Please be someone interesting He held his breath as he drew a strip of paper out of the bag He carefully unfolded it and read Cooley Tucker His heart sank Who was Cooley Tucker Malcolm looked around the classroom Most of the kids were jotting down the names they picked Dandy was swaying in his seat waving his strip of paper in the air Clearly he was thrilled
Okay Mrs Goolsby said once the last piece of paper had been selected This research paper is due a week from Friday And I don’t want you to just scour the Internet for information Use the library please Malcolm waited until everyone was lining up for lunch before approaching Mrs Goolsby Um Yes Malcolm she said shuffling some papers on her desk About my pick he went on Sorry she said We can’t change it Maybe you can ask a classmate to trade with you It’s not that he told her It’s just that I have no idea who Cooley Tucker is Mrs Goolsby’s eyes lit up Oh You’ll love researching him He’s a local hero
Really Malcolm asked Oh yes Using a telephoto lens of his own invention he took the most spectacular pictures of Halley’s Comet back in 1910 Malcolm’s dread was suddenly lifted That’s so cool He made a fortune selling copies she said You won’t find much about him online but his autobiography is in the public library And there should be some newspaper articles from back then Thanks so much Malcolm said He grabbed his lunch and took his place in line Cooley Tucker sounded like a real pioneer Malcolm couldn’t wait to see the photos of Halley’s Comet He planned to visit the library right after school
A Famous Pitcher So who’d you get Malcolm asked Dandy as they sat at the lunch table I got a famous baseball player Dandy beamed He dug into the Tuesday Lunch Special chili pie Malcolm was confused Really I thought Mrs Goolsby didn’t want any more research papers about jocks Dandy crunched on the corn chips It’s not a jock It’s a girl baseball player She
