The children returned from Christmas vacation. On each desk were two knitting needles and a hunk of yarn.

"Today we are going to learn how to knit," said

Mrs. Jewls.

She showed the class how it was done. "See, you stick this needle through here, then wrap this around this like this, stick this through this, pull this like this, and then you stick this here. Any questions?"

Everyone stared at her.

"Good," said Mrs. Jewls. "I want everybody to make socks. Okay, get started."

Dameon looked at his knitting needles. He didn\'t have a clue.

He looked back at Mrs. Jewls. Now, more than ever, he was sure she was somehow different.

She was sitting at her desk, knitting and eating Baloneos. Dameon couldn\'t remember Mrs. Jewls ever eating a Baloneo before.

A Baloneo was an Oreo cookie, except instead of the white part, there was a round hunk of baloney.

Miss Mush invented them.

"Hey, Mac," whispered Dameon. "Does Mrs. Jewls seem different to you?"

"She\'s fat," said Mac.

"That\'s not a nice thing to say," said Dameon.

"I didn\'t say it to Mrs. Jewls," said Mac. "I didn\'t go, \'Hey, Mrs. Jewls. You\'re fat!\' "

Mrs. Jewls cleared her throat as she stood up. She walked around the room. "Very nice, D.J.," she said. "You\'re doing fine, Rondi."

She stopped at Joe\'s desk.

"Oh, Joe!" she gushed. "Look, everybody, I want you to see Joe\'s sock!" She held it up. "Isn\'t it the most beautiful sock you ever saw?"
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It was a great sock. Everybody oohed and

aahed.

Joe was as surprised as anyone. He didn\'t know he knew how to make socks. But the boy was born to knit.

Mrs. Jewls started to cry. "I love this sock," she sobbed.

"Uh-oh," said Kathy. "I think she\'s finally

flipped out!"

"I love you, Kathy," said Mrs. Jewls. She looked around the room. "I love all of you."

She put her hand on Kathy\'s desk. "I love this desk," she said. "I love the blackboard. I love the clock on the wall."

There was a ruler on the floor.

Mrs. Jewls picked it up. "I love this ruler," she declared.

"Hey, that\'s mine!" said Dana. "But, uh, that\'s okay, Mrs. Jewls. You can have it."

"I don\'t want your ruler, Dana," said Mrs. Jewls, handing it to her.

"You want my pair of scissors?" offered Sharie.

"Don\'t give her anything sharp!" warned Kathy.

Mrs. Jewls wiped away her tears and smiled at the class. "I\'m going to miss all of you very much," she said.

"Are you going away?" asked Dameon.

"Yeah, to the loony bin," whispered Kathy.

"Are you sick?" asked Eric Ovens.

"No, I\'m not sick," said Mrs. Jewls. "In fact, I\'m better than I\'ve ever been." She beamed. "I\'m going to have a baby!"

Everyone gasped.

Dameon couldn\'t believe it! He was so happy he jumped out of his seat and hugged Mrs. Jewls.

She was soon surrounded by all her students, even Kathy, wanting to hug her.

"Today is my last day here," Mrs. Jewls told her students. "My doctor doesn\'t want me walking up and down thirty flights of stairs every day, I wasn\'t even supposed to come today, but I just had to say good-bye."

"I thought you were getting fat," said Mac. "But I didn\'t want to say anything."

"Thank you, Mac," said Mrs. Jewls. "You are very co............