Oddfellow's Orphanage (4 page)

“An expedition is a field trip!” Ava explained.

“And where, you might ask, will we go on our expedition?” Professor Silas said. “I will tell you: the lake! The Great Green Lake. There, we will go on a boat and look for the Great Green Lake Monster.”

“Oooooooh,” all the students said softly, their eyes wide.

Then whispers traveled around the room.

Ava explained to Delia that they had studied many M.O.N.S.T.E.R.S. in Professor Silas’s class. They read about them and looked at pictures of them in books. They drew them and wrote reports about them … but they had never, ever
seen
one. Not in real life.

The whispers turned into excited questions:

“Will it be scary?”

“Will we really see him?”

“If we do see him, will he try to eat us?”

Professor Silas answered easily: “We’ll be quite safe on the boat” and “I certainly hope we see him” and “I really don’t think so.”

At that last answer, Delia and the other students looked relieved.

Then the professor tried to get everyone to read from their new books, but it was no use. They were too excited to do anything but talk about the Great Green Lake Monster.

AFTER
Professor Silas’s class was lunch. Students and professors alike gathered in the dining room for sandwiches and glasses of milk. After a chocolate cookie each, they all headed back to class.

The last class of the day for the youngest children was Astronomy. Delia was happy to see that this class was taught by Professor Stella, who sat at her desk at the front of the classroom. This room was just as lovely as Professor Flockheart’s classroom, but was darker and more dreamy. The walls were deep blue, and golden stars shone on the ceiling.

They began class with a poem about the constellations. Professor Stella stood in the front, leading the children (except for Delia, of course):

There was a knock at the classroom door. Professor Stella answered it and found a worried-looking Hank. They spoke quietly, and Professor Stella frowned as she closed the door. Then she turned to the children and said, “The baby bear has gone missing.”

Delia looked up with a start from her doodles of star animals. Her heart dropped.

“Everyone keep an eye out for him, please. He is missing from the bears’ quarters,” said Professor Stella.

“Now let’s finish our poem.”

Slowly, the children started back up:

Ursa Minor has gone missing!
Delia thought. The moment Astronomy class ended, she hurried to Ava with a note in hand.

Ava nodded seriously, and with that, the two girls went off on their search.

A SEARCH FOR LITTLE BEAR

A
VA
and Delia walked through the gardens, checking around the monster shapes made of leaves. Delia peeked under a dinosaur’s long tail. Ava peered beneath the sea monster’s coils.

“Little Bear!” Ava called.

Delia called the bear cub with her mind.

Delia and Ava soon discovered that lots of other people were searching, too. Daniel and the Golden Rule Society had climbed trees for a better view. Ollie and Imogen sat on the highest branches, where they could see the edge of the forest. The mama bear wandered about sniffing the air, hoping to pick up the scent of her lost baby. The papa bear roared, hoping his cub might hear him.

The sky was growing dark when Headmaster Bluebeard joined in the search. He carried lanterns, and his pockets were filled with bear treats.

Felix and Hugo joined Delia and Ava, and the little search party took a lantern into the forest. They searched and searched for the little bear until the dinner bell rang out.

“Maybe we should take a break,” Felix said.

“I’m sure the little bear wouldn’t want us to
starve
,” agreed Hugo.

One by one, everyone headed inside. Everyone except for Delia. She carried the lantern through the trees, calling for the little bear in her mind. She remembered the way her own mama used to call her when it got dark.
Only
I
wasn’t lost
, she thought.

The tree branches overhead twisted and came together like long, skinny fingers. Delia searched beneath them until she was so tired that she could barely lift her lantern. Finally, disappointed, Delia followed the glowing windows back to the house. She passed by the dining room, where chatter and good smells spilled out, but she was too sad about the little bear to be hungry.

A pretty lady in a crisp white nurse’s uniform stopped her. “Hello there, I’m Nurse Effie. Where are you going by yourself, dear?”

Delia sighed and fished out her pencil, then wrote in her notebook.

The nurse smiled. “Do you even know where your bed
is
? Aren’t you the one who arrived just this morning?” She took Delia’s hand and showed her to the room where the littlest girl students stayed. Inside were six small beds in two rows. On a pretty brass bed was Delia’s own quilt, which had been cleaned
and pressed. On a trunk at the foot of the bed sat a stack of neatly folded clothes.

“You can hang up your clothes there, dear,” the nurse said, pointing to a row of white wooden wardrobes lining the wall. Each of the wardrobes had a name painted in cursive letters on the door. One of them already had “Delia” painted in yellow.

“Good night. Have a nice sleep,” Nurse Effie said, leaving Delia to change into her pajamas.

When Delia opened the wardrobe to hang up her dress, she heard a funny little barking noise and smelled something sweet. Delia looked down, and two bright black eyes looked up at her.
So
this
is where you’ve been hiding, little Ursa Minor!
Delia thought at the little bear.
Everyone’s been looking for you!