Free Tabloidology by Chris McMahen Page A

spelling mistakes. That’s more spelling mistakes than we’ve had in this paper since Martin began writing it.” Ms. Baumgartner stood up and leaned across her desk. “Either Martin’s suddenly forgotten how to spell, or someone else wrote these articles without Martin’s knowledge.”
    Martin rubbed his eyes with his shirtsleeves and sat up straight. Even though he hadn’t been asked a question, he was nodding his head.
    â€œSpelling, schmelling!” Trixi said. “What’s really important? You can’t argue with the sales of the paper, Ms. Baumgartner.”
    â€œSelling newspapers is one thing, Trixi, but selling lies is an entirely different matter altogether!” Ms. Baumgartner said. “The main purpose of the school newspaper is to inform its readers.”
    â€œWhat good is a newspaper if no one buys it?” Trixi said. “The real purpose of a newspaper is to sell as many copies as possible. And the only way to get people to buy it is with entertainment!”
    â€œEntertainment has its place, Trixi. But you can’t take a proper newspaper and turn it into a three-ring circus!”
    â€œPeople don’t want boring facts, Ms. Baumgartner,” Trixi said, her voice growing louder. “They want to be entertained! They want excitement! They want gossip! What’s wrong with that?”
    â€œWhat’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Ms. Baumgartner said, her voice also becoming louder with each word. “Can’t you see what’s wrong? It might be entertaining, but every last thing you wrote in that paper was made up. It’s fiction! It never happened! I was hoping you’d add a bit of pizzazz to the paper, Trixi, not turn it into a pack of lies. That’s what—”
    Ms. Baumgartner never finished her sentence. The office door blew open. It was the duty teacher, Mrs. O’Reilly. “Ms. Baumgartner, you’ve got to come quickly! Out on the front field! It’s an emergency!”

NINE
    T rixi had never seen “Frozen Face” O’Reilly quite like this before. Kids called her that because, from September to June, the expression on her face never changed. Her eyebrows didn’t rise when there was a fire in the garbage can. Her lips didn’t even twitch the time Trixi cracked a joke that was so funny, five kids fell out of their desks laughing. Her eyes didn’t so much as blink when she sat on a whoopee cushion on the bus during a field trip to the game farm.
    But today Mrs. O’Reilly’s face was twisted into a look of wild, heart-popping panic. Trixi couldn’t imagine what it would take to get Mrs. O’Reilly’s face to stretch and twist and scrunch like this. Had there been some sort of accident? Maybe someone had been hit by a car! Maybe an airplane had crashed in the soccer field! Maybe an escaped convict was holding a student at gunpoint, demanding a car, a million dollars in unmarked bills and clear passage to the border! Trixi’s mind crackled with endless possibilities.
    Mrs. O’Reilly grabbed Ms. Baumgartner by the wrist and pulled her out of the office. On her way out, Ms. Baumgartner said, “You two—stay right where you are. I’ll be back shortly.”
    As soon as Mrs. O’Reilly and Ms. Baumgartner were out of the office, Trixi sprang from her chair.
    â€œHey! Didn’t you hear what Ms. Baumgartner just told us?” Martin said. “We’re supposed to stay put.”
    â€œI am a newspaper reporter. And newspaper reporters must always be on the lookout for new material.” Trixi crossed the office to the window and pulled open the blinds. “Oh my goodness! This looks good!” she said. “Really good!” Undoing the latch on the window, she pulled it open and stuck out her head.
    Martin couldn’t help himself. He slunk across the office to join Trixi at the window. The first thing he saw was Mrs.