Mentry School!â
âYou did it, A.J.!â Miss Brown shouted.
We were all shrieking and hooting and hollering and freaking out. Now the score was 210â100. We were winning, big!
It was the greatest moment of my life.
When we were done celebrating, those weight lifters carried a swimming pool out to the middle of the stage. Then they took a big hose and started squirting red stuff into the pool.
âWow, where do you think they got a swimming pool?â Michael asked.
âFrom Rent-A-Swimming Pool,â I told him. âYou can rent anything.â
âRound four of the Brain Games will be a surprise competition worth a hundred points,â announced Dr. Carbles. âDirk School and Ella Mentry School will compete at Jiggly wrestling!â
WHAT?! They were filling the swimming pool with Jiggly gelatin? Thatâs crazy!
âIâm not doing that,â said Andrea. âNo way!â
âMe neither!â said Emily, who wonât do anything Andrea wonât do.
âWait a minute,â said Morgan Brocklebank. âWe have to wrestle in Jiggly gelatin?â
âNo,â replied Dr. Carbles. âOf course not. The principal of each school has to wrestle in Jiggly gelatin.â
I looked over at Mr. Klutz. Suddenly, he was wearing a bathing suit! He climbed up on the stage and we all cheered.
âWhat does Jiggly wrestling have to do with using your brain?â asked Andrea.
âThe Jiggly gelatin company said they would only sponsor the Brain Games if someone from each school wrestled in a pool filled with Jiggly,â said Dr. Carbles. âWhere is Mr. Wilson of Dirk School?â
Mr. Wilson climbed up onstage.
âIâm very sorry,â he said. âBut Iâm allergic to Jiggly gelatin. So I wonât be able to wrestle. Is there anybody whocan take my place?â
All the grown-ups slinked down in their seats. Thatâs what you do when you donât want to get called on.
âI will represent Dirk School!â shouted Dr. Carbles.
Thatâs when the most amazing thing in the history of the world happened. Dr. Carbles took off all his clothes!
Well, he didnât take off all his clothes. He was wearing a bathing suit. That was weird. He must have thought he was going to go swimming today.
Dr. Carbles and Mr. Klutz turned to face each other.
âYouâre going to lose, Klutz!â said Dr. Carbles.
âI donât think so, Walrus Face!â said Mr. Klutz.
âOh, snap!â said Ryan.
I remembered that the two of them didnât like each other. Back in high school, Mr. Klutz gave Dr. Carbles the nicknameWalrus Face, and then everybody called him that.
As they climbed into the swimming pool, everybody started yelling and screaming. Well, everybody but Little Miss Perfect, of course.
âThis is not a good example for children,â Andrea told Miss Brown. âI donât like violence.â
âWhat do you have against violins?â I asked her.
âI think itâs a great idea,â said Miss Brown. â Anybody can wrestle on the floor. It takes creativity to wrestle in a swimming pool filled with Jiggly.â
A bell rang. Mr. Klutz and Dr. Carblesgrabbed each other by the shoulders.
âKlutz! Klutz! Klutz!â we all chanted.
âCarbles! Carbles! Carbles!â chanted the Dirk crowd.
In seconds the two of them were covered with red Jiggly, flipping and flopping all over the pool. It was hilarious! We got to see it live and in person. You should have been there!
âYou can do it, Mr. Klutz!â shouted Neil. âWe need those hundred points!â
First it looked like Mr. Klutz was winning. Then it looked like Dr. Carbles was winning. Then it looked like Mr. Klutz was winning again. Then it looked like Dr. Carbles was winning again! It was a seesaw battle, even though there werenât any seesaws around. *
Then Mr. Klutz pulled the toupee off Dr.
W. Michael Gear, Kathleen O'Neal Gear