Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion Read Free Page A

me.
    â€œDo you think I did it?” Harry asked as we walked home.
    I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure.
    â€œDoug,” Harry said. “I wouldn’t do anything that horrible. I plan on being a great scientist someday. With you, remember? I would never take the life of a single living thing. Not a beetle, or an ant, or a single blade of grass.”
    I knew Harry never mowed the lawn. He told his mother he couldn’t kill the grass.
    We walked home without talking. We didn’t even eat Harry’s homemade fudge. We just didn’t feel like it. The next morning, Harry made a poster and put it up by the fish tank. It was a picture of a tombstone and a graveyard. It said GOD BLESS R BLAK MOLLY.
    Then in the top part was a bunch of fish with yellow wings and halos flying around.
    â€œWhat’s that up there?” I asked.
    â€œFish heaven,” Harry replied.
    Miss Mackle started the morning as usual with a conversation.
    â€œBoys and girls, we need to talk about our fish. We are responsible for them. Somehow, we made an error.”
    Sidney raised his hand. “Harry is the fish monitor. He likes to do horrible things. Harry did it. He should stay after school.” Then he sat back in his chair and smiled.

    I looked at Sidney. Then it dawned on me. Revenge. That’s what Sidney wanted! He wanted to get even because Harry had put ice water down his back.
    Harry raised his fist at Sidney. “I wouldn’t cook a fish like that.”
    â€œProve it!” Sidney replied.
    â€œHarry,” Miss Mackle said, “do you know anything about how the black molly died?”
    Harry shook his head.
    Everyone made a face. No one believed Harry but me.
    â€œDid anyone see someone at the fish tank just before the lunch bell? I asked.
    Song Lee had her hand in the air for the first time.
    â€œYes, Song Lee,” Miss Mackle said. “Did you see someone?”
    Softly, Song Lee spoke, “I see Sidney by the tank just before bell ring. He reach behind where knob is.”
    Sidney sank down in his chair.
    Miss Mackle glared at him.
    Sidney looked at the teacher, then the class. His face turned red. “I didn’t mean to kill the fish. I just ... just ...”
    â€œJust what?” Miss Mackle asked.
    â€œ... wanted to get”—Sidney’s voice got softer and softer—“Harry in trouble.”
    â€œWe’ll talk about it after school,” Miss Mackle said firmly.

    Harry looked over at Song Lee.
    And beamed.
    Harry really isn’t that horrible. On a scale of 1-10, he probably is a 7 for horribleness.
    Then I noticed Harry get up and get his lunch box. He took something out of it and gave it to Song Lee.
    It was the two pieces of homemade fudge!
    Forget that 7. Anyone who gives my fudge away to a girl is a 10!

Horrible Harry and the Class Picture

    Tuesday everyone came to school looking very neat. It was picture day for Room 2B.
    â€œHow nice everyone looks!” Miss Mackle exclaimed.
    We looked at the teacher’s hairdo. It was really curly. And it looked red.
    â€œDid you dye your hair?” Mary asked the teacher.
    Miss Mackle’s face turned red. “No, I just”—her voice got softer—“just used a red rinse.”

    â€œYou look pretty,” Harry said. And then he flashed his white teeth.
    â€œThank you, Harry, you look quite nice in your suit and tie.”
    â€œMy mother made me wear it. She’s ordering pictures for all my relatives for Christmas.”
    â€œWill we get free combs this year?” Sidney blurted out.
    â€œLet’s hope so,” Mary said. “You need one.”
    Everyone looked at Sidney. His hair stuck out all over his head.
    Miss Mackle took out her red attendance book. “Let’s see, everyone is here today except ... Song Lee?”

    We looked around. She wasn’t at her desk or next to the fish tank or sharpening a pencil.
    Harry frowned. “Do