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"Ready?" Gooney Bird asked the class

Everyone was ready, so Gooney Bird continued

"Gooney Bird," the prince called, sounding very distressed, "Napoleon has disappeared! Can you help us find him?"

Gooney Bird carefully tucked all of the Monopoly e of the board so that it wouldn't bloay There was a slight breeze She had had proble away in the past She kept her own money collection, which she carried with her at all ti

Then Gooney Bird set out to look for clues that ht reveal the whereabouts of Napoleon

Napoleon was not the ee black poodle

Every hand in the second grade classroom shot up, even Felicia Ann's

"I knew that would happen," Gooney Bird said "I just knew it Tieon, do you want to deal with this?"

Mrs Pidgeon nodded She thought for a moment Then she announced, "Every child who has a poodle, put your hand down"

Four hands went down

"Now," Mrs Pidgeon said, "every child whose grandmother has a poodle? Hands down"

Seven more hands were lowered

"Every child who knows a poodle who does interesting tricks, or who gets into trouble, or who ran away once? Hands down"

Other hands went down, and now there were just three hands still in the air

"Beanie? What kind of dog do you have?" Mrs Pidgeon asked

"Golden retriever"

"That's lovely Ben?"

"Corgi"

"Good And finally, Tricia?"

"I don't have a dog," Tricia said sadly "I's And my mother said I can never, ever have one, or even a cat, not ever, because I ht have a terrible astho to the hospital, maybe in an ao back to the story, because we still don't knohat happened to Napoleon, or--"

"Or about the palace!" said Keiko "And the earrings!"

Gooney Bird shook her head a little so that the earrings lamorous way

"Listen for the word suddenly," Gooney Bird advised "I put one in the story already, but I like to sprinkle in several So soon"

Gooney Bird exaround was disturbed by the corner of the fence

"Look," she said "See this bit of dog hair caught in the fence? That looks like Napoleon's

"See?" she said next, pointing to soled under the fence"

"What a good detective you are," the prince said to Gooney Bird

Gooney Bird let herself out of the yard and through the gate She sniffed She listened

Suddenly--

"There's a suddenly!" called Malcol," Gooney Bird said Then she continued

Suddenly, because of the clues that she smelled and heard, Gooney Bird moved forward There, at the end of the alley, was an overturned garbage can And there, with his head inside the can, was Napoleon, eating garbage He had coffee grounds all over his face, and an orange peel was stuck on one of his ears

"You naughty thing, Napoleon," Gooney Bird said, and she took hold of his collar Napoleon burped

"Oh, no!" Keiko cried "Not garbage! Not burping!"

"Shhhh," the other children said Many hands aving in the air

Mrs Pidgeon stood up "No stories about dogs eating garbage," she said firle one"

All of the hands went down

"Please, please, please tell about the palace and the prince and the earrings," Chelsea begged

"I'm about to," Gooney Bird said

Gooney Bird took Napoleon back to his house The prince asked Gooney Bird to go to the palace for a reward

"Did you get all dressed up in a ball gown?" Beanie asked

"Maybe a tiara?" asked Tricia

"I hadn't planned to describe clothes," Gooney Bird said, "but since you asked, I'll insert a little descriptive passage here"

When she went to the palace, Gooney Bird earing clothes froue She wore Island Hopper shorts with front flap pockets, and a pointelle knit tank top in Sun Yellow

The prince had on rugged canvas shorts and polyester and nylon pale khaki plaid short-sleeved

Malcolm disappeared under his desk Ben picked up his arithan to do some problems Nicholas put his head down on his arms and closed his eyes

Gooney Bird stared at the you?" she asked