Philip and the Case of Mistaken Identity and Philip and the Baby (9781597051095) by John Paulits

said
when they described their plants. “This is a plant.”
    There was a snort of laughter from the second
row.
    Philip gave the girl who made it a dirty
look.
    “It’s in a green pot.” The girl snorted
again. Philip turned to Mrs. Bushrod as if he were finished.
    “Go on,” she smiled. “You can tell us much
more than that. What kind of a plant is it?”
    Philip heard Joanie whisper, “Geranium.”
    “It’s a German plant.”
    Mrs. Bushrod’s smiled disappeared. “A German
plant?”
    “Ger-an-i-um,” Joanie whispered louder.
    “Uh, a German ger-an-i-um.”
    “Oh, I see,” said Mrs. Bushrod, her eyebrows
scrunched closely together. “You really know your plants. Go
on.”
    The girl in the second row snorted a third
time. Philip saw her turn to her friend and say something and then
the friend snorted, too.
    “It’s red,” said Philip.
    Three more children snorted but Philip
couldn’t trace which three it was.
    He heard Joanie say,” Petals.”
    Philip knew that word. “Yes, and it has
petals.”
    “So does my bike,” said the girl who had
snorted first for everyone to hear. More children laughed.
    “Pe- t- als,” said Philip angrily.
    Philip heard Joanie say, “Roots.”
    “And it’s got roots. Down the bottom. For
water. In here.” Philip clicked his fingers on the green
flowerpot.
    He watched as the girl in the second row
slouched down in her chair and rolled her eyes way up in her
head.
    Philip felt himself turning red.
    Mrs. Bushrod said, “Emery, can you tell us
anything more? Something you learned in the library that perhaps
the other children don’t already know?”
    Yeah , Philip thought, I can tell
them something they don’t already know. Don’t play stupid tricks on
your friends.
    “It’s got leaves, too. They’re green.”
    A little wave of laughter swept through the
seated children.
    “Plants make pollen,” Joanie whispered.
    Philip didn’t understand and looked at
her.
    “Pollen. Pollen. Plants make pollen.”
    “Hollow. Hollow. Plants are hollow,” Philip
said.
    “Not hollow! Pollen,” Joanie whispered
desperately.
    “They have hollow pollen, too,” Philip said
assuredly, thinking that Joanie should know since she’d been to
every class.
    Mrs. Bushrod moved toward him.
    “Thank you, Emery,” she said. “I think we’ve
heard enough. Nice try.”
    Philip handed the geranium back to her and,
with his chin on the chest, went back to his seat. When he sat
down, he noticed Janie looking at him. He turned to her.
    “Dope,” she said.
    Philip felt himself turning red again.
    “That concludes our meeting of the plant
club,” said Mrs. Bushrod. “If you boys and girls will gently get in
line, we’ll give out the pizza. Don’t push. We ordered plenty for
all. Pizza here and then a glass of juice over there.”
    Philip followed Emery into line.
    Emery turned to him. “You didn’t know very
much. Why’d you let her put your name down for that? That was dumb
of you.”
    The girl who’d snorted got in line behind
Philip. Their eyes met. She shook her head, snorted, and said,
“Hollow pollen.”
    Philip turned back to Emery.
    “Stop looking at me, Emery. Turn around.”
    Emery faced front and the line moved
forward.
    After they’d gotten their pizza and juice,
Philip and Emery sat at an empty library table. Philip didn’t want
to have to look at anybody. Joanie and her sister joined them,
though.
    “See,” said Joanie. “I promised you pizza and
here it is.”
    Emery said, “I enjoyed the show, too. I got a
chance to learn about hollow pollen.”
    “Will you be quiet?” Philip growled through
clenched teeth.
    Joanie laughed. “I tried to help you. I guess
you didn’t hear me very well.”
    Philip stuffed some pizza in his mouth so he
wouldn’t have to answer.
    Fortunately, the pizza and juice seemed to
have put Philip out of the minds of the other children. People had
stopped looking at him. All except the girl who snorted. When
everyone was leaving,