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Angeline thought a moment. “Jim Nasium,” she said.
The world spun around at over a thousand miles an hour and Angeline felt like she was spinning around too—in the opposite direction.
“So when are you going to ask her out on a date?” Gus asked.
Abel felt his heart leap into his mouth. “Who?” he asked.
“You know who,” said Gus. “Mr. Bone.”
Abel laughed. Actually, he giggled. “Oh, no,” he said. “I can’t, she won’t, she’s—no, I can’t do that.” He stared out the window over the door.
“Okay, fine,” said Gus.
“You think, maybe?” asked Abel. “Could I? No. She’s Angeline’s teacher. I can’t go on a date with Angeline’s teacher, can I? Can I?”
“She’s not her teacher yet,” said Gus. “You can ask her out for tonight. Call her now.”
“NOW!” shouted Abel. “I can’t ask her out now.” He looked at Gus as if he were crazy. “I smell like garbage!”
“That’s the wonderful thing about telephones,” said Gus. “She can’t smell you.”
“No, you still can’t go out with your kid’s teacher. It’s probably against the law. Besides, she probably already has lots of dates for tonight or is busy grading papers.”
“Lots of dates for tonight?” questioned Gus.
> “Okay, then, what about Angeline? What would she think if I went out with her teacher?”
“She likes Mr. Bone,” said Gus.
“That’s just it,” said Abel. “And I told you, her name’s not Mr. Bone. It’s Melissa Turbone.”
“That’s too bad,” said Gus.
“It’s just that she’ll finally have a teacher she likes, and I don’t want to do anything to blow it for her. It might be very traumatic for her and result in deep psychological implications.”
Gus stopped the truck.
“What are you doing?” asked Abel. “What are we stopping for?”
Gus pointed at the row of industrial trash bins. “Garbage, Abel, remember?”
Angeline ate lunch with Gary, Miss Turbone, and Miss Turbone’s fish. She hardly said a word as she ate. She thought about what Christy had said, and about Mrs. Hardlick, and none of it seemed to make any sense.
“So how does it feel to be back in school?” Miss Turbone asked her.
She didn’t answer her. She stared at the fish. She felt like she needed to go back to the aquarium or, better still, to the ocean. She sipped a glass of salt water.
“We’ll be taking that field trip to the aquarium in three weeks,” said Miss Turbone.
“I don’t know,” said Gary. “That aquarium sounds fishy to me.”
Angeline didn’t laugh. She didn’t think it was a very funny joke.
Someone knocked on the door and Gary opened it. “Hey, Goon,” said a kid from his class, all out of breath. “Is Miss Turbone in here? Miss Turbone, there’s a phone call for you in the office.”
Miss Turbone laughed but nobody knew why. It was because when the boy said “Miss Turbone,” it sounded to her like “Mr. Bone.”
The office was nearly empty when she got there. Everyone except one secretary was at lunch. Miss Turbone walked into the vice-principal’s office and picked up the phone. “This is Mr. Bone.”
