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"Chelsea? Your turn for a fable," Gooney Bird said, as Malcol, went back to his desk "Malcolm, you'll be next"

Chelsea went up to the front of the class

"I bet we all can guess what your ani, as Chelsea picked up the chalk "It's so obvious"

Chelsea looked at Mrs Pidgeon, and then at the class "No, it isn't," she said "No one will guess"

Mrs Pidgeon grinned "Cluck cluck cluck," she said

"Cluck cluck cluck?" Chelsea repeated "Excuse eon asked

"Of course not Who on earth would write a fable about a chicken? Chickens get their heads cut off, and then they get eaten," Chelsea said She put her hands on her hips "What kind of fable would that be?"

Froroaned "Oh, no!" she said "Head cut off?Eaten?"

"Well, eon said "I certainly blundered, didn't I? I thought I knehat you'd choose because of the 'ch' in your na," said Chelsea

"But what other 'ch' anieon asked

"Chipmunk!" called Beanie

"Chimpanzee!" called Ben

"Chinchilla!" called Barry

"Chinchilla?" Gooney Bird asked "What on earth is a chinchilla?"

"A small rodent from South America," Barry explained "It looks like a rabbit, but with big mouselike ears and a squirrel-like tail It was first introduced into the United States back in--"

He stopped "I'ain," he said "Sorry"

"Have you hing

"Alh I' on the D's now"

"And le one of those animals," Chelsea announced "Here is my costume" She took a small leather belt decorated with rhinestones out of her pocket Carefully she buckled it around her neck

Then she went to the board and, after checking her paper to be certain her spelling was correct, printed carefully: CHIHUAHUA

Tyrone made a face as he looked at the word "Chi-hooah-hooah? I never heard of no chi-hooah-hooah!"

Chelsea explained "It's a Spanish word You say it this way: chi-a"

The second-graders all repeated itChi-a

When she turned and held up her paper to read, Chelsea announced, "The title of my fable is just one word"

Woof

Once there was a teeny tiny dog called a Chihuahua He lived in Mexico with a very rich lady

He slept on a bed made out of one of her old ht He had a collar with diaet on the furniture

One day, when he was on the sofa, he looked through theand sawone another, and biting sticks, and barking at cars

"Woof!" he said, o out and play with them

"No, you must stay inside," said the rich lady "Here Have a crealass of wine"

But the Chihuahua kept looking through the"Woof," he said again

"Woof

"Woof"

He kept saying it all day long, until the rich lady was so annoyed that she opened the door to the house and told hio outside if you want to"

Off he went

But when the bigger dogs saw him, they did not knohat he was Maybe a cat? Or maybe a chinchilla?

A chinchilla is a small rodent that lives in South America

Chelsea paused "Oh, dear," she said "I starteda report"

"That's okay," Gooney Bird told her "Please go on Your fable is interesting It has details, dialogue, and suspense"

So Chelsea continued

The bigger dogs began to chase the Chihuahua "Help! Help!" he cried, though in his language it sounded like "Woof! Woof!"

If the rich lady heard hih woofs that day She was playing an opera on her stereo

The Chihuahua ran as fast as he could on his teeny tiny legs The bigger dogs kept chasing hiain

"That's the end," Chelsea said to the class

"But what happened to him?" Beanie asked

"No one knows," Chelsea explained

"But a story has to have an ending!" Beanie co," Gooney Bird told the class "So?"

"It just eon?" Gooney Bird asked

"I think the ould be aeon said "Let h the pages of the A's "Here we are," she said Then she read aloud, "'Open to many different interpretations' Yes, Chelsea's story has an a"

The class was silent for a ht have happened to the Chihuahua

They looked sad

"Class," Gooney Bird suggested, "let's think about the moral of the Chihuahua story"

"What color wath the Chihuahua?" Felicia Ann asked shyly