He put the eraser in his left hand and a paperback book in his right hand. Then he climbed on top of Miss Daisy’s desk and held both objects up in the air. Then he dropped them.

The eraser and the book hit the ground at the exact same moment.

“I told you so,” said Andrea. I think I hate her more every day.

“According to the laws of physics, all objects fall at the exact same rate,” Mr. Klutz told us. “See? You’re learning physics in second grade!”

“Wait a minute!” said Michael. “That’s not a fair test because the eraser and the book are almost the same size and weight.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “Try it with different objects.”

“Okay,” Mr. Klutz said as he picked up a pencil off Miss Daisy’s desk. Then he went over to the windowsill, where Miss Daisy kept her collection of stuffed animals. He picked up a giraffe that was almost as big as I am. “Would this be a fair test?” he asked.

“Yeah!” we all shouted.

“Now, which object do you think will hit the floor first?” he said as he climbed up on top of Miss Daisy’s desk again.

“The pencil!” some of us shouted.

“The giraffe!” other kids yelled.

“I think they will both hit the floor at the same instant,” said Andrea.

“Okay, let’s do a test,” said Mr. Klutz.

As he raised both his arms in the air, Mr. Klutz put his foot on a crayon that was sitting on Miss Daisy’s desk. It rolled a little. His foot slipped. He wobbled for a moment, trying to keep his balance. Then he pitched headfirst off the desk.

“Watch out!”

Crash!

When he hit the floor, the pencil and the giraffe went flying, and Mr. Klutz’s arms and legs went in different directions. It was just about the funniest thing that ever happened in the history of the world. You should have been there.

We all ran over to see if Mr. Klutz was okay. He was holding his leg and moaning.

“See?” Andrea said. “All three objects hit the ground at the same time. The pencil, the giraffe, and Mr. Klutz. So I was right.”

I hate her.

8

Mr. Klutz Puckers Up

When Mr. Klutz got back from the hospital, we were all relieved to hear that he hadn’t broken any bones. He was limping, though, and told us he would have to use a cane for a week.

We were afraid he might call off the chocolate party, but he was more excited about it than ever.

Everybody in the whole school got involved doing math problems so we could win the party, even the teachers.

During library period, Mrs. Roopy asked us questions like, “If the library had a hundred books and you checked out fifty of them, how many would be left in the library?”