Coatroom Crashes Meredith Mercer hauled her backpack into Room Eight She dropped it on her worktable with a clunk and her sparkly pink pen fell out of a small tear in the front pocket Meri caught it before it could roll off the table The pen was a present from her big sister It even had her name on it in glittery letters Hannah had brought it home to Meri after she spent a weekend away visiting colleges Meri didn't like to think of her sister going away to college Meri shifted the heavy backpack on the worktable It was heavier than usual She unzipped it and pulled out the reason The Complete Oz Collection was the thickest book
Meri had ever owned She already loved it Her grandmother had sent the book as a late birthday present Gram's presents were always late because she mixed up the birthdays of all her grandchildren Since she had fifteen Meri thought it wasn't strange to get mixed up She didn't mind getting late presents It made her birthday last longer Meri patted the book She was thinking about using it with her other favorite birthday present the magic mirror from her aunt Prudence Whenever Meri put a book in front of the mirror for a while the main character appeared in the mirror That magic had gotten Meri out of a couple tough problems so far Plus she thought it would be cool to talk to Dorothy about Oz She took out her water bottle and put it beside the book then hauled the backpack into the coatroom She set her lunch box on the shelf under her backpack hook As she
hung the backpack on the hook she felt the hook wobble a little Meri peered at it and saw it was definitely coming out of the wall She looked down the row All the hooks were coming out of the wall Meri backed out of the coatroom She didn't understand how all the hooks could get loose at the same time She'd have to tell Mrs Miller about it She walked to the front of the room where her fourth grade teacher was typing on her laptop Excuse me please Meri said quietly Mrs Miller looked up at her and smiled Yes Meri The hooks in the coat closet are loose Loose Just then Tommy Michaels stomped into the room He was the tallest boy in Room Eight In fact he was the tallest boy in the whole school Meri's dad said Tommy looked like a football player He certainly stomped like one And every time he came into the
القران re O classroom he always slammed the door Tommy Mrs Miller called out quickly just leave the door open It was too late Tommy slammed the door closed with a bang It rattled the small bulletin board next to the door Then a huge crash and a shriek came from the coatroom Mrs Miller jumped up and hurried to the coatroom Most of the class followed Meri followed her more slowly Her eyes were on Sean Wilson's table All the boys at the table
