Shaun Phillips and The Hat of All Hats
Chapter 9: Some Rules Were Meant to Be Broken

Friday morning arrived and that meant presentation day. Mom made waffles for breakfast and I could smell them all the way up in my room as I was getting ready for school. I definitely wanted some of those. I picked up my backpack and the box with my ship and hurried out of my bedroom; hoping I’d have enough time to eat before the bus came. But then I hesitated as I reached the stairs.

Remembering what Johnny had said the other day; I went back to my room and grabbed the hat. I stuffed it into my backpack, raced downstairs and gobbled up two waffles with blueberries and cream. Delicious! Breakfast was done and I was off the meet the bus.

The morning bell rang and we all settled into the classroom. Mrs. Bodeen took attendance and then we had Language Arts followed by math and science. The morning dragged on but finally the lunch bell rang.

“Did you bring it?” Johnny asked me as our class walked toward the cafeteria.

“Yes. But I’m nervous about using it. I don’t know exactly what will happen and I could get in a lot of trouble!”

“I knew it. You’re such a chicken!” He said and ran to get in the lunch line.

After lunch and recess we headed back into the classroom for Social Studies.

“Okay let’s get right to the main event!” Mrs. Bodeen announced. “While someone is presenting, I ask that the rest of you are respectful and give them your undivided attention. Listen carefully and feel free to take some notes. There will be a chance to ask questions after each presentation. With that said, Josh Dillard, you are up first.”

Josh talked about Christopher Columbus and held up a big painting he had made showing Columbus’s fleet of ships. Then he went over to a globe that was sitting on a table and pointed to where Christopher Columbus sailed. At first his presentation was interesting but Josh mumbled a lot. There were even a few times when I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Then I just got tired of listening to him.

“Thank you.” Mrs. Bodeen said when Josh was done. “Now are there any questions?”

Andrea raised her hand. “What was your favorite part of this project?”

“My favorite part was when it was all done!”

Everyone laughed.

“If you could be an explorer where would you want to explore?” Walter asked.

“I think I would want to explore somewhere that had a jungle and wild animals.”

Everyone clapped and then he went back to his seat.

Next Suzie Leonards did her presentation.

“My report is on Marco Polo. I drew this map showing where he traveled.” She taped a big map of Asia on the board. “I made you each a copy. And everyone gets a little ship that I made out of clay. You can put it on the map. It’s more fun to follow along that way!”

She was right! It was much more fun to look at the map when you had props to go with it. Ah Suzie. She was awesome!

“Well done.” Mrs. Bodeen told her when she finished. “Are there any questions for Suzie?”

“Can we keep these little clay ships?” Tyler asked.

“Sure.”

“Would you want to be a world explorer?” Lisa asked.

“Of course I would! There are so many places I would love to travel to. In fact I’ve started a list and I’ll check the places off as I visit them.” Suzy headed back to her seat.

“Great job!” I told her as she walked by.

“Thanks!” she said, smiling at me.

I could hear Johnny and Walter snickering in the background.

“Walter and Johnny there is lot of chatter going on back there.” Mrs. Bodeen said in her serious teacher voice. “You can come up next Walter!”

Walter stumbled up to the front of the room. He kept forgetting what to say and even dropped his paper. It was kind of funny but I felt bad for him too.

“Can I start over?”

“That is fine.” Mrs. Bodeen said but I could tell she was not pleased.

Walter finished and Andrea Hill did her report. After that Mrs. Bodeen gave us five minutes to stand up and stretch and then we went back to the presentations.

Tyler did his report followed by Thomas, Johnny and Lisa. It looked as though I was going to be last and I was starting to get a little nervous. I would say that I was getting stage fright but we didn’t have a stage in the classroom so I guess that didn’t really make sense.

I reached into my backpack to pull out my paper and there was my hat staring back at me.

Do I use it or not? The pressure was on!

If I used the hat my presentation would be better than the others for sure. I bet everyone would get a kick out of it. Especially Walter and Johnny; it might even shut Johnny up. However, Mom and Dad had been loud and clear about me never bringing the hat to school.

What would you do?

The more I thought about this it seemed to be in the best interest of 4th graders everywhere. Their education was important and I had an opportunity to make it better. Surely my parents couldn’t argue with that.

I put the hat on my head, grabbed my paper and the model ship and stood up in front of my class.

“Sorry Mom and Dad.” I whispered to myself.