Free Mr Majeika by Humphrey Carpenter Page B

thing, just like all the other teachers. But they couldn’t take it in. Each of them was thinking about just one thing: the magic carpet.
    When break came, and they were all having milk and biscuits, they whispered about it.

    ‘I
saw
it,’ whispered Pandora Green’s best friend Jody.
    ‘So did I,’ said Thomas and Pete together. ‘It
was
a magic carpet.’
    ‘If you ask
me
,’ said Hamish Bigmore, ‘it was a mass hallucination.’ Hamish Bigmore was always learning long words just so that he could show them off.
    ‘What’s that mean?’ said Thomas and Pete suspiciously.
    ‘It’s when you think you’ve seen something and you haven’t,’ said Hamish Bigmore. ‘People get them when they’re walking across the desert. They think they see a pool of water, and when they get there, there’s only sand.’
    ‘But we’re not in the desert, you idiot,’ said Thomas. ‘And we didn’t see water, we saw a magic carpet, and it turned into a bicycle. And we
all
saw it, so how could we have imagined it?’
    ‘That’s why it’s called
mass
hallucination,’ said Hamish Bigmore grandly. ‘
Mass
means lots of people. So idiot yourself!’
    And they might have believed him, if it wasn’t for what happened at dinner.
    Most of Class Three ate school dinner, but some of them were sent to school withpacked lunches which their mothers had made at home, and which they ate at a separate table. Thomas and Pete did this, and so did Jody.
    So did Wim. He was Thomas and Pete’s younger brother. He was in the nursery class, so Thomas and Pete only saw him at dinner time. He was really called William, but ‘Wim’ was how he said his own name, so that was what everyone called him.
    Wim was tucking happily into a piece of egg and bacon flan, which was his favourite lunch. Thomas and Pete were talking to Jody while they ate theirs. ‘What do you think about the magic carpet?’ they asked her for the hundredth time.
    ‘Ssh, here he comes!’ whispered Jody.
    Mr Majeika was approaching their table. He sat down next to them. ‘Hello,’ he said in a friendly manner. ‘Was there anything youwanted to ask me about the lessons for this term?’
    Thomas, Pete and Jody looked at each other. Of course there was something they wanted to ask him!
    Suddenly there was a wail from Wim. He had dropped his egg and bacon flan on the floor.
    Thomas and Pete looked gloomily at each other. They would have to give Wim some of their own dinner.
    ‘My poor chap, most unfortunate,’ said Mr Majeika. He bent down and picked up the mess of egg and bacon flan. ‘We must see what we can do with this,’ he said to Wim. ‘Tell me, my young friend, what is your favourite food?’
    Wim thought for a moment. Then he said: ‘Chips.’
    ‘Ah,’ said Mr Majeika, shutting his eyesfor a moment, and pointing at Wim’s plate. ‘Chips.’
    ‘Oo!’ said Wim suddenly. And no wonder, for on his plate, where the broken bits of flan had been, stood a huge pile of steaming hot chips.
    ‘Oh!’ said Thomas, Pete and Jody.
    ‘Would you like some too, my young friends?’ said Mr Majeika. Thomas, Pete and Jody nodded, and suddenly, out of nowhere, there were piles of chips on their plates too.
    ‘Gosh!’ said Thomas, Pete and Jody.
    Suddenly another voice broke in. ‘What’s this? You know we don’t allow chips here at dinner time.’ It was Mr Potter.

    He had come up behind Mr Majeika without anyone noticing. ‘It’s a very strict rule,’ he said. ‘Parents may send their children to school with sandwiches or other cold food, but I will not allow boys and girls to go out and buy chips during the dinner hour.’
    ‘But we didn’t buy them,’ began Thomas.
    ‘No, no,’ interrupted Mr Majeika quickly. ‘They certainly didn’t buy them. It was
I
who provided them, not knowing the school rules. It won’t happen again.’
    ‘Well,’ said Mr Potter crossly, ‘please don’t let it.’ He walked off.
    Mr Majeika sighed. ‘Oh dear,’ he said,