Free Never Race a Runaway Pumpkin by Katherine Applegate Page A

may think that a pumpkin is a vegetable,’ he read. “‘But it’s really a fruit, because it has seeds inside of it.’”
    Hmm , I thought. It was a very interesting fact.
    But not nearly as interesting as the news about the contest.
    Mr. Page kept on reading about pumpkins. He talked about giant pumpkins, tinypumpkins, pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin pie.
    My ears tried to pay attention.
    But my brain kept thinking how nice it would be to win books for the library.
    And candy for me.

5
Ladders and Luck
    When we walked into our classroom the next morning, there were pumpkins on Ms. Diz’s desk.
    A little one and a medium one.
    Also there was an apple, a grape, a rock, and a quarter.
    Not only that, Mr. McGeely, the janitor, was high up on a ladder in a corner of the room.
    He was changing the long lightbulbs.
    Pumpkins and lightbulbs!
    It was going to be an amazing morning.
    â€œClass, I know a lot of you were interested in the giant pumpkin Mr. Page told us about yesterday,” said Ms. Diz. “That’s why we’re going to learn about how to guess weight today. We call it estimating. ”
    Mr. McGeely climbed down from the ladder.
    â€œReplaced all the burned-out lights, Ms. Diz,” he said.
    â€œWonderful,” said Ms. Diz. “It’s much brighter in here.”
    It was true. You could see all kinds of things.
    On the floor I saw a black crayon and a ball of dust shaped like a kangaroo.
    And then I saw a penny!
    Right under Mr. McGeely’s ladder.
    Gus saw it too. He made a dive for it.
    Gus was halfway under the ladder before I could grab his shirt.
    â€œGus, no!” I cried. “You can’t go under a ladder! It’s seven years of bad luck!”
    â€œNo, that’s if you break a mirror,” Hassan said.
    â€œI think seven years of bad luck is when you step on a crack,” Coco said.
    â€œThat’s for breaking your mom’s back,” Maya said. “Everybody knows that!”
    â€œExcuse me!” Gus interrupted. “We’re talking about a free penny here!”
    He grabbed for the penny. But I held on tight and slid him back.
    â€œMaybe it’s a lucky penny, Roscoe,” Gus said.
    â€œBut going under the ladder would erasethe lucky and turn it to unlucky,” I said.
    â€œHmm,” said Ms. Diz. “I think I see another wonderful learning opportunity.”
    Two learning opportunities in two days!
    No wonder Ms. Diz had such a gigantic smile on her face.
    â€œChildren,” said Ms. Diz. “Roscoe was worried that if Gus went under a ladder it would be unlucky. But believing that something can cause good luck or bad luck is what we call a superstition . Can anyone think of a good reason why walking under a ladder would make bad luck happen?”
    â€œIf there was a guy on it painting and the bucket of paint fell on your head,” Wyatt said.
    â€œWell, yes,” said Ms. Diz. “That woulddefinitely be bad luck. But—”
    Coco raised her hand. “I might have my room painted magenta,” she said. “That is what you get when you mix red and blue together.”
    â€œMagenta is a very interesting color,” said Ms. Diz. “But let’s try to stay focused on superstitions. Roscoe, what made you think that going under a ladder would be bad luck?”
    â€œMy Uncle Ed told me. He knows lots of good superstitions. And he gave me my lucky four-leaf clover. After I got it, the same day I found an old sucker in my pocket and it was only just a little bit fuzzy. So how lucky was that?”
    â€œPretty lucky,” Ms. Diz agreed.
    But I had the feeling she was not a big fan of fuzzy suckers.
    Ms. Diz drew a picture of a four-leaf clover and an umbrella on the blackboard.
    â€œSome people believe things bring good luck,” she said. “And some people believedoing certain things will bring bad luck. Like opening an umbrella in the house. Or breaking a mirror.