"Calvin," said Mrs. Jewls, "I want you to take this note to Miss Zarves for me."
"Miss Zarves?" asked Calvin.
"Yes, Miss Zarves," said Mrs. Jewls. "You know where she is, don\'t you?"
"Yes," said Calvin. "She\'s on the nineteenth story."
"That\'s right, Calvin," said Mrs. Jewls. "Take it to her."
Calvin didn\'t move.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Mrs. Jewls.
28"She\'s on the nineteenth story," said Calvin.
"Yes, we have already established that fact," said Mrs. Jewls.
"The nineteenth story," Calvin repeated.
"Yes, Calvin, the nineteenth story," said Mrs. Jewls. "Now take it to her before I lose my patience."
"But, Mrs. Jewls," said Calvin.
"Now, Calvin!" said Mrs. Jewls. "Unless you would rather go home on the kindergarten bus."
"Yes, ma\'am," said Calvin. Slowly he walked out the door.
"Ha, ha, ha," laughed Terrence, "take it to the nineteenth story."
"Give it to Miss Zarves," hooted Myron.
"Have fun on the nineteenth story," called Jason.
Calvin stood outside the door to the classroom. He didn\'t know where to go.
As you know, when the builder built Wayside School, he accidentally built it sideways. But he also forgot to build the nineteenth story. He built the eighteenth and the twentieth, but no nineteenth. He said he was very sorry.
There was also no Miss Zarves. Miss Zarves taught the class on the nineteenth story. Since there was no nineteenth story, there was no Miss Zarves.
And besides that, as if Calvin didn\'t have enough problems, there was no note. Mrs. Jewls had never given Calvin the note.
"Boy, this is just great," thought Calvin. "Just great! I\'m supposed to take a note that I don\'t have to a teacher who doesn\'t exist, and who teaches on a story that was never built."
29He didn\'t know what to do. He walked down to the eighteenth story, then back up to the twentieth, then back down to the eighteenth, and back up again to the twentieth. There was no nineteenth story. There never was a nineteenth story. And there never will be a nineteenth story.
Calvin walked down to the administration office. He decided to put the note in Miss Zarves\'s mailbox. But there wasn\'t one of those, either. That didn\'t bother Calvin too much, however, since he didn\'t have a note.
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