Free Gooney Bird and All Her Charms by Lois Lowry Page B

toilet?” Malcolm asked.
    â€œNo,” Mrs. Pidgeon said firmly. “Who’s next?”
    â€œMe!” Barry came forward and put the fedora on. “Next, after he ate, Napoleon went to the gym.”
    â€œFirst he went to the bathroom,” Malcolm muttered.
    Barry ignored Malcolm. He continued. “Look at the sneaker and the basketball. When he was in the gym, we all learned about Napoleon’s muscles. His muscles make his bones move. Without muscles, we would just be like statues.”
    Tricia put up her hand, suddenly. “Excuse me for interrupting,” she said. “But without
skin
, we would be a
blob
. Our skin holds all of our insides together. Isn’t that right, Mom?”
    She looked over at the parents. Tricia’s mom waved and smiled. “That’s right,” she said.
    â€œMy mom is a dermatologist,” Tricia explained.
    â€œMay I continue?” Barry asked in an irritated voice.
    â€œSorry,” Tricia said.
    â€œBack to muscles,” Barry continued. “Muscles work in pairs.” He held up his arm.
    â€œOne muscles stretches it out, the other muscle pulls it back.” He demonstrated.
    â€œGood job, Barry,” Mrs. Pidgeon said. “Who’s next?”
    â€œWait,” Barry said, “I just want to say one more thing! It is okay to eat the other kind of mussels, because they are not spelled the same.”
    â€œMe! I’m next!” Felicia Ann stepped forward and reached for the fedora. She put it on her own head. It was too big and slipped over her eyes, but Felicia Ann didn’t mind.
    â€œBig voice, Felicia Ann,” Mrs. Pidgeon reminded her.
    Felicia Ann nodded, and the fedora slipped down farther over her face. She shouted, “The reason I’m able to shout is because of the air in my lungs! Napoleon’s ribs protect his lungs because they are very important! All of his cells need oxygen, and they get it from his lungs!
    â€œIf you look at the charm bracelet, you’ll see a pipe. If Napoleon smoked a pipe, it would damage his lungs! So don’t do that! Or cigarettes, either!”
    â€œThat means you, Dad!” Nicholas said loudly.
    His father, standing in the audience, looked guilty. “Got it, son,” he said. “I’m trying to quit.”
    Felicia Ann lifted the fedora off. “You know what?” she said to the other second-graders. “When I can’t
see
anything, I’m not so shy!” She grinned.
    Gooney Bird replaced the fedora on her own head. “There are two more charms on the bracelet,” she announced. “The first one is a little heart. Nicholas and Beanie are going to pass around some hearts for you.”
    Nicholas and Beanie, each carrying a small bag, distributed red cinnamon hearts to everyone. Mr. Furillo nodded okay when they got to Bruno, so Bruno got a cinnamon heart as well, but it made him sneeze.
    â€œNapoleon’s heart is there behind his ribs, between his lungs, and without it, Napoleon would be dead.
    â€œWell, he is dead, actually. He’s a skeleton. But you know what I mean. Our hearts are very, very important because they pump our blood around, and our blood carries oxygen to all our cells, and that’s what keeps our organs working.
    â€œAnd we make valentines shaped like hearts, and we say I HEART New York and other stuff, because some people think we feel love inside our hearts.
    â€œPersonally,” Gooney Bird continued, “I think we probably feel love in our brains and in our muscles and in our bones and in our stomachs. Maybe even our liver. But we didn’t have time to study the liver.”
    â€œOr pancreas,” Malcolm added.
    â€œOr spleen,” said Barry.
    â€œThere is one more charm on the bracelet, and it’s a Volkswagen Beetle. You can just ignore that one because it doesn’t have anything to do with Napoleon,” Gooney Bird explained.
    â€œYou can come up one