Horrible Harry Moves up to the Third Grade by Suzy Kline Page B

all watched her set the jar gently on the science table, we raised our hands again.
    â€œGo ahead, Sidney,” Miss Mackle said.
    â€œFinally, ” Sidney groaned.
    Then he started unwrapping something in aluminum foil. “My stepdad and I did a lot of barbecuing this summer, so I brought this as a souvenir.”
    We watched Sidney hold up a burnt wiener.
    â€œIt got left on the grill.” Sidney cackled.
    A lot of people laughed, but Harry and I didn’t. We thought it was dumb. Who would bring something like that to class?

    Sidney LaFleur.
    I went next.
    â€œI brought rocks,” I said. “I got them at the Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine in East Granby. They’re real copper. And this is an old Granby copper coin.”
    When I held the stuff up, everyone oooohed and aaahhed.
    â€œGee, Doug,” Miss Mackle said, writing something down on her clipboard. “That would be a great place to visit, since we’re studying rocks in science! Maybe I could arrange a class field trip to that mine.”
    â€œYeah!” everyone said.
    Oh boy, I thought secretly. That’s what I get for leaving one small part out of my story. I never went down into that mine. I was too chicken. Two days before my family went to Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine, Harry and I had watched the movie Tom Sawyer. It was great except for one awful part where Tom and Becky get lost in the mine, and Injun Joe falls down the hole in a cave. I made up my mind then, I would never go underground.
    Please, God, I prayed. Don’t let us go on a class field trip to that mine.
    â€œOkay,” Harry said. “My turn.” And he held up a picture of himself in that scary elevator ride, THE DROP OF DOOM, at Mountainside Park. “I wasn’t afraid at all,” he bragged. “It was a piece of cake.”
    That made Song Lee and me roll our eyes.
    We knew better.
    Sidney cracked up. “Yeah. Tell me more, Old Yeller! Tell the truth! Tell ‘em you had a HUGE case of the heebie-jeebies!”
    When Harry held up a fist, I knew what he was thinking. Revenge.
    That was the second thing that didn’t change in third grade.
    I just worried what Harry might do.

A Deadly Event

    Things took a nosedive the next day when Harry brought something to school in a shoe box.
    The box had cellophane on top so you could look inside. All we could see, though, was dirt, some grass, a rock, a plastic lid, and a toilet-paper tube.
    â€œOh no,” Ida groaned. “Does that box have a snake in it like the first day in second grade?”
    â€œNope.” Harry grinned.
    â€œSomething better,” he said. “My mom read me Charlotte’s Web this summer, and I got interested in spiders.”
    Miss Mackle beamed. “I remember when I read that book to you last year.”
    â€œYeah,” Harry said. “I will never forget our invasion of the cobwebs. Well, there’s a real spider and cobweb in this box, and I have to get him some fresh water.”
    Sidney cringed.
    We watched Harry open up the trapdoor on the side of the box, pull out a small lid, and take it over to the classroom sink to fill it with water. When he returned, he put it carefully back inside.
    â€œNow I’ll close the trapdoor so Charles can’t get out.”
    â€œCharles?” Sidney scoffed. “You gave your spider a name?”
    â€œOf course,” Harry snapped. “He’s my pet spider. I found him in my bathtub a week ago.”

    â€œI didn’t know spiders took baths,” Sidney said.
    â€œThey don‘t,” Harry groaned. “He was just thirsty. A bathtub is a good place to find some water.”
    â€œWhat kind of spider is he?” Miss Mackle asked.
    â€œJust an ordinary one with eight legs and eight eyeballs,” Harry said. “He has everything he needs in this spider house. I just have to feed him a fly now and then.”
    â€œI hate spiders,”