The professor was sitting there, reading.

“I have a problem,” I said. I pulled the rubber bands from my pocket, one brown and the other six bright yellow, and held out my hand to show him.

“So I see,” he said.

“Can I get more time?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. Sorry.”

“I’ve looked everywhere,” I said. “It’s not fair. It’s just not fair.”

He stared at me calmly, and then said, “You still have a few minutes. Maybe the answer is right under your nose.”

“Lip?” I asked. “Lip pil?” I said, trying to make a palindrome out of it.

“That was just a figure of speech,” he said. He leaned forward until his face was only inches from mine. “Maybe the answer is right in front of you.” He reached out with one finger and touched the end of my nose.

I took a step away. Then I froze as the answer sank in. Of course.

“Professor Robert Wordsworth,” I said, remembering the day he’d told me his name.

He smiled.

I stretched out the rubber band. “And I’ll bet your friends call you . . . ,” I said as I slipped the rubber band over his hand.

“Bob!” we said together.

What a simply wonderful palindrome.

The rubber band on his wrist glowed yellow.

Behind me, the clock ticked. I glanced at it. Five minutes after four.

“Am I cured?” I asked.

“Find out for yourself,”he told me as the sound of running footsteps announced Benedict’s arrival.

“I figured I’d find you here,” he said, sliding to halt next to me. “The way you rushed out the other day when I saw you on the steps, I knew something important was going on. Even if you wouldn’t tell me about it.”

I took a deep breath and spoke. “Thanks for saving me back there in school. Did you get in much trouble?”Wow. Not a single pun. I wasn’t being punished anymore!

“Nah,” Benedict said. “Mr.Vernack just gave me a lecture about civic responsibility and made me clean the chalkboards. But I guess I can forget about being student-of-the-month for a while.”

“Would you settle for being friend of the century?” I asked.

“I guess that’s pretty good, even if it doesn’t come with a pizza.”

I grinned at him. “Who said it doesn’t? Let’s get one right now.I have that coupon,remember?”

“I thought you were saving it for a special day,” Benedict said.

“You have no idea how special today is. So how about we go stuff our faces?”

“Sounds great,” Benedict said. “Now, are you going to tell me what all of this was about?”

“Sure,” I said. I glanced at the professor. He nodded, so I figured it was okay. “It’s a long story.”

“Best told someplace else,” the professor said. “This is a library, not a meeting room.”