Miss Zarves taught the class on the nineteenth story. There is no nineteenth story. And there is no Miss Zarves.

You already know all that.

But how do you explain the cow in her classroom?

Miss Zarves drew a triangle on the blackboard. "A triangle has three sides," she said, then pointed to each side. "One, two, three." She drew a square. "A square has four sides. One, two, three, four."
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She walked around the cow to the other side of the board. She drew a pentagon, a hexagon, and a perfect heptagon. "A heptagon has seven sides," she said.

Miss Zarves was very good at drawing shapes. When most people try to draw heptagons, there is always one side that sticks out funny. But Miss Zarves\'s heptagon was perfect. Every side was the same length, and every angle the same degree.

It was a great talent. But nobody appreciated her.

Nobody appreciated anything she did. It was like they didn\'t know she was there.

She counted the sides on the heptagon. "One, two, three, fo-"

"MOOOOO," said the cow.

Miss Zarves dropped her chalk. She glared at the cow. "I hate this!" she shouted.

It was a brown cow with a white head.

"It\'s all right, Miss Zarves," said Virginia, her best student. "I\'ll get the chalk for you."

"No," said Miss Zarves. "Leave it where it is. The cow made me drop the chalk. The cow should pick it up."

Her students gaped at her.

"I will not continue," said Miss Zarves, "until that cow picks up the piece of chalk and draws an octagon on the board!" She folded her arms across her chest, stared at the cow, and waited.

Ray raised his hand.

"Yes, Ray," said Miss Zarves, arms still folded across her chest.

"Uh, cows can\'t pick up chalk," said Ray.

Miss Zarves sighed. "I know," she said. "And I can\'t teach with a cow in my classroom!"

No one had ever seen Miss Zarves so upset. She usually had a pleasant disposition.

"It\'s okay, Miss Zarves," said Virginia. "I don\'t mind the cow."

"You get used to it after a while," said Ray.

"What cow?" asked Nick. "Oh, that one! I forgot it was there."

Miss Zarves smiled. She knew her students were trying to make her feel better.

"Other classrooms have goldfish or hamsters," said Virginia. "It\'s really no different."

"No," said Miss Zarves. "I won\'t have it! All my life I\'ve tried to be accommodating. I\'ve never been one to complain. And what has it gotten me? A cow!"

She shook her head. "When I was a little girl, my friends never did what I wanted to do," she said. "I always had to do whatever they wanted to do.
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"And my teacher never called on me in class. She always called on the kids who just shouted out without raising their hands, even though she said she wouldn\'t. She\'d say, \'I won\'t call on you if you don\'t raise your hand,\' but then she always did anyway. But I was a good girl. I never shouted

out

"And she always did things alphabetically, so I was always last if there was time for me at all.

"My parents were too busy for me. They were always dressing up and going out to fancy parties. I had to tuck myself in at night and wish myself

sweet dreams."

She took a tissue out of her sleeve and wiped

a tear from her eye.

"Still, I always tried to keep a smile on my face. Well, not anymore! The days of walk-all-over-Miss-Zarves are finished!"

She threw open her classroom door. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease!"

"What are you going to do?" asked Virginia.

"I\'m going out there!" said Miss Zarves. "And I\'m not coming back until I get some grease!"

She stepped outside. She decided she\'d go right to the top! So she headed down the stairs-to the principal\'s office.

Joy and Maurecia were coming up the stairs.

"Todd is uglier than stupid," said Maurecia.

"You\'re crazy!" said Joy. "He\'s stupider than ugly."

"Oooh," teased Maurecia. "I\'m going to tell Todd you think he\'s cute."

Miss Zarves stepped in front of them. "What are you children doing out of class?" she asked.

"I didn\'t say he was cute," said Joy. "He\'s just not as ugly as he is stupid."

"That means you think he\'s handsome," said Maurecia. "Are you going to marry him?"

"I asked you a question," said Miss Zarves.

"Ugh, gross!" said Joy.

"I\'m a teacher," said Miss Zarves. "That means you are supposed to listen to me."

Joy and Maurecia walked right past her.

Miss Zarves sighed, then continued down to Mr. Kidswatter\'s office. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She was about to knock but then changed her mind and just marched right in. "Hey, Kidswatter, I want to talk to you!"

The principal was making a rubber-band ball.

"Do you hear me?" asked Miss Zarves.

He opened his desk drawer and looked for some more rubber bands.

"If you don\'t answer me right now," said Miss
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Zarves, "I\'m walking out the door and never coming back!"

Mr. K. pressed the buzzer on his phone. "Miss Night, you need to order more rubber bands."

"That\'s it!" said Miss Zarves. "I\'m leaving.

Good-bye. I quit!"

She walked out of the school and took a deep

breath of fresh air.

"Please don\'t go, Miss Zarves," said a voice

behind her.

Startled, she turned around.

"We need you," said a bald-headed man. He was standing between two other men. Both had black mustaches, and one carried a black att............