2

LAPLAND 
by Max Reif 

      "How 'bout me?" she asked, smiling up at Mr. Nugent. He frowned.
      "I'm afraid there's just no more room, Mikhaila," he said. Mikhaila began to cry.      
      "I want to sit on your lap, too!" cried Robert.
      "Me, too!" Tiara chimed in.
      Mr. Nugent stopped reading. He placed his hand under his chin. He thought and thought and thought. The children crowded around him. Finally, Mr. Nugent spoke.
      "Children," he said, " I'd love to have you all up here. But my lap is only a two-seater! What can I do?" He held both arms up at his sides in a questioning way.
      Then a dreamy look began to come into his eye, the way it did when he was about to make up a story. The children hushed and drew closer.
      "I'll tell you what I can do!" Mr. Nugent announced loudly. "I'll apply for a bigger lap!
      "Far away, there is a place called Lapland," he continued. "It is way up near the North Pole. After school today, I will fly to Lapland and see what I can do about this whole thing! Would you kids like that?"
      "Yes!" the children all shouted.

     After school, Mr. Nugent drove to the airport. He got on the first plane to Lapland. As the plane came down, it looked like everything in that country was covered with ice and snow. But after renting a car, he found that the roads were snow-plowed well enough for him to get around. He drove straight to the Hall of Government.      
      "I've just come all the way from America!" he told the lady behind the Information desk. "I need to get a bigger lap! I need one that all the children in our class can sit on when I read them stories!"
      "Oh," said the lady. "That does sound important! For that, though, you will have to see the Commissioner of Laps. His office is not in this building. It is far, far away, on top of a high mountain."
      Here," she continued. "I will give you a map." The lady gave Mr. Nugent the map.

      Mr. Nugent drove to the foot of the mountain. He could see a big palace,