By+Pamela+Dell++李巧蘭

"FOR PITY'S SAKE2）， students！" Principal Hogwobble slapped a fly swatter3） against the teacher's desk， trying to make himself heard above the classroom din4）. "Listen up—now！ I have important news！"

The hubbub5） in Dandelion's fourth-grade classroom lessened a bit but did not stop entirely. The morning had begun with no teacher in sight—the signal， of course， for a free-for-all6）.

"Mr. Moosehead will be out all week，" Principal Hogwobble went on， "so I've brought in an outstanding substitute teacher."

A wave of groans and hisses7） spread through the room. A boy named Weezer aimed his peashooter8） at the ceiling and let a big wad9） fly.

Dandelion smiled at her friend Beepdee. "Maybe we won't have any homework，" she said hopefully.

Beepdee was not as positive. "We'll have more，" she declared.

"I'm pleased to introduce，" Mr. Hogwobble was saying， "the brilliant Mrs. Pinkley！"

"What？！" Dandelion blurted10）， almost choking11）.

Weezer faced Dandelion and sneered12）， "Is that your mom， Dandel-Hoot？"

Dandelion's face flamed as her mother strode into the classroom playing her largest set of bagpipes13）. The class howled with laughter.

"Nooooo！" Dandelion moaned. "No， no， no！"

Mrs. Pinkley stopped playing and beamed at her daughter， who was slumped in14） her chair. "Surprise， my love！"

After Principal Hogwobble's speedy exit from the room， Dandelion's mom got to work. When she called roll， Weezer and his friends responded to their names with loud oinks15）. Next， Mrs. Pinkley had several students solve math problems at the board. With every correct answer， she blasted16） a short tune on the bagpipes， sending all but Dandelion into gales17） of laughter.

During their read-aloud session， Mrs. Pinkley demonstrated a Scottish brogue18）， causing fits19） of giggles and imitations in all but her scowling20） daughter. And just before lunch， she did the worst thing of all.

"Bravo， good students！" Mrs. Pinkley cheered. "Now， after lunch I invite you all to climb aboard our family vehicle to have a look-see21）. It's parked just outside in the lot， and I think you'll find it full of fun！ We call it—"

"Mom！" Dandelion shrieked， bolting22） out of her seat just as the bell rang. "Do not do this！" With that， she fled for the cafeteria.

"We call it the Burpmobile！" Mrs. Pinkley finished. The hubbub that followed sounded as if it were coming from a giant troop of chimpanzees gone crazy.

Dragging her feet as she entered the classroom that afternoon， Dandelion was overtaken23） by Weezer.

"Hey， Dandel-Hoot！" he snorted24）. "Your mother's a real kook25）！"

"She is not！" Dandelion retorted. But she groaned when she saw that Mrs. Pinkley was now wearing her glengarry26）， a boat-shaped Scottish hat. At every desk Mrs. Pinkley had placed a small cup of water， half a lemon， a spoon and a cotton swab27）. On the teacher's desk was a lamp with no shade， its bulb burning brightly.

"What is she doing？！" Dandelion whined28） to Beepdee. "And why？ Oh why， why， why！"

"Cuckoo29）-cuckoo！" Weezer sang in a high-pitched voice.

"Time for a special treat！" Mrs. Pinkley announced. "I'm going to let you in on30） a very useful secret. Everyone take out a piece of plain white paper， please."

A hush began to spread through the classroom as Mrs. Pinkley explained what they were about to do.

Following her directions， everyone squeezed a few drops of lemon juice into the water， stirred it and dipped a cotton swab into the mixture. Then each wrote a message on their paper with the cotton swab. But not a word appeared.

"Is this lame31） or what？" Weezer muttered. Secretly， Dandelion had to agree.

"Now！ Bring those papers up here and hold them close to this hot bulb，" Mrs. Pinkley instructed. One by one the students lined up and did so.

Miraculously32）， within a few minutes the messages began to appear on the papers.

"Wow！" someone said. "Invisible ink！"

"We can write secret notes！" exclaimed Beepdee.

Weezer started writing another message. When it dried， he handed it to Dandelion.

"For you！" he said， grinning.

Dandelion sighed and stuffed the paper in her pocket. She didn't feel like reading it with Weezer looking on.

But as soon as she got home， she took out the note and held it up to a hot light bulb. Soon， words began to appear： Your mother is very cool， it said. She rocks. Seriously.

Dandelion couldn't believe it and had to read the note over again. For the first time all day， she smiled. Maybe the coming week wouldn't be so bad after all.

“拜托了，同學(xué)們！”奧德沃貝校長(zhǎng)用蒼蠅拍拍打著講臺(tái)，試圖讓自己的聲音蓋過(guò)教室里的喧鬧聲。“現(xiàn)在，聽(tīng)我說(shuō)！我有重要消息要宣布！”

丹德莉昂所在的四年級(jí)教室里喧鬧聲低了點(diǎn)兒，但并沒(méi)有完全消停。打從早上開(kāi)始，就沒(méi)看見(jiàn)老師的身影——這無(wú)疑是課堂秩序要大亂的信號(hào)。

“穆斯黑德老師這一周都要外出，”奧德沃貝校長(zhǎng)繼續(xù)說(shuō)道，“所以我請(qǐng)來(lái)了一位非常優(yōu)秀的代課老師?！?/p>

一陣抱怨聲和起哄聲在教室里蔓延開(kāi)來(lái)。一個(gè)名叫威瑟爾的男孩將他的射豆玩具槍瞄準(zhǔn)天花板，接著把槍里的一大塊彈塞打飛了出去。

丹德莉昂沖她的朋友比普迪笑了笑。“也許我們這周不會(huì)有作業(yè)了。”她滿懷憧憬地說(shuō)。

比普迪沒(méi)有她那么樂(lè)觀?！拔覀冏鳂I(yè)會(huì)更多的。”她斬釘截鐵地說(shuō)。

“我很高興為大家介紹才華橫溢的平克利女士！”奧德沃貝校長(zhǎng)正說(shuō)著。

“什么？！”丹德莉昂脫口而出，差點(diǎn)嗆著自己。

威瑟爾朝著丹德莉昂譏諷道：“那是你媽媽吧，丹德-糊涂？”

當(dāng)?shù)さ吕虬旱膵寢屢贿叴抵侵ё畲蟮娘L(fēng)笛一邊大步走進(jìn)教室時(shí)，丹德莉昂的臉一下子紅了。教室里爆發(fā)出一陣哈哈大笑聲。

“天哪！”丹德莉昂抱怨道，“不，不，不！”

平克利老師停止吹奏，朝女兒微微一笑，“沒(méi)想到吧，親愛(ài)的！”而她的女兒此時(shí)已經(jīng)癱坐在椅子上了。

奧德沃貝校長(zhǎng)迅速撤離了教室，隨后丹德莉昂的媽媽就開(kāi)始上課了。在她點(diǎn)名時(shí)，威瑟爾和他的朋友們都用響亮的呼嚕聲來(lái)答“到”。接著，平克利老師讓幾名同學(xué)到黑板前解答數(shù)學(xué)題。他們每做對(duì)一道題，她就用風(fēng)笛吹一聲短調(diào)，惹得除了丹德莉昂以外的所有人爆發(fā)出陣陣笑聲。

在朗讀課上，平克利老師示范了蘇格蘭土腔，除了她那眉頭緊皺的女兒，所有同學(xué)都被逗得咯咯直笑，還跟著模仿。就在午飯之前，她做了一件最糟糕的事情。

“太棒了，同學(xué)們！”平克利老師高興地說(shuō)，“好了，午飯后我邀請(qǐng)你們所有人去我們家車上看看！車就停在外面的停車場(chǎng)里，我想你們會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)它好玩極了！我們把它叫做——”

“媽媽！”丹德莉昂從座位上跳了起來(lái)，尖聲喊道，就在這時(shí)，下課鈴響了?！皠e這么做！”說(shuō)完，丹德莉昂就立刻逃向餐廳。

“我們叫它‘打嗝車！”平克利老師把她的話接著說(shuō)完。教室隨之陷入一片嘈雜聲中，聽(tīng)起來(lái)就好像是一大群發(fā)了瘋的黑猩猩發(fā)出的。

那天下午，就在丹德莉昂磨磨蹭蹭地走進(jìn)教室時(shí)，威瑟爾追上了她。

“嗨，丹德-糊涂！”他哼著鼻子說(shuō)，“你媽媽真是個(gè)怪人！”

“她不是！”丹德莉昂反駁道。可在看到平克利老師頭上此時(shí)戴著她那頂蘇格蘭船形便帽時(shí)，丹德莉昂只能低聲嘆息了。平克利老師已經(jīng)在每張課桌上都放好了一小杯水、半個(gè)檸檬、一把勺子和一根棉簽。講臺(tái)上則放著一盞沒(méi)有燈罩的燈，燈泡點(diǎn)得雪亮。

“她在做什么？！”丹德莉昂低聲和比普迪發(fā)著牢騷，“她為什么要這么做？唉，為什么，為什么，為什么！”

“咕咕—咕咕！” 威瑟爾提高嗓門(mén)唱了起來(lái)。

“下面是特別奉送時(shí)間！”平克利老師宣布，“我將給大家揭示一個(gè)非常有用的秘密。請(qǐng)每個(gè)人拿出一張干凈 的白紙?！?/p>

在平克利老師解釋接下來(lái)要做什么時(shí)，整個(gè)教室里開(kāi)始變得寂靜無(wú)聲。

按照她的指示，每個(gè)人都擠了幾滴檸檬汁到水里，攪動(dòng)幾下之后用棉簽蘸了蘸混合后的液體。接下來(lái)，每個(gè)人用棉簽在各自的紙上寫(xiě)了一段話。但紙上一個(gè)字也沒(méi)有出現(xiàn)。

“這是在糊弄人呢，還是干嗎？”威瑟爾小聲嘀咕。丹德莉昂也不得不暗暗贊同。

“現(xiàn)在！把那些紙拿到講臺(tái)上來(lái)，將它們舉到這盞發(fā)熱的燈泡跟前?！逼娇死蠋熋畹?。同學(xué)們排著隊(duì)一個(gè)接一個(gè)走了上來(lái)，按照平克利老師說(shuō)的去做了。

神奇的事情發(fā)生了，沒(méi)用幾分鐘，那些話開(kāi)始在紙上顯現(xiàn)出來(lái)。

“哇！隱形墨水！”有個(gè)同學(xué)說(shuō)。

“我們可以寫(xiě)秘密字條了！”比普迪激動(dòng)地喊道。

威瑟爾開(kāi)始寫(xiě)另一段話。字干了以后，他把它遞給了丹德莉昂。

“給你的！”他笑嘻嘻地說(shuō)。

丹德莉昂嘆了口氣，將紙塞進(jìn)了自己兜里。她可不想在威瑟爾的注視中看這張字條。

但一到家，丹德莉昂就立刻把那張字條拿了出來(lái)，舉到了一個(gè)發(fā)熱的燈泡旁邊。很快，上面的字就開(kāi)始顯現(xiàn)出來(lái)。字條上寫(xiě)著：你媽媽很酷！她帥爆了。真的。

丹德莉昂簡(jiǎn)直無(wú)法相信紙上寫(xiě)的內(nèi)容，愣是把字條從頭到尾又讀了一遍。在這一整天里，她頭一次笑了。或許，接下來(lái)的一周終究不會(huì)太糟。