Horrible Harry and the Dungeon Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  The Dungeon

  Mr. Skooghammer

  Clash, Flash, and the Big Black Bag Plan

  Harry Goes to the Dungeon

  Trapped

  Freedom!

  What danger lurks in the Dungeon?

  “Boys and girls,” Miss Mackle said. “This is Mr. Kookhammer.”

  “Skooghammer,” he corrected.

  Everyone laughed except Harry.

  Miss Mackle continued, “Mr. Skooghammer will unfortunately be taking Harry down to the Suspension Room for the whole day. I look forward to seeing Harry tomorrow, when he will have a better attitude.”

  Harry got up. He walked down the aisle like he was walking to his execution.

  When Harry turned and gave me one last look, he held up five fingers. I felt so bad. My buddy was innocent. He was going to the Dungeon for a crime he didn’t do.

  BOOKS ABOUT HORRIBLE HARRY AND SONG LEE

  Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion

  Horrible Harry and the Christmas Surprise

  Horrible Harry and the Drop of Doom

  Horrible Harry and the Dungeon

  Horrible Harry and the Green Slime

  Horrible Harry and the Holidaze

  Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding

  Horrible Harry and the Mud Gremlins

  Horrible Harry and the Purple People

  Horrible Harry Goes to the Moon

  Horrible Harry Goes to Sea

  Horrible Harry at Halloween

  Horrible Harry in Room 2B

  Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade

  Horrible Harry’s Secret

  Song Lee and the Hamster Hunt

  Song Lee and the “I Hate You” Notes

  Song Lee and the Leech Man

  Song Lee in Room 2B

  Acknowledgments

  Special appreciation and thanks to ...

  My editor, Jane Seiter

  My colleagues Val Vitalo, for her Human Bean Program, and Ellen Seeran, who shared her experiences in the Suspension Room

  Dedicated with love to my second graders:

  Arielle Celadon

  Marissa DeAngelo

  Timothy Finkle

  Colby Gaines

  Christine Hart

  Sean McDonnell

  Daniel Merli

  Eric Mosakowski

  Christopher Mosher

  Christopher Pashley

  Amanda Pixley

  Katie Poole

  Deanna Porter

  Nicole Primerano

  David Reyes

  Michael Rice

  Jeffrey Seiser

  Ryan Smith

  Ray Squires Jr.

  Jacqueline Tribou

  Rannan Tyrrell

  Melissa Wallace

  Mark Woznicki

  and to Emily Kline, my dedicated volunteer intern from February to June 1996

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England

  Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

  Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2

  Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

  First published in the United States of America by Viking,

  a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1996

  Published in Puffin Books, 1998

  20 19

  Text copyright © Suzy Kline, 1996 Illustrations copyright © Frank Remkiewicz, 1996

  All rights reserved

  THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE VIKING EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

  Kline, Suzy. Horrible Harry and the dungeon/by Suzy Kline ; pictures by

  Frank Remkiewicz. p. cm.

  Summary: It’s almost summer vacation and the students in room 2B are

  having trouble concentrating on their butterfly project, until a frightening

  new teacher comes to supervise the suspension room.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07683-5

  [1. Schools—Fiction. 2. Teachers—Fiction. 3. Butterflies-Fiction.]

  I. Remkiewicz, Frank, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.K6797Hnnj 1996 [Fic]—dc20 95-42525 CIP AC

  R L: 2.3

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  The Dungeon

  “Good morning boys and girls,” the principal’s voice said over the intercom. “Please stop what you’re doing and listen. I have some bad news.”

  Bad news?

  I stopped looking at a chrysalis hanging in our butterfly-net cage. Song Lee stopped drawing symmetrical butterfly wings.

  Miss Mackle put down her book, The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. She was reading us the part where Bartholomew was about to get his head chopped off in the dungeon.

  Harry kept playing pool on his desk. When he shot a small ball of clay with the eraser end of his pencil, Miss Mackle walked over and caught it.

  Everyone in Room 2B looked at the little silver dots on the intercom box ...

  And waited for the principal to continue.

  “Boys and girls, some children at South School are forgetting our school rules. I know it’s June. I know summer vacation is just two weeks away. But that’s no excuse for bad behavior. From now on, any student who refuses to obey our school rules will—”

  Mr. Cardini paused.

  “—go to the Suspension Room.”

  Harry and I exchanged looks.

  “I saw it,” I whispered to Harry. “It looks like a prison. It’s the old music room in the basement that smells. I know because the janitor told me. It just has cement walls. No windows.”

  Harry leaned over and whispered, “Hey Doug, let’s call it the Dungeon.”

  “It’s got to have a trapdoor if it’s a dungeon,” I said.

  “Shhhh!” Miss Mackle shushed. Then she pointed to the intercom box on the wall.

  “If you go to the Suspension Room,” the voice continued, “you’ll do your work there, eat there, and sit there all day. I’ve hired a teacher to supervise the Suspension Room. Mr. Skooghammer.”

  “Skooghammer?” I said. “His name sounds like a Viking weapon.”

  “Or an executioner,” Harry said. Then he chopped a ball of clay in half with his ruler.

  “Now,” the principal added, “I want to end this message on a happy note. We are also starting a GOOD HUMAN BEANS bulletin board. Every time a student does something that is extra thoughtful and kind, a teacher will write it up on a green paper Bean and drop it in the Bean Box, and I will read it aloud each morning during our Bean Broadcast. The good beans will grow on our school beanstalk in the hall.”

  Harry blurted out, “If it’s a real beanstalk, we have to make a giant for it that goes fe fi fo fum.”

  Song Lee giggled.

  Mary made a face. “Harry, you’ll never get a bean.”

  “Shhhh!” Miss Mackle put a finger to her mouth.

  “Have a good day, boys and girls, and remember, be a good Human Bean.”

  When the intercom went off, Miss Mackle held up a pile of blank green beans. “I hope there are lots of these from Room 2B.”

  “I hate beans,” Harry groaned. “They’re the magical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot.”

  When the class laughed, Miss Mackle folded her arms. “I can’t believe that phrase is still around. Kids used to say that when I w
as in elementary school.”

  “How old are you, Miss Mackle?” Mary asked.

  “I’ll tell you my age, but you have to solve the math. Ready?”

  I leaned forward.

  Harry leaned back. He hates hard math problems.

  “Eight plus eight, minus one, plus fifteen, minus two, plus three.”

  Just when I got the answer, Sidney shouted, “Look! A butterfly crawled out of its chrysalis!”

  Everyone turned and looked at the giant yellow net cage that hung in the middle of the room. The butterfly was perfectly still. Its wings were pointing straight up.

  Miss Mackle clapped her hands. “Look at our beautiful painted lady! Song Lee, you’re my helper today. Please go get Mr. Cardini. Tell him we have good news in Room 2B.”

  As soon as Song Lee left the room, Miss Mackle made an important announcement. “Don’t forget about this final stage of the butterfly. It needs time to dry its wings before it flies, so don’t anyone jostle the net cage or touch a wing.”

  “Yes, Miss Mackle,” we all said.

  “What’s the good news?” Mr. Cardini asked as he stood in the doorway.

  “Look!” the class shouted.

  “Your first butterfly! Bravissimo!” Mr. Cardini said. “What a miracle of life!”

  Suddenly, the school secretary’s voice came over the intercom. “Mr. Cardini?”

  The principal went over to the silver box and pressed it once. “Yes?”

  “Mr. Skooghammer just arrived. Shall I take him down to the Suspension Room?”

  Everyone in Room 2B was pin quiet.

  “Yes,” Mr. Cardini replied into the silver box. “I’ll get the two fifth-grade boys who will be joining him.”

  “The first two prisoners!” Harry whispered.

  I nodded. “I wonder what Skooghammer looks like.”

  “I’ll find out,” Harry whispered back.

  One minute later, Harry raised two fingers. That means, May I go to the bathroom, please?

  Miss Mackle frowned. “Can’t you wait until I take the whole class down in fifteen minutes?”

  Harry got out of his chair and jumped up and down. “It’s a real emergency.”

  Mary made a face. “Harry will never get a bean. He’s so gross!”

  As soon as Miss Mackle gave Harry a nod, he took off.,

  While the rest of the class watched a second butterfly hatch, I watched the doorway. I couldn’t wait for Harry to come back and tell me about Mr. Skooghammer and the Dungeon.

  Mr. Skooghammer

  I almost didn’t recognize Harry when he showed up at the door. His hair was standing on end.

  His eyes were bugged out.

  When he walked over to his desk, he was shaking.

  I looked back at the class. They were still watching the painted ladies.

  Harry plopped down in his seat next to me.

  “I saw him.”

  “Mr. Skooghammer?”

  “Mr. Skooghammer.”

  Harry’s head clunked on the desk like a dropped bowling ball.

  I looked at Harry’s hair. It was wet. “What happened?” I asked.

  When Harry turned his head, I noticed how big his black pupils were.

  Just when he opened his mouth to speak, Miss Mackle made an announcement. “It’s time now for our science clubs.”

  “What happened?” I repeated in a whisper.

  “I’ll tell you later....”

  I made a face.

  I wanted to find out about Mr. Skooghammer now.

  Song Lee, Mary, and Ida pushed their desks near the butterfly net. They were in the Butterfly Club.

  Sidney and Dexter moved to a table for their Eagle Club. They had a huge framed picture of an eagle that Sidney brought from home.

  Harry and I moved to the round table. We had twenty pages of notes about snakes. We were the Snake Club. Miss Mackle was waiting for us with her clipboard. It was our turn for a teacher visit.

  “Why is your hair wet?” she asked Harry.

  “I was hot so I cooled off a little.”

  “You know you’re not supposed to get your hair wet in the boys’ bathroom sink.”

  “I didn’t.” Harry half smiled. “I got it wet in the drinking fountain.”

  “Harry!” Miss Mackle exclaimed. “I’m losing my patience with you and your antics.”

  I tried to change the subject. “See all the notes we took? Twenty pages.”

  Miss Mackle flipped through our folder. “Boys, I appreciate your hard work, but it’s not necessary to copy every word out of the book. Be choosy. Copy only the facts that you think are really important about snakes.”

  When Miss Mackle moved on to the Dolphin Club, I scooted my chair closer to Harry’s. “Give me the scoop about Skooghammer.”

  “He has a red beard.”

  “Yeah?”

  “He’s young and hairy.”

  “Hairy?”

  “He was wearing Bermuda shorts, and I saw his legs.”

  “He has hairy legs?” I said.

  “Yes, and ...” Harry paused. “A big black shoulder bag. It bulges.”

  “What do you think is in it?”

  “Maybe whips, a sledgehammer, and chains. It was heavy. I know because I tried to pick it up.”

  “You did?”

  “I did.”

  “Where were you?” I asked.

  “Downstairs in the basement. I watched him check out the Suspension Room. Then he walked through the gym and into the boys’ bathroom.”

  “You followed Skooghammer into the boys’ bathroom?”

  Harry nodded. “He left his black shoulder bag on the floor outside the stall. It was open a little, so I stuck my hand inside.”

  “Yeah, go on.”

  “That’s when I pricked it on something sharp.”

  “Really?”

  “It felt like that spiked weapon the knights used.”

  “A mace? Whoa!”

  “Anyway, Skooghammer came out of the stall, so I dashed over to the sink and washed the blood off my fingers.”

  “Did you get a look at his face?”

  “I sure did. The guy had an earring in his eyebrow.”

  “HIS EYEBROW?”

  “Yup. His hair looked like a bunch of S.O.S. pads sitting on his head. The dude’s weird. After Skooghammer went back to the Dungeon, I stuck my head in the fountain to cool off. I wouldn’t want to spend a day with that guy.”

  “But I bet you’d like to see what’s in his big black bag,” I said.

  Harry nodded. “I’m working on a plan.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup, and when I figure one out, I’ll raise my eyebrows three times. Just go along with whatever I need you to do. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I said slowly. But I wasn’t looking forward to it.

  Harry’s Big Black Bag Plan sounded dangerous.

  Clash, Flash, and the Big Black Bag Plan

  That afternoon, while we were working on math, Harry kept rolling balls of clay and then chopping them in half with a ruler.

  “I hate fractions,” Harry whispered. “They’re boring.”

  “You’re making some right now,” Miss Mackle said behind us. “Halves.”

  Harry took out his math paper. Not one problem was done.

  “Would you rather work in the Suspension Room?” Miss Mackle suggested.

  Harry suddenly got busy.

  A few minutes later, I heard Mr. Cardini’s voice at the door, so I looked up. He was standing there with a woman who was holding a camera. “Room 2B, this is Mrs. Kamaya, from the newspaper. I called her up so she could see the new butterflies and your interest in science.”

  As soon as the principal left, Miss Mackle went over to greet the woman. “Come in, Mrs. Kamaya. Boys and girls, we can have our science clubs meet now, if you like.”

  “Yeah!” Harry blurted out. “Take a picture of our Snake Club. It’s the best!”

  Sidney turned around. “Our Eagle Club
is the best. We have better pictures. Besides, eagles eat snakes.”

  Harry put up a fist.

  “Boys!” Miss Mackle exclaimed.

  I could tell the teacher was embarrassed. She was rolling her eyeballs.

  When she turned to the newspaper woman, she shook her head. “Welcome to the classroom. June is a challenge.”

  Mrs. Kamaya smiled. “I have three children. I know. They clash over the silliest things.”

  Harry walked over to Sidney and Dexter at the Eagle Club table. “Snakes eat eagles.”

  “Eagles eat snakes. The Mexican flag proves it!” Dexter replied.

  Flash!

  When Mrs. Kamaya took our picture, I noticed Miss Mackle had her hand over her eyes.

  “Big deal,” I said. “Eagles can’t swim. Snakes can. Here’s a picture of one.”

  Harry and I unrolled the mural we had made of a nine-foot-long sea snake.

  Flash!

  Dexter pulled a quarter out of his pocket. “Eagles are on coins and dollar bills.”

  Suddenly Song Lee waved everyone over to the butterfly net. “Look! The last painted lady just hatched. She’s perfectly still on this branch.”

  Flash! Flash! Flash!

  After Mrs. Kamaya talked with the Butterfly Club, Miss Mackle walked her to the door.

  “Did you see new painted lady?” Song Lee said to Harry and me.

  We looked.

  “I put sugar water inside cage so butterfly can drink.”

  We watched Song Lee carefully lay a lid of sweet water down on the floor of the net cage.

  “She is so beautiful,” Song Lee said.

  We nodded.

  Then she did it.

  Song Lee gently stroked one wing of the newest painted lady.

  Harry and I gasped.

  “You touched the butterfly wing!” I shouted. “It could be handicapped now.”

  Miss Mackle stepped back into the room. Mrs. Kamaya had just left. “What’s going on?” she asked.