Jelly Bean by Cynthia Lord

Author:Cynthia Lord
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2014-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

“Oh, wait,” I said quickly. “Are you talking about this guinea pig? I’m sorry. I didn’t understand. This guinea pig is not for sale. He’s, um, sick.”

The man gave me a funny look. “Sick?”

“Yes.” I tried to remember the “health” section in the guinea pig book I had borrowed from the library. I couldn’t remember any names of real diseases. So I made one up. “This guinea pig has sneezy flu. That’s why he’s all by himself in here. We don’t want any other animals to catch it.”

The man bit his lower lip. He looked like he was trying to decide if I was telling the truth.

“It’s very catching.” I stuck my nose out bravely, just like Whiskers. “Your snake will definitely get sick if he eats him. Some snakes die from it.”

“Twenty dollars is more than I wanted to pay, anyway.” He turned away and left the room.

I breathed out a long breath. Whew. That was a close call.

“There you are, Suzannah!” Ms. Kim said as I came out of the small-animal room. Levi, Allie Pink Girl, Jada, and Matt were in the waiting room. “We’re ready to get to work,” Ms. Kim said. “How’s Jelly Bean this morning? Did he like his apple pieces?”

I felt ill — like I had sneezy flu, too. I pointed out the window to the man crossing the parking lot. “I told that man he couldn’t adopt Jelly Bean,” I said.

“Suzannah!” Ms. Kim said. “Why did you do that? Jelly Bean needs a home.”

“That man wasn’t going to give him a home,” I said. “He wanted Jelly Bean for his snake’s lunch!”

“Oh! I’m glad you talked him out of it,” Levi said.

“Snakes need to eat, but we don’t want one to eat Jelly Bean,” Matt said.

Ms. Kim nodded. “I’m sorry, Suzannah. You’re right. That would not have been a good match for Jelly Bean.”

I stood up taller. I had saved Jelly Bean.

But Ms. Flores smiled sadly. “I do wish the right person would adopt him. I worry he’s sad being alone so much. Not all animals do well with noise and different hands holding them, but Jelly Bean likes people. He seems happy when he’s in the middle of everything.”

“He wouldn’t be happy in the middle of a snake, though!” said Jada.

“No, you’re right. We’ll keep hoping for him,” Ms. Kim said. “But now Ms. Flores and I have a special surprise. I need you all to wait right here while we go see if they’re ready for us.”

I looked down at my sneakers. I had saved Jelly Bean from a bad home, but he still didn’t have a good one.

“The waiting room is the right place for waiting!” Allie Pink Girl said, flopping down in one of the chairs. “Maybe the surprise is a new dog?”

“Or maybe it’s an animal we don’t see very much, like a llama!” Matt said.

“That would really be a surprise,” Levi said. “Suzannah, are you okay?”

I glanced up. They were all staring at me. My mouth was dry, and I felt like crying.

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