Mrs. Quimby looked at Ramona scowl-

ing by the refrigerator with her lunch box in 123

her hand. She laid her hand on Ramona’s head to see if she was feverish.

Ramona jerked away. “I’m not sick, and

I’m not cranky,” she told her mother and

flounced out the door on her way to another

day in Room One.

When Ramona reached Glenwood

School, she trudged into the building where

she sat huddled at the foot of the staircase that led to the upper grades. She wondered

what it would be like to spend her days in

one of the upstairs classrooms. Anything

would be better than the first grade.What if I don’t go into Room One? she thought.

What if I hide in the girls’ bathroom until

school is out? Before she found the answer

to her question, Mr. Cardoza came striding

down the hall on his way to the stairs. He

stopped directly in front of Ramona.

Mr. Cardoza was a tall thin man with

dark hair and eyes, and he made Ramona,

124

sitting there on the bottom steps, feel very small. Mr. Cardoza frowned and pulled

down the corners of his mouth in a way that

made Ramona understand that he was poking

fun at the expression on her face. Suddenly

he smiled and pointed at her as if he had

made an exciting discovery.

Startled, Ramona drew back.

“I know who you are!” Mr. Cardoza spoke

as if identifying Ramona was the most

interesting thing that could happen.

“You do?” Ramona forgot to scowl.

“You are Ramona Quimby. Also known

as Ramona Q.”

Ramona was astonished. She had expected

him to tell her, if he knew who she was at

all, that she was Beatrice’s little sister. “How do you know?” she asked.

“Oh, I get around,” he said and, whistling

softly through his teeth, started up the stairs.

Ramona watched him take the steps two

126

at a time with his long legs and suddenly felt more cheerful, cheerful enough to face

Room One once more. A teacher from the

upper grades knew the name of a little first grader. Maybe someday Mr. Cardoza would

be her teacher too.

127

8

Ramona Says

a Bad Word

The more Ramona dreaded school, the

more enthusiastic Beezus became, or so

it seemed to Ramona. Mr. Cardoza had his

class illustrate their spelling papers, and guess what! It was easy. Beezus, who always had

trouble drawing because she felt she had no

imagination, had no trouble drawing pic-

tures of ghost and laundry.

One day Beezus came home waving a

128

paper and looking especially happy. For lan-guage arts Mr. Cardoza had asked his class to list five examples of several different words.

For pleasant Beezus had listed picnics, our classroom, Mr. Cardoza, reading, and school.

When Mr. Cardoza had corrected her paper,

he had written “Thanks” beside his name.

For a joke she had also included his name