Rainbow

“	Sorry, it was supposed to be a bit more colorful. I don't know what went wrong.	”
— Miss Mush

Rainbow
Illustrated by Tim Heitz
Book	Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom
Previous chapter	"After the Storm"

"Rainbow" is the thirtieth and final chapter of Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom.

Synopsis

Miss Mush and Mr. Pepperadder improvise rainbow stew for lunch.

Plot

The chapter opens in the kitchen, where there is no stove, but rather a large pot suspended by a chain above a blazing fire. Miss Mush has Mr. Pepperadder lower the pot, as they think of an idea of what to serve for lunch now that the Cloud of Doom is gone. Miss Mush gets the idea to make rainbow stew, and with the help of Mr. Pepperadder, she collects various colorful ingredients to use. She starts off by tossing a variety of red ingredients into the pot. They move to yellow next, starting with bananas, which Miss Mush suggests should stay unpeeled, since the peel is the yellow part. For definition, Miss Mush then asks for black ingredients, where they settle on Mr. Pepperadder's shoes.

Up in Mrs. Jewls's class, the students hold their noses as they realize Miss Mush is cooking something. Myron notes it smells like shoes, and D.J. specifies it's black shoes, with hard soles, and no laces, something that impresses Kathy. Mr. Kidswatter's voice comes over the speaker, welcoming the students, and announcing that Miss Mush is making rainbow stew, which will be the best lunch ever. Miss Mush hears this, and sharpens her focus. She decides the stew needs something orange, and rejects oranges and carrots, before settling on pumpkins. She looks into the pot, feeling like she's making something great, though the doubts continue to return.

The lunch bell kaboinks, and the students head down to the cafeteria. Benjamin remarks that the name sounds promising, but Todd notes that the better the name, the worse the meal actually is. The students line up by Miss Mush and Mr. Pepperadder. Miss Mush hopes the kids will like it, but is worried, when she notices the stew is now a brownish-gray mush. As she serves the stew, she apologizes to each and every student for the way it turned out. Rondi asks if Allison is going to eat it, but Allison says she'll probably just eat the tangerine in her pocket instead.

For a while, the students are initially hesitant to eat the stew. But when they try it, they actually taste the colors. Kathy states that it looks delicious, and enjoys the taste, but no one's sure if she's speaking in opposites or not. Calvin decides to take a bite, and tastes red, then blue. Allison remarks that those are colors, not tastes, but Rondi tastes purple when she eats it. Eventually, all the kids start eating it, remarking the colors they taste when they take a bite, and even Allison ends up enjoying the taste. They all declare it the best lunch ever. Mr. Pepperadder shakes Miss Mush, amazed the kids actually like it, and asks if she wrote down the recipe, but Miss Mush states there is no recipe, as no two rainbows are the same. Miss Mush looks over the lunchroom in pride.

Characters

• Miss Mush (final appearance)
• Mr. Pepperadder (final appearance)
• Mrs. Jewls (mentioned, final appearance)
• Calvin (final appearance)
• Bebe Gunn (final appearance)
• Myron (final appearance)
• D.J. (final appearance)
• Kathy (final appearance)
• Mr. Kidswatter (final appearance)
• Benjamin Nushmutt (final appearance)
• Todd (final appearance)
• Paul (final appearance)
• Leslie (final appearance)
• Maurecia (final appearance)
• Joy (final appearance)
• Ron (final appearance)
• Deedee (final appearance)
• Joe (final appearance)
• John (final appearance)
• Allison (final appearance)
• Rondi (final appearance)
• Dana (final appearance)
• Sharie (final appearance)

Trivia

• This is currently the final chapter of the Wayside School book series.
  • As a result of this, this marks the final appearances of Miss Mush, Mr. Pepperadder, Calvin, Bebe Gunn, Myron, D.J., Kathy, Mr. Kidswatter, Benjamin Nushmutt, Todd, Paul, Leslie, Maurecia, Joy, Ron, Deedee, Joe, John, Allison, Rondi, Dana, and Sharie.
• Allison removing a tangerine from her pocket and taking off the peel in one piece is a reference to "Allison."
• The rainbow stew appears to make students taste their favorite color, as Rondi tastes purple, Dana tastes pink, and Sharie tastes purple and green stripes with yellow polka-dots, the color of her favorite umbrella.
  • Allison ends up tasting orange with green and purple stripes and a black outline, though in "Poetry" she simply claims her favorite color is purple.
• The final sentence is 'Everybody chewed', which rhymes with the previous three books' final sentences.

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