She tried on forty-two outfits, but none seemed quite right.
She put on a pretty red dress and looked in the mirror. Then she screamed. Her mother ran into the room, and she screamed, too.
“Oh my heavens! She cried, “You’re completely covered with stripes!”
This was certainly true. Camilla was striped from head to toe. She looked like a rainbow. Mrs. Cream felt Camilla’s forehead.
“Do you feel alright?” she asked.
“I feel fine,” Camilla answered, “but just look at me!”
“You get back in bed this instant,” her mother ordered. “You’re not going to school today.”
Camilla was relieved. She didn’t want to miss the first day of school, but she was afraid of what the other kids would say. And she had no idea what to wear with those crazy stripes.
That afternoon, Dr. Bumble came to examine Camilla.
“Most extraordinary!” he exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Are you having any coughing, sneezing, runny nose, aches, pains, or uncontrollable twitching?”
“No,” Camilla told him. “I feel fine.”
“Well then,” Dr. Bumble said, turning to Mrs. Cream, “I don’t see any reason why she shouldn’t go to school tomorrow. Here’s some ointment that should help clear those stripes in a few days. If it doesn’t, you know where to reach me.”
And off he went.
The next day was a disaster. Everyone at school laughed at Camilla. They called her “Camilla Crayon” and “Night of the Living Lollipop.”
She tried her best to act as if everything were normal, but when the class said the Pledge of Allegiance, her stripes turned red, white, and blue, and broke out in stars. The other kids thought this was great.
One yelled out, “Let’s see some purple polka dots!”
Sure enough, Camilla turned all purple polka-dotty.
Someone else shouted, “Checkerboard!” and a pattern of squares covered her skin.
Soon everyone was calling out different shapes and colors, and poor Camilla was changing faster than you can change channels on T.V.
That night, Mrs. Harms, the school principal, called.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Cream,” he said. “I’m going to have to ask you to keep Camilla home from school. She’s just too much of a distraction, and I’ve been getting calls from the other parents. They’re afraid those stripes might be contagious.”
Camilla was so embarrassed. She couldn’t believe that two days ago everyone liked her. Now, nobody wanted to be in the same room with her. Her father tried to make her feel better.
“Is there anything I can get you, sweetheart?” he asked.
“No, thank you,” sighed Camilla.
What she really wanted was a nice plate of lima beans, but she had been laughed at enough for one day.
“Hmm, well, yes, I see,” Dr. Bumble mumbled when Mr. Cream phoned the next day. “I think I’d better bring in the Specialists. We’ll be right over.”
About an hour later, Dr. Bumble arrived with four people in long white coats. He introduced them to the Creams.
“This is Dr. Grop, Dr. Sponge, Dr. Cricket, and Dr. Young.”
Then the Specialists went to work on Camilla. They squeezed and jabbed, tapped and tested. It was very uncomfortable.
“Well. It’s not the mumps,” concluded Dr. Grop.
“Or the measles,” said Dr. Sponge.
“Definitely not chicken pox,” put in Dr. Cricket.
“Or sunburn,” said Dr. Young. “Try these,” said the Specialists.
They each handed her a bottle filled with different colored pills.
“Take one of each before bed,” said Dr. Grop.
They filed out the front door, followed by Dr. Bumble.
That night, Camilla took her medicine. It was awful. When she woke up the next morning, she did feel different, but when she got dressed, her clothes didn’t fit her right. She looked in the mirror, and there, staring back at her , was a giant, multi-colored pill with her face on it.
Dr. Bumble rushed over as soon as Mrs. Cream called. But this time, instead of the Specialists, he brought the Experts.
Dr. Gourd and Mr. Mellon were the finest scientific minds in the land. Once again, Camilla was poked and prodded, looked at and