Summer Vacation!

Time for a summer break! See you after Labor Day on the first day of school, wonderful ones!

Teacher Gasoline

The coffee teachers constantly drink,
Is what keeps teachers running, I think.

Ticonderoga 2

Ticonderoga 2 is another creature who might show up in your classroom. This pencil-thin guy likes to grab lost pencils and grind them up. He then sells the pencils shaving to the great chefs of Pennsylvania.

WT Melon Alphabet: B

B is for Battle of the Mesusas: the great battle in which Captain John Paul Jellyfish finally defeat the Portuguese Men-of-War Armada that has been menacing the Eastern Seaboard all summer.

Jerome’s Lunch

Most kids in class bring a lunch from home.
All except one boy who’s named Jerome.

Most kids charge to lunch as if in a race.
“Why rush?” says Jerome. “I’ve reserved my place.”

A maitre d’ greets Jerome in the gym.
He bows and hands a long menu to him.

“Good day, sir,” the man says, clicking his heels.
“Your chef’s prepared you a choice of fine meals.”

Jerome sits at the end of our table.
We try to ignore him, but who is able?

China plates are set, one just for his roll,
Two spoons, four forks, three knives, and finger bowl.

A tuxedoed man steps forward to say,
“My name is Pierre, sir; I’m your waiter today.”

We take out sandwiches, and start to munch,
While listening to Jerome order his lunch.

“For my first course a dozen oysters, please.
Some caviar, and a wedge of brie cheese.

“I’ll try the salmon fillet, cedar grilled,
And the jumbo shrimp salad, slightly chilled.

“Pour me a glass of your best French grape juice,
And for dessert bring me chocolate mousse.”

Jerome’s first course comes on a silver tray,
He kisses fingertips like a gourmet.

With a cloth napkin tucked under his chin,
He rubs palm on palm and gives us a grin.

“I’m so famished,” he says. “Bon appetite.”
And raising his pinkie begins to eat.

But we eat our lunches without remorse,
As Pierre brings Jerome course after course.

“Poor kid,” we think, with a growling belly.
“Nothing beats peanut butter and jelly.”

WT Melon Definition: Office Palace

Office Palace: (noun) The palace on Apple Island where the leader Prince Apple lives.

Mouth Moths

What might happen to you if you talk out too much in class, without raising your hand? Mouth Moths might come fluttering out. Mouth Moths live the the Adam's Apple of all students. To keep them from escaping always remember to raise your hand before speaking. That applies pressure on you throat with keeps the Mouth Moths put.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO? 2b

Chapter Two PART 2 from the book So What Do You Do?
I reached into my backpack where I always keep some emergency money. "Sure. Sure I do, Mr. Adams," I said, holding out a five-dollar bill just like that. "Here you go. That's all I have."
I didn't even think about what I was doing. I had never given that much money away in my life. But this was Mr. Adams. He had given me tons of stuff in the past--pencils, paperbacks, lunch money.
He snatched the bill from my hand and stuffed it into his tweed coat. That's it. He didn't say thank you or anything. All he did was start reading again. I watched as a wad of spit dribbled from the corner of his mouth into his beard.
"You know, I hated school before I had you, Mr. Adams," I said. "My mom says you were the teacher who straightened me out. I guess I used to be pretty lazy in school. Mom says if you hadn't gotten me excited about learning stuff who knows where I might have ended up. But in middle school I'm doing pretty well, Mr. Adams. Really. You can ask my teachers. Especially my art teacher. She says I'm one of the best drawers she's had in sixth grade. I told her about you. Remember how you gave me a sketch book once. Remember how you had a special place on the bulletin board for my animal drawings? Remember that, Mr. Adams? Here I'll show you some sketches I did today. Look at these, Mr. Adams."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out four slips of paper. About an hour ago I had sketched an old lady sitting on a bench with a pigeon on each knee. I also drew a bald man who had tied a talking Barbie doll around his neck. Whenever someone walked past him, he pressed a button on the doll and Barbie would say, "Won't you be my friend? Won't you be my friend?" Weird. I tried to show the drawings to Mr. Adams, but he ignored them.
My memory is fuzzy about what happened next. I remember Mr. Adams stood. I remember his round, crazy eyes stared down at me and the yellow stains on his teeth.
"Get away from me!" he shouted. "Get away!"
The library security guard rushed toward us.
"Sh! Sh!" went people in the library.
For the longest time I stood there frozen.
Mr. Adams covered his ears with his hands. He continued to glare at me with his wild eyes.
"Get away! I don't know you!" he shouted. "Get! Get!"

Elevator Japan

ElevatorJapan
Originally uploaded by wtmelon.

Here's the cover of the Japanase edition of the
Elevator Family. I wonder what the title is in Japanese.

WT Melon Quote 7

"Only a bedbug knows, what goes on, while you doze!"
from BEDBUGS.

Amtrak

Amtrak
Originally uploaded by WT Melon.

So who did Adam Story in MVP*:Magellan Voyage Project meet on the train? Meredith Emerson, a girl who also had a blue backpack and wore blue clothing. She was also trying to be the youngest person ever to travel around the world by land and sea only. Yes, Adam realized MVP* had put him in a race.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO 2?

Chapter Two Part 1 from the book So What Do You Do?
The next thing I did was really stupid. I mean, I rushed right up to my teacher and started babbling away. "Hey, Mr. Adams. It's me, Charlie Fuller."
He remained slumped over his book. I touched his shoulder.
"Remember?" I said. "I had you in third grade. I always wore black tennis shoes and so did you and I was the lousiest writer in the class. Remember me now? Charlie Fuller. You might not recognize me. I mean, I've grown a lot--I'm almost as tall as my mom now--and my hair's a lot longer. Man, third grade was the best class in the world, Mr. Adams. You were my all-time favorite teacher ever. Remember that giant bubble we made out of a clear plastic sheet? We blew it up and we all climbed inside. I remember you brought your guitar in there and we sang songs. Can you still juggle? I remember you juggling when we were doing math work. And you always drew those cartoons on our math papers. And the squirt-gun fight. Remember? And the time you roller-bladed around our classroom. You were crazy."
Mr. Adams said nothing. He wiped his nose with a sleeve and turned a page of his book.
I jabbered on. "Remember Colleen Martin? She's in my homeroom at the middle school now. Remember Oic? I'll never forget how you'd say 'Oic' whenever someone understood something you were teaching. They'd say 'Oh, I see,' and you would say 'Oic'. Remember? 'Oh I see' spells Oic and 'Easy' spells Ez. You were the funniest teacher."
I was talking like a maniac, much louder than my library voice. The whole time my teacher just sat there reading his book.
"Hey, what happened, Mr. Adams?" I asked. "I mean, what are you doing here? How did you get so...you know...dirty? And why did you quit teaching? What's going on, Mr. Adams?"
He looked up from his book and stared at me with watery eyes. Blood vessels zig-zagged over the white parts.
"You got any money?" he said. His voice sounded old and crackly. And phew! His breath smelled like booze. "You got a dollar to give me?"

Spot M

Spot M
Originally uploaded by WT Melon.

WT Melon Alphabet: A

A is for Apple Island: An island far out in the Atlantic Ocean where all teachers come from. Apple Island has a north half where the kind teachers once lived and a southern half where crabby teacher still live today. Beware! Occasionally a crabby teachers leaves Apple Island and visits a school.

Chicago Union Station

Union Station
Originally uploaded by WT Melon.

In the book MVP*:Magellan Voyage Project Adam Story wants to take the train to New York duing his around-the-world journey. A woman dressed in green, however tries to stop him. And who is that mysterious man on the balcony, spying on him?

WT Melon Quote 6

"Few things are more wonderful than watching a great teacher in action; few thing are more wretching than watching a poor one."
WT Melon

Spot L

Spot L
Originally uploaded by WT Melon.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO?

Chapter One from the book So What Do You Do?
I saw a tall man standing in the doorway of the bookstore. He looked dirty and sad. I grabbed two quarters out of my backpack and dropped them into the Styrofoam cup by his feet.
The man said nothing. He just stood there, staring at the sidewalk through wire-rimmed glasses with one lens cracked clear through.
I took a good look at the man's face. His black beard was full of crumbs and spit. Strands of oily hair drooped over his glasses. His clothes smelled like a garbage truck, but he wore a tie and tweed coat as if he were on the way to the office or something. Weird. I mean, my dad doesn't even wear a tie and he has a big architect's job in the city.
Something about this guy looked familiar. I don't know, something about his clothes or how he stood there made me wonder if I knew him from someplace before.
My mom would have killed me if she knew what I did next. Like an idiot, I leaned against a mailbox and watched the man panhandle. The air was cool and I zipped up my gold 49ers jacket to my neck. I studied the man for about ten minutes. He never moved. He never called out the typical panhandler lines. He just stood there looking crazy.
"Get a job," one guy yelled at him.
"Move out of the way," shouted someone else.
But other people smiled at him and gave him change.
After maybe ten minutes the man picked up his Styrofoam cup and dumped the coins into his pants pocket. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his tweed coat and took off across Fourth Street--right in the middle of traffic. Cars had to stop. A bus nearly smashed into him. I waited for the light to change before I followed.
The man barged down the sidewalk as if he were a football halfback or something. When he came to a trash can he stopped. He rummaged through the papers, bottles, and stuff. Most street people I've seen doing this were looking for aluminum cans. But he pulled out a half-eaten egg sandwich and crammed it into his mouth. Disgusting.
I followed for another block. He rifled through every trash can he passed. Once he pulled out a newspaper and stuffed it under his coat. Once he stopped by a wall to pee.
I got nervous when the man walked into an alley behind the pizza parlor. From the sidewalk I watched him stand on a tomato crate and dig through a dumpster with his hands. He tore open a plastic garbage bag and came up holding a burnt piece of pizza. He gnawed on it ignoring the germs. After that he gulped down some milk left in a carton. If this guy ever discovered the trash cans outside our school cafeteria, he could have a feast every day.
I continued trailing him. In front of the library he stuck a finger in the pay phone coin return. He picked a pen off the sidewalk before climbing the library steps.
Lots of street people hang around in the library. Why not? It's free and warm and has soft chairs to sit in all day. I come to the library and see them washing their hair and clothes in the bathroom, even though there's this sign on the door that tells where you can get free showers and stuff. I think the library has a policy not to kick out homeless people unless they are loud or drunk or something.
The man in the tweed coat walked straight to the fiction section. He pulled a fat book--Don Quixote --off a shelf and sat down at a table. Like an idiot, I stood by the magazine rack and watched.
That's when I knew for sure. That's when I was positive who this man was. I could tell by the way he sat there. By the way his head bent over the book. I remembered how he had bent over me while I read to him.
His beard was new. His hair had gray and was much longer. But I knew him. He was Mr. Adams--my third-grade teacher.

WT Melon Definition: OIC

OIC:(interjection)
What a student cries after finally understanding a problem. "Oh, I see!" Oic's are very common during a second grade math period.

Teachers' Pet

Teachers' Pet
Originally uploaded by WT Melon.

Bradley met this yellow, scaly creature on Apple Island. It was a teachers' pet and it vowed to give Bradley away to the crabby teachers.

Fourth of July Fireworks!

I wish, Wonderful Ones, that someone would write a Field Guide to Fireworks. This could be a book such as birders have to identify birds, only this one would identify the firework work you see. I've often wondered what each one is called, who made them, or what factory are they from. The WT MELON FIELD GUIDE TO FIREWORKS, this July 4th, since it's not a very busy time in the classroom below, I might writing it.

Train

Train
Originally uploaded by WT Melon.

On the train to New York, Adam Story in MVP*: THE MAGELLAN VOYAGE PROJECT meets Meridith Emerson. So why does this girl have blue hair? And why does she carry the identical blue backpack, blue cell phone, and blue GPS as Adam does? Something is very perculiar about the around-the-world trip he is taking!

SO WHAT DO YOU DO?

Prologue from the book So What Do You Do?
You can be walking down a sidewalk in the middle of the day and be approached five or ten times by street people--panhandlers. Mostly guys about my dad's age. And they look perfectly able to get a job and everything. But they want me to give them money, and I'm just a twelve-year-old kid. So what do you do?
The weather is usually warm and sunny in California. I suppose that's what brings homeless people here. They hang around outside the pizza parlor and video store, so you have to walk by them if you want to rent a video or something. Some act crazy. Some smell bad. Some hold up cardboard signs that say things like
I'll work for food
HIV and homeless
and
Four children and no job
or stupid things like
Change please for the payments on my BMW
and
I can't lie, I just want a beer
Some seem friendly and smile. Some stagger around talking to themselves. I would never give a cent to a drunk.
But some of the street people really get to me. Like this woman I keep seeing crouched in a doorway with a baby in her arms. Or this man with no legs who sits outside the used record store and is always smiling. When I pass he shouts, "Have a good day, son." Why doesn't someone help him? Why can't someone give him clean clothes or something?
My dad says homeless people have taken over City Park. He says he pays good taxes for the government to take care of them. Build them shelters or cheap houses maybe. Dad says they litter the park and make it dangerous to walk there. My dad says he doesn't care where the police put the homeless people, just so it's not where we live on the hill.
"Giving change to beggars only encourages them, Charlie," my mom says. "They'll learn to live on handouts." Then she goes on and on, talking about the bears in Yellowstone who live on the food people give them and have never learned to hunt for themselves.
Sometimes if I'm walking down Fourth Street I might give a quarter to one of those street people. I mean, think about the millions of quarters I've already plugged into video games. Once I gave a homeless woman a whole dollar. She had no teeth, but she smiled at me anyway. You could tell that money made her really happy.
Sometimes I feel sorry for the street people. Sometimes I just get confused. So what do you do?

Chicago

Chicago
Originally uploaded by WT Melon.

Next stop Chicago, and Adam Story in MVP*:THE MAGELLAN VOYAGE PROJECT did some sightseeing and stayed at a fancy hotel. But he got traveler's itch and decided to take the train to New York. That's where he troubles began.