The Lunch Thief! by Rhodora Fitzgerald

Transcription

1 The Lunch Thief! by Rhodora Fitzgerald As the bell rings, Sam carefully packs up his books and loads them into his ba g. Throwing the bag over his shoulder, he says good bye to his teacher, Mrs. Fields. In the corridor he waves to the janitor and yells, "See you tomorrow Mr. Brown!" Mr. Brown returns Sam's wave and asks, "Will you be bringing S hadow?" "Of course," said Sam. "I mean, if that's OK?" he adds thoughtfully. "Of course it's OK," Mr. Brown tells him, "He's no trouble. I love that dog!" "O K, Mr. Brown," said Sam, "See you tomorrow!" Sam attends Middleton High School and because he is stricken with Down sy ndrome, spends his time in the room labeled "Special Ed". Monday through F riday Sam is like any other of the eleven kids in his class, but on Saturday it's different. You see, on Saturday Sam comes to school to help Mr. Brown with some work around the school. Sam is very good at sweeping, emptying waste baskets, wiping down the desks, and doing all sorts of other jobs. Mr. Brown pays him a little bit of money for his help and this makes Sam feel important and useful. He also let's Sam bring his German Shepherd, and he even keeps a few treats in his pocket for the dog. Shadow is never any trouble. He follow s Sam everywhere and stays right by his side. I guess this is why he calls him S hadow. "Right on time as usual," said Mr. Brown as Sam and Shadow come through t he door at the end of the hallway. "Good Morning Mr. Brown! It snowed last night," said Sam, stomping the snow from his boots, as Shadow darts off ahe ad to greet Mr. Brown. "Good Morning Sam!" said Mr. Brown. "Good mornin g to you too boy," he said, squatting down to pet Shadow. "Here's a little so mething for you," he said, as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a biscui t.

2 Sam lives just down the street from the school and is never late on Saturday mornings. He doesn't need any special instructions when he arrives and as so on as they finish saying hello, Sam heads to his locker to drop off his things. H e hangs his hat and coat in the locker with the number "716" on it. His locker is the last one in the row, and next to his locker is an old wooden chair. Sam puts his foot up on the chair and reties his shoe. Above the chair is a red fire alarm with big white letters "P U L L" on it. The school office is just across th e hall and Sam can see the school secretary inside at the computer. He waves to her and she returns his wave with a smile. "What's for lunch?" yells Mr. Brown, as Sam tosses the brown paper bag onto the top shelf of his locker. Sam always brings the same lunch, a bologna sandwich and two sticks of cheese, and Mr. Brown knows this. Still, Sam answers the question as if M r. Brown has no idea what he has in the bag. "It's my favorite," said Sam, and in his hurry to get to work, heads down the hall, leaving the locker door open. Sam and Mr. Brown always begin their work in the end classroom, and work t heir way around the building. Sam has established a pretty good routine. Firs t he empties the pencil sharpener into the wastebasket. Then he empties the classroom wastebasket into the big trash container on the cart that Mr. Bro wn keeps in the hallway. When all the garbage is out, and the floors are swep t, he wipes down every desk and straightens the rows. While Sam does this, Mr. Brown follows behind him and mops the floors. When they finish one cla ssroom, they turn out the light, close the door and push the cart down to the next one. Sometimes, when they need some supplies, Mr. Brown will send S am to the storage closet to get them. And sometimes, when things need fixin g, Mr. Brown goes to find the right tools to fix it. "We're moving right along today," said Mr. Brown after they had finished the first group of classrooms. "Yeah, time is flying," said Sam, "and it'll be lunch t ime soon!" "Yes, it will," laughed Mr. Brown. He knew that lunchtime was Sa m's favorite part of the day. "Well, would you look at that," said Mr. Brown a s they entered the next classroom. Someone had tipped over the recycle bin and returnable soda cans were scattered everywhere. "Guess we got more w

3 ork to do here," said Sam as he started picking up the cans. "That's strange. It looks like a critter has been in here. There's droppings everywhere," said Mr. Brown. "Maybe it got in through there?" Sam said, pointing to an open wind ow. "Probably a good guess Sam. You close the window and I'll get the broo m to sweep up these droppings," said Mr. Brown. "Mr. Brown, Take a look!" said Sam. Mr. Brown peeked out the window to see what Sam was looking at. "Small animal tracks. And they're fresh," said Mr. Brown. "And they lead rig ht up to this window," said Sam pulling it shut tight.

4 Just then, the fire alarm went off! "What on earth!" said Mr. Brown and he a nd Sam both darted down the hallway. Mrs. Bentley, the school secretary me t them as she was coming out of the office. "Who pulled the fire alarm?" she demanded. "That's what we were wondering," said Mr. Brown. "There's no fire. You better call the fire department and tell t hem it's a false alarm," he added. Just as Mrs. Bentley went into the office to make the phone call, Shadow darted around the corner and took off full spee d towards the door. "Shadow! Come back here!" yelled Sam. "What's he afte r? Did you see anyone?" asked Mr. Brown. "No, said Sam, but she never runs off like that." Shadow came back sniffing along the floor the whole length of t he hallway. "Shadow is acting a bit strange today," said Mr. Brown. "Yeah, I n oticed. He's been sniffing everything," said Sam. "Maybe we should take our l unch break a little early," said Mr. Brown, "We've been working pretty steady." "OK," said Sam, and he went to get his lunch. "Don't forget to wash your h ands," said Mr. Brown and he went to get his lunch too. Sam came back a fe w minutes later, without his lunch. "What's wrong boy?" asked Mr. Brown. "S omebody stole my lunch," he said with a frown. "Don't be silly, who would st eal your lunch?" Mr. Brown asked. "I don't know, but it's gone," said Sam. "D o you think Shadow ate it?" asked Mr. Brown. "Shadow wouldn't do that!" sa id Sam, "Besides, it was up too high for him to reach." "Well, we keep sandwi ch fixings in the office refrigerator. We can make another sandwich," said Mr. Brown.

5 "There's a package for you on the counter," said Mrs. Bentley, when they ent ered the office. "Oh, good," said Mr. Brown, "that's probably the supplies I or dered." "Maybe the delivery man took my sandwich," said Sam, "he probably likes bologna." "I don't think the delivery man took your sandwich Sam," said Mr. Brown. "I saw him come in and I saw him leave, Sam. He didn't go near y our lunch," said Mrs. Bentley. "I've got an idea!" said Sam suddenly. "What's your idea?" asked Mr. Brown curiously. "I'm going to make another sandwich and put it in my locker as bait. We'll find out who the thief is!" he said. Mr. B rown and Mrs. Bentley both laughed, but as they watched Sam put a piece of lunch meat between two slices of bread, they knew he was serious. "OK," sa id Mr. Brown, "but don't be surprised if this doesn't work." "It will work, beca use I think I figured out who did it! I just hope he likes turkey," said Sam as he put his sandwich on the shelf in his locker. Leaving the locker door open, he returned to the office to wait with the others. Conclusion: Together, the three ate their lunch in silence, because Sam said t alking would scare away the thief. Shadow sat quietly too, until all of a sudde n... "Well, I'll be!" said Mr. Brown, as the alarm sounded again. They watched in amazement, as a bushy tailed squirrel climbed up the back of the wooden chair, triggered the fire alarm as he used it for a stepping stone, and climbed right into Sam's locker. "You knew all along, didn't you?" asked Mr. Brown, as Shadow darted off on another chase. The grin on Sam's face was priceless. "I 'll call the fire department," sighed Mrs. Bentley.

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