Bee in Your Ear Read online

  “Kate,” said Mr. Bolin.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  People

  Kate walked to the front of the stage.

  “Write,” said Mr. Bolin. “I like to write my ideas down on paper.”

  “W-r-i-t-e,” said Kate.

  “Well done,” said Mr. Bolin.

  It was Jake’s turn.

  “Sea,” said Mr. Bolin. “I like to swim in the sea.”

  “S...” began Jake.

  “Jake! Jake!” shouted a high-pitched little voice from the audience. It was Jake’s sister, Melanie. She bounced up and down, waving and calling Jake’s name.

  Jake’s face turned as red as his hair, but he continued.

  “S-e-a,” he spelled.

  “Right,” said Mr. Bolin.

  Jake’s mom took Melanie into the hall.

  “Phew,” whispered Jake.

  “Violet,” said Mr. Bolin.

  Violet walked to the front again.

  “People,” said Mr. Bolin. “There are a lot of people in the auditorium.”

  “P-e,” Violet began. Then she coughed. “P-e,” she began again, stretching the e out like a wad of gum. As she did, her eyes darted down to Lila.

  Lila held her left hand against her face like a fence. Then she pursed her lips into a p.

  “P,” said Violet, “o-l-e.”

  “I’m afraid not,” said Mr. Bolin. “P-e-o-p-l-e.”

  Kate gulped. She couldn’t believe it. Violet had cheated again, but this time cheating had made her lose!

  Violet stared at Mr. Bolin as if he’d hit her with a book. She stumbled down the stairs and sat in the front row. Her dad looked as stunned as she did. He stood up and walked out of the hall. Kate didn’t know if Violet saw her dad leave. Violet’s eyes were glued to her black patent shoes.

  Kate and Jake spelled the next five words correctly.

  “Kate,” said Mr Bolin. “Please spell the word plane. The sentence is: We fly in a plane.”

  “P-l-a...” spelled Kate. Then she stopped. She tried to picture the word in her mind but she couldn’t. Then she remembered how she and Jake had pretended they were flying like airplanes across the basement as they sang—

  “P-l-a-n-e,” spelled Kate.

  “Correct!” said Mr. Bolin. “Jake, your word is knot. I have a knot in my shoelace.”

  “N,” said Jake. “No, k. No, wait. N or...maybe ...it’s...”

  “Choose,” said Mr. Bolin.

  “Okay. Okay,” sputtered Jake. “N-o-t.”

  “I’m afraid not,” said Mr. Bolin. “It’s k-n-o-t. Congratulations, Kate. You’re the winner of our spelling bee and Jake is the runner-up.”

  Kate gasped. “I...I...” she stammered as the audience burst into applause.

  “Aye, aye, Kate M’Mate,” said Jake. “You won.”

  “And here’s your ribbon,” said Mr. Bolin, and he handed Kate a gold ribbon. Then he turned to Jake. “Here’s your ribbon, Jake,” he said and he gave Jake a silver ribbon.

  Jake beamed.

  “As for your prize, Kate,” said Mr. Bolin, “it’s two tickets to Mel’s Marvelous Monkey Show.”

  “Thank you,” said Kate, grinning. “One ticket for me and one ticket for Jake!”

  “Hey! Thanks, M’Mate!” said Jake. “I love monkeys!”

  “Me too,” said Kate. And she and Jake took a final bow together.

  Frieda Wishinsky is the author of many popular books for children, including A Noodle Up Your Nose, also about Kate and Jake and Violet (Orca, 2004), Just Call Me Joe (Orca, 2003) and Each One Special(Orca, 1998). Frieda lives with her family in Toronto, Ontario.

  Louise-Andrée Laliberté has built a career as an artist, illustrator and graphic designer in both English and French. She was awarded the CAPIC’s Gold Prize for book illustration for L’Homme Étoile. She is also the illustrator of Susin Nielsen-Fernlund’s Hank and Fergus(A Mr. Christie Silver Seal Award winner, Orca, 2003) and Mormor Moves In (Orca, 2004). She lives in Québec with her family.