Mostly Monty (5 page)

“At least I got a new wagon. Or a new old wagon,” he told his parents. He gave the wagon a little pull, and the wobbly wheel stopped being wobbly. It fell off the wagon altogether.

“Oh, dear, I’m afraid this is beyond repair,” said Mr. Morris, inspecting the wagon. “The screws are all rusty, and so are the holes where new ones would go. I’m sorry,” he told his son. “Maybe we can get you a brand-new wagon with four good wheels for your birthday.”

“Will it be red?” asked Monty hopefully.

“Of course,” said his dad.

“When are you doing a wash?” Monty asked his mom. It looked as if all his newfound possessions were going out to the garbage. And it was a long way off till his next birthday. But maybe they could still rescue the teddy bear.

“I’ll do one now,” said Mrs. Morris.

The large orange sanitation truck came while the teddy bear was still in the washing machine. The broken chair and the suitcases and the old magazines in front of Mrs. Carlton’s house were picked up. The old books, the puzzles with the missing pieces, and the rusty wagon with three attached wheels and one that had fallen off were picked up too.

At last, the spin cycle of the washing machine was completed, and the teddy bear was taken out, together with the clothing he had been washed with.

“I’ll put him in the dryer for a little while,” said Mrs. Morris.

Monty went down to the basement and watched the teddy bear spinning around inside the dryer. He hoped when it finished spinning, the bear would smell good.

Finally, the buzzer went off. It meant the drying was completed. Mrs. Morris removed the dark clothing and the teddy bear from the machine. She sniffed at the bear and smiled. “What do you think?” she asked Monty.

Monty took a deep breath. “He smells good,” he said happily.

So even though he didn’t get any new books or puzzles or a wagon that day, Monty did get the teddy bear with the friendly smile. It sat on his bed, smelling good. And that night, it slept inside the bed, with Monty. Just looking at it made Monty feel good too.

Not everything Monty saw lying around belonged in the garbage. One Monday just as recess was ending, Monty found a sweater lying in a corner of the playground. It was dark gray and it was near a gray wall, so it would have been easy to miss. In fact, it had been missed by its owner, which is why Monty found it.

On his way back to his classroom, he stopped in the school office and handed the sweater to Mrs. Remsen, the secretary. Under her desk was a carton labeled L
OST
& F
OUND
.

“I found this,” he informed her.

Mrs. Remsen took her eyeglasses off the top of her head, where she often left them, and, putting them on, she examined the sweater. “There’s no nametape sewn inside,” she commented. “There’s no brand label either. This is a hand-knit sweater, and someone put a lot of work into making it. I hope the owner has enough sense to come looking.” Then she turned to Monty and smiled at him. “Thanks for being such a good citizen,” she told him.

Monty blushed. He could go for days without anyone noticing him. It wasn’t often that someone at school praised him. So he felt very good, even if he was embarrassed at the same time.

After that, Monty spent a lot of time looking for lost items around the school. Some of them he knew would never be claimed: a chewed pencil, a red mitten with a hole in it, a notebook with its cover torn off. Still, he took them to the office. He liked showing what a good finder he was, even when the stuff he found wasn’t very important. But then the following week, he made several important finds: a pair of boots, a book from the public library, a Yankees baseball cap, and a dollar bill. He thought about keeping the dollar. No one would know if he did. All dollars look the same. Still, he felt he had a responsibility to turn in every lost item that he found.

“Monty, you’re amazing,” said Mrs. Remsen when he turned up for the fourth day in a row. “I’m going to call you Mr. Lost and Found from now on.”

Monty blushed with pleasure. He liked Mrs. Remsen, and when she smiled at him, he could see that she liked him too.

“I can’t believe how careless some of the students are with their property,” the secretary said to him. “If they weren’t attached, I’m sure you’d be finding lost heads rolling around the hallways.”

Monty laughed aloud at Mrs. Remsen’s words.

“Maybe I’ll find a head tomorrow,” he said, joking back.

“Well, keep up the good work,” the secretary told him.

After four days of finding lost possessions, Monty did not find anything the next day, which was Friday. He wondered if people were more careful on Fridays.

When he returned to school after the weekend, Monty looked hard to find something. But there was nothing on the playground, nothing in the lunchroom, and nothing in the boys’ room waiting for him to find it. He didn’t find anything on Tuesday or Wednesday either. By Thursday, Monty thought that Mrs. Remsen would never call him Mr. Lost and Found again.

On Friday, Monty noticed a library book sticking out of Cora Rose’s desk, and he thought about taking it and bringing it to the Lost and Found. The book wasn’t exactly lost, but if he took it and turned it in, then it would be lost. When Cora noticed it was gone, he could tell her to check in the front office, and then the book would be found. But while he was thinking all this through, Cora, who had been off in the girls’ room, returned to her seat. So the whole plan was no longer possible.

Then Monty had another idea. He could take something of his own and bring it to Mrs. Remsen. He considered what he had with him: his backpack, his jacket, his baseball cap, his wristwatch, and his lunch bag.

He remembered that his mother had sewn nametapes into his jacket and cap. She had written his name on the inside of the backpack in indelible ink. There were no identifying marks on his wristwatch, but he couldn’t bear to be parted from it. That left only his lunch bag.

Monty had eaten a bigger breakfast than usual. He’d had some scrambled eggs with a slice of whole wheat toast, a glass of orange juice, and a glass of milk. He didn’t feel the least bit hungry. He wouldn’t need any lunch at all.

He raised his hand. Mrs. Meaney called on him.

“Can I take this lunch bag that I found down to the office?” he asked his teacher. It wasn’t a lie at all. He had found the lunch bag. He’d found it on the counter in the kitchen at home.

“Of course,” Mrs. Meaney said.

Monty took the bag and hurried toward the school office. He looked it over as he went to double-check that his name wasn’t on it. Wouldn’t it be awful if he gave the bag to Mrs. Remsen and she knew it was not really lost at all?

The brown paper bag looked just like a hundred other bags in kids’ backpacks. Reassured, Monty walked into the office with it.

Mrs. Remsen looked up from some writing that she was doing. “Don’t tell me you found that lunch?” she said.

Monty nodded.

“Lunches never go into the Lost and Found box,” the secretary told him. “They begin to smell after a few hours. I’ll leave it right here on my desk. Hopefully the owner will realize it’s missing and come and get it.”

Monty nodded again even though he knew that was not going to happen. He would never come back and admit it was his lunch on Mrs. Remsen’s desk.