her I have an eyebrow pencil that will fix that right up Cocoa whimpered then she followed Mom down the hall Malcolm turned back in time to see Grandma Eunice scrape the pancake of the wall She wheeled around and clacked her dentures Now where’s the syrup
Honk Waiting for the school day to end was like waiting for a snail to cross a football field Malcolm continually watched the clock When the bell finally rang he was on his feet and ready to go What a day Mrs Goolsby had turned the fifth-grade class into a torture chamber He’d suffered through a major science test two pop quizzes and an hour-long lecture on Andrew Jackson whose parrot had to be removed from Jackson’s funeral for
swearing too much Actually Malcolm liked that part The thought of a cussing parrot was hilarious Now Malcolm and Dandy hurried out the double doors and stood in line They were waiting to get on the bus But where was it How come our bus isn’t here Dandy asked as he held his backpack lunch box and jacket in his arms It looked like the contents of a storage closet had been dumped on top of him Malcolm strained to look down the road I don’t know Maybe it broke down again The other bus riders had questioning looks as well Your temporary bus will be here momentarily one teacher informed the group Bus 277 broke down again
Malcolm wasn’t surprised Bus 277 didn’t run like other buses It galloped instead Malcolm had finally gotten used to his backside taking a pounding But no matter how tightly Dandy held on he still managed to bump his head on the ceiling at least three times riding to and from school No more Bus 277 Dandy asked smiling and rubbing his head Malcolm smiled too Not for a while I guess It was another five minutes or so before their replacement bus number 445 drove into the circle drive Mr Mullins their regular bus driver was hunched behind the wheel Honk He doesn’t have to honk Dandy said We can see he’s here Honk
