Screeeeech!
Uh-oh.
What a horrible noise.
Destiny put her hands over her ears.
Clunk!
A puff of smoke!
Bus Thirteen slid to a stop. The smoke drifted away.
The bus driver shook her head. “This is the end of Bus Thirteen.”
“I knew it,” Charlie said. “It’s a real clunker.”
“We’ll wait for another bus to come along,” the driver said.
They all piled out and sat on Mr. Oakley’s front lawn. Mr. Oakley was the grandfather who helped out at the Center.
He came out and gave them pears from his tree.
Destiny chomped down on hers while they waited.
It was a long wait.
“We could make up a great poem about the bus,” Charlie said. “Too bad I’m not such a great rhymer. I’m a better inventor.”
A poem popped into Destiny’s head.
“Thirteen was the worst bus I ever saw.
How sad. It is no more!”
She thought about it. “It almost rhymes,” she told Charlie.
“It’s a super poem.” He grinned at her. “I’m not so sad about Bus Thirteen, though.”
Just then, Bus Eleven pulled up.
Destiny climbed on.
The steps were clean and shiny.
The bus had blue seats and a rug on the floor.
She kept thinking about Ms. Katz.
What could they do?
Wait. She had an idea.
Was it a good one?
She wasn’t an excellent thinker.
But she was trying.
Maybe it would work.
It was time for the Afternoon Center. Destiny started down the stairs. She passed the schoolyard window.
Bus Thirteen was parked outside all by itself.
It didn’t look so bad when it wasn’t driving kids around.
Just a plain old bus.
Mrs. Terrible Thomas, the cat, was up on the roof.
She was having a sunbath.
The kittens were down below. They were climbing up the side of their box.
Destiny could see a little orange paw.
But there was no time to watch buses and kittens. Even though she loved that orange ice cat.
“Hurry,” she told herself.
She rushed down the stairs.
She was almost flying.
It was a good thing Ms. Katz was still in the library. She wasn’t so happy with kids flying down the stairs.
But saving Ms. Katz was more important than staying on the ground.
Yolanda was on the bottom step.
“I thought and thought,” said Yolanda. “I have an idea.”
“I thought and thought, too,” said Destiny. “And I have an idea, too.” She sank down on the step.
“First,” Yolanda said, “we should tell the whole Afternoon Center about this.”
“Tell Ms. Katz?”
Yolanda shook her head. “Not Ms. Katz. She’d be too sad. And not Jake, either.”
“No, not Jake,” Destiny said.
Destiny looked up at the ceiling. “Maybe it would be better not to tell the grown-ups yet.”
She leaned forward.
She had to talk fast.
Jake would be coming down the hall with his broom any minute.
Destiny could see two ice cream cups, four smushed-up homework papers, and an ant just waiting to be swept up.
“My idea is we’ll ask everyone to write poems,” Destiny said. “Hundreds of poems. Thousands of poems. All about Ms. Katz.”
“Millions,” said Yolanda. She rubbed at her stained shirt.
It must have been through the wash, Destiny thought. She could see only a pale little spot.
Yolanda shook her head. “It’s too bad I’m not a better poet.”
“It’s too bad I’m not a better reader,” said Destiny.
“You don’t have to read,” Yolanda said. “You just have to make up the poems!”
Destiny took a breath. “Hey, I never thought of that.”
They flew into the lunchroom.
Today the snack was fat pretzel rods. Four to a person.
Destiny counted them out.
She made a few mistakes.
“Hey,” Gina said. “I have only three and a half pretzels.”
Destiny whispered in her ear.
“Oh, no!” Gina said. “I’ll start a poem as soon as I finish my snack. It won’t take me long. I don’t have as many pretzels as everyone else.”
Destiny told Mitchell the news and Yolanda told Habib.
“Good thing you gave me six pretzels,” Habib said. “I think better when my stomach is full.”
Soon all the pretzels were given out.
Everyone knew about writing poems for Ms. Katz.
There were no pretzels left for Destiny.
That was all right.
She ate the salt at the bottom of the bag. Then she went outside with Yolanda.
Peter Petway was out there already. But he wasn’t playing ball with Ramón.
He was working on the Zigzag News—Read All About It.
Destiny leaned up against the bricks of the school.
She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket.
Yolanda pulled out paper, too. “Do you know what rhymes with Katz?” she asked.
“Hats,” Destiny said.
“That’s good,” Yolanda said. “Ms. Katz has a great baseball hat.”
Destiny could see her lips moving.
“Ah,” Yolanda said. “How about this? I like Ms. Katz. I like her hats.”
Destiny nodded.
She thought of a poem. She wrote quickly.
Ms. Katz is the best.
She never gives tests.
Yolanda leaned over her shoulder. “You’re turning out to be an excellent thinker.”
Destiny closed her eyes.
Yes, she was feeling happy.
Not only was she an excellent thinker. She was going to save Ms. Katz.
She just knew it.
Orange Ice kitten climbed out of the box and tumbled to the ground.
Destiny stood up.
She raced over to the kitten and put her back in the box.
“There. Safe,” Destiny said.
She patted the kitten’s soft little head.
In the lunchroom, Destiny gave out pears. Mr. Oakley had brought in a basketful.
The pears had little brown spots. They had a few dents, too.
“Pears again?” said Mitchell. “I’m going to turn into a pear.”
Destiny bit into one.
Yolanda was sitting at a table. She was drawing a picture of Ms. Katz.
Destiny knew that because it said Ms. Katz underneath.
Yolanda drew a gray kitten.
“That’s Ms. Katz’s favorite one,” Yolanda said.
She drew eyeglasses on Ms. Katz … and on the cat, too.
“It’s a little bit of a joke,” she said. “On the top I’ll write a poem. Something like: Cats are sweet. Ms. Katz is …”
“Neat,” Destiny said.
“Yes!” Yolanda said.
Mitchell gave a little shu-shu whistle. “Great rhyming,” he said. “Great picture.”
Yolanda held up the picture.
But then she shook her head. “Too bad. There’s a little pear goo on the edge.”
Destiny held up her hands. There was pear goo on her fingers.
“There’s some on my sneakers,” said Mitchell.
“Mine too,” Charlie said.
But they couldn’t worry about that.
They had to hang up poems all over the Afternoon Center.
Everyone helped.
Destiny looked down the hall. “Some are a little crooked,” she said.
“And there’s pear goo on the floor,” Mitchell said.
Jake came down the hall. He was sweeping his way along.
At the same time, Ramón blew
his whistle.
Afternoon Center was over.
“Good thing,” Mitchell said.
There was no time for Jake to scold them for the mess.
Everyone scrambled outside.
The walkers ran for the gate.
The busers ran for the buses.
Destiny climbed onto the bus. She sat next to the window.
She could see Bus Thirteen in back of the school yard.
Poor bus with nothing to do.
Then she saw something else.
Someone was coming.
It was Yolanda. She was running toward the bus.
She was waving at Destiny.
Waving hard.
Destiny leaned against the bus window. Too bad it was glued shut.
“Wait!” Yolanda called.
The bus didn’t wait.
The driver honked the horn.
The bus began to pull out of the school yard.
Destiny looked back over her shoulder.
Charlie looked back, too.
Yolanda was yelling something.
“What is she saying?” Destiny asked.
Beebe was sitting right behind Destiny.
She tapped Destiny on the shoulder. “I can read lips sometimes,” she said.
Destiny held her breath.
Beebe was smiling. “Yolanda said she had an idea. You can use Bus Thirteen to help Ms. Katz.”
“But how?” Destiny asked.
Yolanda’s new idea was super!
But first they had to find Jake.
Destiny and Yolanda looked out the door to the playground.
Beebe and Gina were running a race. The gray kitten was racing after them.
Clifton was hopping along the fence. A kitten was trying to climb it.
Ramón was playing basketball with Mitchell.
And there was Jake in the middle of the yard, sweeping.
Destiny and Yolanda rushed outside.
“I’m crossing my fingers,” Destiny said. “This has to work.”
“I’m crossing my toes,” said Yolanda.
Jake was waving his arms around. His face was red.
“He doesn’t look happy,” Destiny whispered to Yolanda.
“Something has to be done,” Jake was muttering.
Destiny closed her eyes for a moment.
Poor, poor Ms. Katz.
“Hi, Jake,” she said.
“Hi, girls,” Jake said back.
Destiny began. “Yolanda is an artist,” she said.
“Nice,” said Jake.
He began to sweep again.
Mrs. Terrible Thomas walked by. Her six kittens followed in a row.
Orange Ice was last.
“We could all fix up Bus Thirteen,” Destiny said.
“That bus is finished!” Jake said. “I’m just trying to think of how to get rid of it.”
“It would make a great place for Ms. Katz’s poetry people,” Yolanda said.
Jake squinted at the bus. “Well …,” he began. “Maybe we could do that. We wouldn’t have papers all over the wall. We might not have pear goo all over the floor.”
“And Ms. Katz wouldn’t take up so much room,” Yolanda said. “You wouldn’t have to get rid of her at all.”
“What?” Jake said. “Get rid of …”
Destiny could hardly get the words out. “Get rid of Ms. Katz.”
Jake opened his eyes wide. “Didn’t you read the poems? They say what a great teacher Ms. Katz is.”
Destiny looked at Yolanda.
The poems were working.
Destiny really was an excellent thinker. She bet no one even remembered that little rainbow/rhyme mistake.
“No one wants to get rid of Ms. Katz,” Jake said. He leaned on his broom. “She’s the best teacher at the Zigzag School.”
Wait a minute. Something was strange here, Destiny thought.
“I heard you …,” she began.
Yolanda spoke at the same time. “But Destiny said …”
“You said Ms. Katz had to go,” they finished together.
Jake looked surprised.
Super surprised.
Then he began to laugh. “That’s not it,” he said. “Look around.”
Destiny looked around.
She looked as hard as she could.
The handball court was right there.
Someone had dropped half a sandwich in front of it.
There were ball players and racers. There was a squirrel sitting in the tree.
Destiny put her hand up to her mouth.
“Do you see what I mean?” Jake said.
The striped kittens were growing up. They were racing up and down the steps.
The gray kitten was almost as big as Mrs. Terrible Thomas.
Two black and white kittens were climbing on the trash basket. They were tipping it over.
Even Orange Ice wasn’t a tiny kitten anymore.
She was a cat.
“Cats!” Destiny said. “That’s what you said.”
“Not Ms. Katz!” Yolanda said.
Jake nodded. “We have to find homes for my cats.”
There was a strange feeling in Destiny’s chest.
A good feeling.
Ms. Katz would stay at the Zigzag School forever.
Then a bad feeling.
She’d made a terrible mistake. Again.
Destiny was giving out snacks. Today it was cheese sticks.
She tried not to look at anyone.
She knew what everybody thought.
They thought that Destiny Washington wasn’t an excellent thinker.
She wasn’t a thinker at all!
After snack, Gina said, “Come on. Let’s go look at the bus.”
They crossed the school yard.
Lots of grown-ups were there. Destiny’s mother, Mitchell’s father. Mr. Oakley. And Jake, of course.
Yolanda was inside Bus Thirteen. She hadn’t stopped for a snack.
She was painting the windows.
She’d drawn a picture of Beebe and Sumiko. They were jumping rope.
There was another one of Mitchell and Charlie playing ball with Ramón.
There was one of Peter Petway. He was working on the Zigzag News—Read All About It.
There was a picture of Ms. Katz with her glasses. She was holding a gray cat.
Below, Yolanda had written LOVELY! in hot-pink letters.
It was Ms. Katz’s favorite word.
Destiny stepped around to see the front of the bus.
A picture took up the whole window.
Angel said, “It’s the best one.”
Gina gave Destiny a poke. “It’s you,” she said. “And Yolanda.”
Destiny swallowed. It really was the best painting.
Yolanda was on one side.
Destiny was on the other.
They were leaning toward each other.
And in the middle—
Destiny had to smile.
There was a flying chocolate pudding with a whipped cream hat.
And now, Yolanda was outside. She was writing something else under the picture.
“Don’t look yet,” she called out to Destiny.
Destiny turned around. She looked at the Zigzag School.
She looked at the sky and two small birds flying by.
She looked at the flag. It was blowing in the wind.
She wondered what Yolanda was writing.
Then Gina whispered something to Angel.
“What?” Destiny asked.
“Good thing I can read lips.” Beebe leaned forward. She was watching Gina and Angel talk. “Yes, it’s true about Destiny,” she said.
“Turn around now!” Yolanda called.
Destiny turned.
Destiny’s mom was leaning over Yolanda’s shoulder. She was smiling.
Destiny could see the letters under Yolanda’s picture.
Every letter was different.
One was purple.
One was
orange.
One was green.
They were rainbow colors.
Destiny liked rainbows again.
She wasn’t such a hot reader. But she could read these words.
They said:
Destiny Washington really tries.
She’s going to get a super
Yolanda stopped. “I can’t make this rhyme.”
Destiny thought about it.
She made a million mistakes.
She wasn’t such a great reader.
But it was true. She really did try.
Destiny could see that Yolanda was still thinking of a rhyme.
Destiny thought, too.
But there was only one word she could think of.
Destiny climbed onto the bus.
Jake had worked hard.
He’d taken out some of the seats. He’d put in a skinny table.
He’d swept the floor.
Cats were running all over the place.
Up on the seats. Up on the table.
Mrs. Terrible Thomas was asleep in the driver’s seat.
Destiny gave her mom a hug.
Mitchell shook his father’s hand.
Destiny picked up Orange Ice Cat. She could hear her purr.
She was the cutest cat in the world.
Then everyone waited.
Jake had gone to get Ms. Katz.
Peter Petway was writing a story for the Zigzag News—Read All About It.
Beebe was tying a pink ribbon around the gray cat’s neck.
Destiny looked out the bus window.
Now Jake and Ms. Katz were hurrying across the school yard.
“Surprise!” everyone yelled.
Ms. Katz looked around.
“It’s the new poetry place,” Destiny said.
“Lovely,” Ms. Katz said. “Just lovely.”
She looked at the gray kitten. “A pink ribbon,” she said.
“The kitten is for you,” Jake said.
Ms. Katz blinked. “That’s another surprise.”
“I’m taking a black and white cat,” Peter Petway said. “She looks like a newspaper.”
“A striped one for me,” said Mitchell.
“Me too,” said Charlie.
“I’m taking the other black and white one,” Mr. Oakley said.
“She’ll love to climb my pear trees.”
Destiny was still holding Orange Ice Cat.