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"It is too a story!" Barry replied angrily "I learned all about it in the encyclopedia!"

Mrs Pidgeon went to the front of the roo up her "Quiet, please" hand toward the class

"Barry," she said, "you provided us with a real learning experience I never knew there was a nickel with a buffalo--excuseOne of these days ill have a lesson about doing reports, and ill each have a chance to present one

"But a report is nonfiction"

"What's thatdown at his nickel

"Well, it ination" Mrs Pidgeon looked out at the class "Gooney Bird? Did you have your hand up?"

Gooney Bird nodded "Barry can make his buffalo report into a story," she said "It can be an absolutely true story, and it can have a suddenly"

"Barry?" Mrs Pidgeon said "Want to try that?"

"I could help you," Gooney Bird told him

"Well, okay," Barry said "But it should be about a bison, not a buffalo, because the National Bison Association prefers the correct name"

"Bithon thtarts with a B," Felicia Ann pointed out

Barry nodded He went to the board, erased the word BUFFALO, and replaced it with BISON

Gooney Bird Greene went to the front of the class and stood beside Barry Today she earing bib overalls on top of a ruffled blouse, and a pearl necklace

"It's a good idea to start out with the word once," she whispered to Barry

Barry scrunched his nose He took a deep breath

Once over sixty ed him "That's nonfiction, still," she said "Try this" She whispered a sentence to Barry

Barry began again, using Gooney Bird's opening sentence

Once a young bison lived with his herd on the plains of North America

He paused and looked at the class "Is that okay?" he asked The second-graders nodded

"How big was he?" asked Beanie

"Did he have a name?" asked Chelsea

"See?" Gooney Bird said to Barry "They're getting interested in the character That's an iht for a moment, and continued

He didn't have a name Some people liked to call him Buffalo, but the National Bison Association prefers--

"Wait aa report again, didn't I?"

Gooney Bird nodded "Start over," she suggested "We all reat"

Barry took another deep breath and began his fable again

Once there was a young bison who lived with his herd There were about eight hundred of the the sunshine in summer In winter, they liked the snow, too, because they had thick fur and were never cold

"Is that too reporty?" Barry asked Gooney Bird

"No," she said "Details are good I liked knowing about the thick fur because I could picture the bison in ination

"But I'd add a little action to the story now," she said

Barry nodded and went on

One day when they were roauns crept up on the herd

"Guns!" said Keiko, and covered her ears "I don't want to hear anyup his hand with his finger aieon went to Malcolm's desk and put her calm-down arm across his shoulders

"Maybe," Gooney Bird said to Barry, "soood now"

Barry frowned "Bison can't talk," he said

"In stories they can," Gooney Bird explained "That's the good thing about stories Anything can happen"

"H

Then he went on

"Look!" called the young bison to his herd "I see hunters co!"

"Oh, dear!" an older bison said "If they shoot us, the nificent bison herds of the western plains may become extinct!"

"Yes," said another old bison, "once there were sixty million of us, but--"

Barry paused He looked around Keiko still had her hands over her ears Malcol a cootie-catcher out of paper Beanie and Chelsea were beginning a ga their spelling tests

"Time for a suddenly Gooney Bird whispered to Barry

"Yes," Barry agreed He turned back to the class and spoke in a booraders looked up with interest Barry grinned and continued

Suddenly the hunters cauns, and shot a lot of the bison Even the young one

And after that there were practically no bison left in North America

"That's the end," Barry said "It's a sad ending"

"Soood to be reminded of that"

Tricia raised her hand "But what's the moral? "she asked

Barry stood in front of the class with his arht"

Guns s, "he said finally

9

"One potato, two potato, three potato four, "Gooney Bird chanted,back and forth between the clenched fists that Malcoloes Y, O, U," she concluded, and Malcolet your turn next, Malcolm," Gooney Bird reassured hientlemen