Wayside School is Falling Down

This story is told in reverse chronological order; the events in each paragraph actually occur after, not before, the events of the paragraph that follows in the text. Read in reverse order, the story explains that Jenny is late for school because her mother made her sit at the breakfast table until she finished her prune juice, which she hates. Her father gives her a ride to school on his motorcycle, and the bumpy ride makes her feel nauseous. When she finally arrives at school, Mrs. Jewls is just finishing a story to the class, but Jenny does not understand why the ending is funny because she missed the earlier parts of the story. Mrs. Jewls tells her to read the story for herself, but she must read it in reverse order so that its beginning will be a surprise. After Jenny reads the story, she throws up, and her vomit is purple.

Benjamin Nushmutt again works up the courage to tell Mrs. Jewls his real name, but he is again defeated. This time, it is because the class has a substitute teacher, Mrs. Franklin. When she asks his name, Benjamin decides that even if Mrs. Jewls is not there to hear it, he will finally say his real name. However, the other students think that he is playing a prank on the substitute, and they all immediately claim to be named Benjamin as well. All day, they pay close attention and participate fully because they find it hilarious to be called “Benjamin” by the substitute; they cannot believe that she is credulous enough to believe that they could all have the same name. They end up learning “more from the substitute in a day than they usually learned from Mrs. Jewls in a month” (127). At the end of the day, the substitute tells them that because the bell has rung, they do not have to call her Mrs. Franklin anymore. She astonishes them when she says they can call her by her first name, “Benjamin.”

Allison carefully makes her way up the school stairs. She tries to do this early each morning because she dislikes being jostled when the stairs are crowded with other students. She dislikes the other students, as well. As she climbs, she considers the puzzle of the missing 19th floor: “There was no nineteenth story in Wayside School. Mrs. Zarves taught the class on the nineteenth story. There was no Mrs. Zarves” (129). Deedee and Ron rush up the stairs and bump into Allison, causing her to fall down three steps. When she gets to class, they do not apologize. Jason brings his pet goldfish, Shark, to class. When he is trying to put the fishbowl on the top of the coat closet, it topples, and he swallows Shark. Mrs. Jewls tells the laughing class that they have “a bad case of the sillies” (131). Mrs. Jewls marks Allison absent despite her repeated protests that she is, in fact, present. Suddenly, Allison realizes that no one in her class can see or hear her. She rushes down to the class below to tell them that something is wrong in her classroom, but that class cannot see or hear her either. Panicked, she runs down the stairs, shouting. Suddenly, Mrs. Zarves comes out of her classroom on the 19th floor and tells Allison to come inside. She announces that Allison will be joining their class from now on.

Allison learns that the students in Mrs. Zarves’s class are trapped in the classroom. One student named Virginia looks like an adult and has been there for 32 years. Allison also meets Ray Gunn, Bebe’s younger brother. Although Mrs. Zarves assigns strange and impossible work, like listing all the numbers from one to 1 million in alphabetical order, the students all think that she is wonderful because she praises them and gives them all A’s, regardless of whether they are successful on the assignments. Allison starts to have trouble remembering where she came from before she stumbled into Mrs. Zarves’s class. She realizes that she needs to talk to Ben, the other new student. Ben tells her that his real name is Mark Miller, but that everyone insists on calling him “Benjamin Nushmutt.” While Allison is talking to Mark, she wants to tell him about the Mark Miller in her old class, but she suddenly finds that she has forgotten what she is trying to tell him about.

Allison has been in Mrs. Zarves’s class for six straight days, desperately trying to remember where she came from. When she suddenly remembers Mrs. Jewls’s class, she is filled with appreciation for her former classmates. She talks to Mark during a brief break from their work. Mark offers his theory that they are dead and are stuck in hell and that Mrs. Zarves is the devil. When Mrs. Zarves tells the class to get back to their work, Allison realizes that the meaningless busywork that Mrs. Zarves assigns is intended to keep students from thinking clearly about their situation, so she stops working and thinks. Allison decides that the way to get back to Mrs. Jewls’s class is to act as if she is still a member of that class. She begins mimicking the silly and disruptive behavior that Mrs. Jewls routinely endures. She takes off her shoes and socks and sits on the floor, then sucks her toe, stands on her desk, and sings the song about socks that Mac sang in “Homework.” Mrs. Zarves tells her that she has 10 seconds to get back in her seat and start working. As Mrs. Zarves begins a countdown, Allison puts her socks on her ears and closes her eyes. She suddenly feels a bump and is transported back to the moment on the stairs; she opens her eyes to see Deedee and Ron. They apologize for bumping into her. Delighted, she hurries up the stairs and rejoins Mrs. Jewls’s classroom. When Mrs. Jewls sees her with her socks on her ears, Mrs. Jewls tells Allison that she has “a bad case of the sillies this morning” (148).

When Mr. Kidswatter calls over the intercom for Mrs. Jewls to send “Eric” to his office, she does not know which Eric to send, because there are three Erics in her class: Eric Fry, Eric Bacon, and Eric Ovens. She randomly chooses Eric Fry, who reports to the principal’s office and answers a series of strange, angry questions about when he last sharpened his pencil, whether he is left- or right-footed, and whether he had a recent haircut at Charley’s Barber Shop. When Mr. Kidswatter asks him what a “Mugworm Griblick” is, he trembles and protests that he is not the only Eric in class and says that Mr. Kidswatter has him confused with another Eric. Mr. Kidswatter sends for the next Eric—Eric Ovens—who goes through a similar interrogation. Finally, Mr. Kidswatter sends for Eric Bacon, who enters Mr. Kidswatter’s office with much more confidence than the other two. He gives cheerfully nonsensical answers to Mr. Kidswatter’s questions, and Mr. Kidswatter finally gives up and sends all three Erics back to class. At the end of the story, Mr. Kidswatter looks at a white card on his desk. It is a Charley’s Barbershop appointment card, listing the details of a recent appointment for “Eric.” The narrative reveals that “on the other side, a left-handed person had written with a sharp pencil ‘Mr. Kidswatter is a Mugworm Griblick’” (158).