randy spoke up. “I’ll drop out,” he said. “I’ve been on a trip like this before with my father, but Ted and Jill haven’t.” “That’s a fine decision, Randy,” Mr. Garland said. He handed one of the checks back and added the Kenton children’s names to his list. For the moment, all interest in the trip was gone for Ted. He knew Randy must be keenly disappointed. Although until late yesterday none of them had expected to go, they had talked a long time last night with Mr. Matthews over the exciting things they would see. Randy had been quite as interested as Ted and Jill about the coming adventure. Suddenly Ted said: “Take Jill’s and my name off the list too, Mr. Garland. I don’t think two of us should go if the third one can’t.” “That’s right,” Jill agreed. “That doesn’t make sense, you two,” Randy protested. Mr. Garland looked up. “There’s no sense both of you missing the trip for the sake of one. It’s the educational opportunity of a lifetime.” Ted then gave in, although he knew it was not going to be nearly so much fun without Randy along. The discussion ended abruptly when Ted heard a shriek from one of the incoming pupils. He turned and was shocked to see Yank chasing one of the girls toward the back of the room. “Yank, come back here!” Jill called, when she saw what was going on. But Yank was once more enjoying himself. He was grunting happily as he pursued the girl around the back of the room, and along the side toward the front. The bear’s three owners caught the little fellow as he was coming around again. “I just patted him and he took out after me!” gasped the girl who had been chased. “He was just playing,” Ted told her. “He couldn’t hurt you if he tried. His teeth are only made for chewing soft flowers.” Mr. Garland restored order and announced that zoology would be the first subject of the day so that the active Yank could then be taken outside. First Mr. Garland stood Yank on the platform at the head of the class with Ted to help keep him still. The teacher pointed out the physical characteristics of the Martian animal, touching Yank’s paws, head, jaws, and other parts with a pointer. Yank followed the movement of the stick with his eyes. Then the whole class started giggling. The bear was looking at the stick cross-eyed. Ted had to force down a grin. He could see that Mr. Garland was having the same trouble. When Yank got tired of following the stick with his eyes, he seized it in his mouth and began gnawing on it. This brought a burst of laughter from the pupils. Ted took the stick from Yank, and the bear thought this was a signal for them to wrestle. At home, this was the way Ted usually got him to play. “Get off me, Yank,” Ted muttered in a low, angry voice. “We’re at school, not home! I thought we warned you to behave yourself here! You’re just trying to show off!” Yank seemed to get the tone of Ted’s outburst, even if he could not understand the words. He stopped his foolishness and actually kept as still as a little gentleman for the next few minutes as Mr. Garland continued to demonstrate. But then he could hold off no longer. As the instructor was leaning over close to him to point out the peculiar upsweep of his blue-tipped eyebrows, Yank’s big red tongue came out of his mouth and scraped along Mr. Garland’s cheek. The teacher blushed at the renewed laughter as he wiped his face with his handkerchief. Ted was worried lest Mr. Garland hold Yank’s behavior against him. But the teacher was a good sport and said, with a grin, “You win, Yank. Better take him outside, Ted. This will have to conclude our study of Martian color bears for a while!” Ted took Yank outside and tied him beneath the classroom window so that he could watch him every now and then. Ted knew what the animal must be thinking: “Please let me in! I’ll behave myself.” When Ted returned, the class was quiet again. Mr. Garland set up the projector for a color movie on American history. But this was not merely a history lesson. The children were told to study the costumes and architecture. It was actually several studies in one. When the picture was over an hour later, Ted was blinking his eyes to accommodate them to the harsh daylight again when one of the children cried out, “Look!” Every eye in the room did look. Following the pointing finger, they turned their gaze to one of the transparent side walls. There was Yank standing with his button nose pressed flat against the plastic, just like a small child looking out a glass window. This brought another round of laughter from the class. On this note, Mr. Garland dismissed the class for lunch. That afternoon, as Ted, Jill, and Randy were about to leave for the day, Mr. Garland called them back just as they reached the door. “Oh-oh,” Ted murmured with dread. “He’s going to give it to us now for bringing that little cutup to school!” Meekly the three of them stood in front of the teacher’s desk. He looked up at them and smiled. “I don’t think that little bit of fun hurt us this morning. But please don’t bring Yank back again! I’m afraid one day of him is all I can stand.” He looked outside where they could see Yank seated on the ground. He smiled again, and the relieved children grinned back. They had started toward the door, when Ted, who was looking back, pulled Randy and Jill to a stop. “Listen,” he said. He turned them around and they heard part of a conversation Mr. Garland was having with one of the other pupils that might very well work to their benefit. “Did I hear that boy say he couldn’t make the trip?” Jill whispered excitedly. “I thought he did,” Ted replied. They waited expectantly, hoping that the teacher would look up and call them back. Ted felt a new surge of hope rise in him when Mr. Garland finally motioned to them. The boy, meanwhile, had left. “I’ve just had a cancellation,” Mr. Garland told them. “Randy, you can make that trip after all, if you want to.” “Do I?” Randy burst out, his face beaming. He fumbled around in his pocket for the check his father had given him. Then he pulled out the rumpled slip of paper. The instructor smoothed it out and wrote Randy’s name on the list. The children left the room and walked happily down the hall. “That was a swell thing you did, Randy,” Jill said, “giving up your place to one of us. I’m so glad that you really can go!” “Please don’t bring Yank back.” “I’m glad too,” Randy admitted. “After all we talked about last night, I sure wanted to go badly!” Yank hopped around excitedly as he saw his friends coming up to release him. “You’ll never see this place again, Yank,” Ted said to him sternly, as he untied him. “I guess you’re just not cut out to be a school pupil.” For this remark, Ted got a juicy lick on the side of his helmet. |
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