Dr. Pickell was the counselor at Wayside School.

I say "was," because he was finally caught.

Dr. Pickell was a man with big scary eyebrows and a little beard at the tip of his pointed chin. He wore glasses around his deep, penetrating eyes. Everyone was scared of him, but the truth was he was mostly a good counselor.

I say "mostly," because he always liked to play mean tricks on his patients. Most of them were harmless, only a little annoying at the worst, but that doesn't mean people wouldn't catch on.

Case in point was Leslie. She had never been to the counselor's office, but her friend Paul had. He used to pull her pigtails all the time, but after seeing Dr. Pickell, he didn't do that anymore. He just thought her pigtails were a pair of rattlesnakes.

What he started doing after going to Dr. Pickell's office was licking her ears whenever she said "pencil."

Leslie hated when Paul did that. However, she wasn't sure why he did. So she decided she was going to figure it all out.

Leslie was a very clever girl, so she started looking around for clues about why he'd start licking her ears instead of pulling her pigtails. Not to say Leslie wanted Paul to pull her pigtails, either, she just wished he'd cut with most of that weird behavior. Otherwise, she thought he was a pretty nice kid.

She was able to figure out the shift was around the time Paul went to the counselor's office, so she looked for people who knew Dr. Pickell or his patients. Eventually, she discovered several people, all of who had been to Dr. Pickell's office in the past, that all showed strange behaviors under very specific circumstances.

Needless to say, the faculty of Wayside School wasn't happy to find out what Dr. Pickell had been doing for the past few years. He tried to defend himself at first, but eventually he gave in and fessed up. Dr. Pickell was soon fired from being Wayside School's counselor. He knew sometime, he was going to have to find a new line of work.

Mr. Kidswatter needed to hire a new counselor, and fast. A bunch of kids were stressed out for some reason, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Some kids attempted to go to Dr. Phrosenberg's office, but as the school nurse, she knew more about physical health than mental health. While putting ice over a scratch can numb that pain, you can't put ice on a kid's head to numb crippling anxiety. She tried that.

Other kids went to Mr. Kidswatter. If you're wondering how well that worked out, I want you to look at his name again, and think for about two seconds.

Clearly, there was a need for another solution. Someone who knew everyone else better than everyone else, or at least someone who would be able to.

Wendy Nogard had three ears. The first two heard sounds, as most ears do, but the third ear heard thoughts.

Well, it did if you're counting the ears in the right order. You have to save the ear on top of her head for last. Most people didn't know about that ear. It was covered by her thick, frizzy brown hair.

Being able to hear thoughts is a very dangerous thing. People usually keep their biggest secrets in there, or their biggest fears, all the kind of stuff no one wants anyone else to hear. Being able to know about that sort of stuff can make it very easy to ruin someone else's day.

Miss Nogard used to do that, but after hearing the thoughts of an infant, thoughts of pure love and trust that don't need words to convey, something about her had changed. She realized that there was still good in the world, and there was no point in taking that away from others.

The good thing about being able to hear someone else's thoughts is that you hear all the nice stuff too. You learn what makes people happy, and what you can do to cheer them up at any moment.

She loved children the most. Every time she passed an upset student, she did whatever she could to make them feel a bit better. It warmed her heart when later, she'd visit the playground, and she could hear them laughing and having fun.

So she continued her job as a substitute teacher. She was still a substitute before the change of heart, but she only really got invested in the job afterwards.

Usually, when looking for a new counselor, you'd be looking for someone who had a lot of experience before, maybe a degree in psychiatry or something. But Wayside School was strapped for time and money, so they had to find the next best person for the job.

Everyone noticed kids seemed happier when they were with Miss Nogard, and everyone noticed Miss Nogard was happier around kids, especially those at Wayside School.

She substituted at Wayside more than anywhere else, partially because she loved the kids, and partially because she loved Louis, the Yard Teacher. Wendy and Louis had their first date scheduled for next week.

No one knew Miss Nogard could hear thoughts, though, not even Louis! Louis knew about the ear, still. He just didn't know what it was for. Probably hearing sounds. That's what most ears are for.

Miss Nogard had showed up to Wayside School when she heard Mr. Kidswatter's voice crackle over the P.A.

"Miss Nogard, could you please report to the principal's office?" Mr. Kidswatter said.

Miss Nogard walked into the office.

"What do you need me for?" she asked.

"We have a problem," began Mr. Kidswatter, "Our school counselor has been fired, and we're looking for a replacement."

"Well, I wish you luck in finding a new one," said Miss Nogard.

Mr. Kidswatter lowered his sunglasses. "The new counselor we're looking at is you, Miss Nogard. I've heard from a few people that you're good with kids," he explained.

"Who would those people be?" asked Miss Nogard.

"The kids that have been bothering me as of late," Mr. Kidswatter said. "They've all been stressed for some reason, and some of them have been coming to me. And I. Am. Sick of it. If you could take them off my hands, that's all I'd be asking for."

Miss Nogard was fine with taking all the kids off Mr. Kidswatter's hands. Maybe not all at once, that may be difficult, but nonetheless.

Miss Nogard accepted the offer, and took the counselor's office on the fourth floor. It was a very tidy place, with a desk for her to sit behind, and a couch for students to sit on. There as a lamp by the couch, and a small box of toys in case the students needed to fidget with something while talking to her. It could be difficult to talk to a counselor, sometimes certain thoughts are too tough to put into words.

Fortunately, with Miss Nogard, it wouldn't be quite as difficult.

Miss Nogard sat behind her desk, and waited for a student to walk inside. If Mr. Kidswatter was right about anything, she should be very busy.

A boy with a red and blue diamond-patterned vest walked inside. He was sent there for licking a girl's ear. It was embarrassing, but he couldn't help it. Actually, he couldn't even remember it! However, everyone else told him they saw it, and he felt the taste on his tongue, so chances are it happened. He wasn't sure why, though. He took a seat on the couch, and grabbed a doll from the toy bin. He fidgeted with its hair a little bit.

"It's nice to see you, Paul," said Miss Nogard.

"Nice to see you too, Miss Nogard!" said Paul.

Miss Nogard recognized Paul from when she was substituting his class.

"I hear you're here for licking Leslie's ear, no?" said Miss Nogard.

"How did you know that?" asked Paul.

"Oh, you see, Mrs. Jewls told me," explained Miss Nogard.

Mrs. Jewls didn't tell Miss Nogard anything, but her goal was to make Paul feel better and help with his problems. Paul probably wouldn't feel so good if he figured out Miss Nogard was reading his mind.

"I don't get it," said Paul, "I don't even want to lick Leslie's ears. They taste terrible. But for some reason, it happens pretty often."

Miss Nogard listened to Paul's mind. She tried to see if she could hear any part of it remembering what he had done, but she couldn't. She could only hear the taste.

"Maybe if you and I can think about when this happened, we can go back and stop this problem," Miss Nogard said. "I want you to think about the first time Leslie got mad at you for licking your ears."

Paul tried to think for a moment. He typically wasn't very attentive, so it took awhile to remember just when it happened, but eventually, he almost came upon it. It was at the tip of his head, he just needed a moment.

Miss Nogard listened to the tip of his head to speed it up. "So it was during the gravity experiment? The one with the lightbulb, the coffeepot, the potatoes, and the pencil sharpener?" she asked.

"How did you know that?" Paul asked.

Miss Nogard shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, I think I remember it happening back then," Paul said. He could almost taste Leslie's ears on his tongue, but it might've just been because he tasted them earlier that day.

Miss Nogard needed another witness to get to the bottom of this, so she called on Leslie.

Leslie entered the room and took a seat on the couch next to Paul.

"Leslie, I hear Paul has been licking your ears a lot lately. We're trying to figure out why he's been doing it, and how we can get him to stop," Miss Nogard said.

"Well you've brought the right person, because I've spent a lot of time investigating this. I think the old counselor made him do that, and it seems to be whenever I say the word 'pencil,'" Leslie explained.

Paul licked her ear.

"You see? He did it again!" Leslie shouted.

"Did what?" Paul asked. He felt the taste in his mouth again. "Ah, that."

"Okay, Paul, I want you to remember the time you went to the old counselor's office. Just tell me everything you remember happening that day," Miss Nogard said.

This moment stood out pretty well in Paul's head. Since it was the only other time he'd been to the counselor's office, it didn't really blend with the rest of his thoughts. He remembered it very distinctly.

"Well, I was sent to the counselor's office for pulling Leslie's pigtail, and he had me look at a swaying pickle. Then I fell asleep, then I woke up and went back to class," Paul stated. "I don't know what changed. He didn't give me any instructions," Paul admitted.

Miss Nogard looked deep into Paul's mind to figure out what happened when he was asleep. It was buried pretty deep down, so she had trouble finding it, but think of it like a song you've listened to a million times before. As long as you listen hard enough, you may be able to find some small background instrument that went completely unnoticed the other million times you've listened, and after hearing it you never listen to the song the same way ever again.

Deep down in Paul's mind, Miss Nogard heard that little background instrument. A droning voice tucked deep down where Paul couldn't remember it if he wanted to.

"...You will wake up….. You will want to pull one of her pigtails….. It will turn into a rattlesnake…..When Leslie says the word 'pencil,' her ears will turn into candy…"

Miss Nogard wasn't able to pick up all of it, but she got enough to figure out what she had to do.

"Paul, this might sound strange, but you are going to have to pull Leslie's pigtail," Miss Nogard said.

"What?!" Leslie shouted.

"Leslie still has pigtails? I thought she tied snakes to the back of her head in some weird fashion statement," Paul said.

"How is this supposed to fix anything?" Leslie asked.

"Well, you don't want Paul licking your ears, right?" Miss Nogard said.

"I don't want him pulling my pigtails either!" Leslie exclaimed.

"Don't worry, we can also fix that soon, right Paul?" Miss Nogard asked.

Paul shrugged his shoulders.

"Please, Miss Nogard, is there any other way we can do this?" Leslie asked. "Anything at all?"

Miss Nogard thought long and hard about it. Paul was going to have to pull one of Leslie's pigtails to break Dr. Pickell's trance, but she didn't want Leslie to get hurt either. She had to figure out a way for Paul to pull Leslie's pigtails without it being on her head.

Eventually she had an idea. She wasn't sure if Leslie would be happy with it, though.

"The only thing I can think of is cutting off one of your pigtails and giving it to Paul," Miss Nogard said. She didn't want Leslie to be unhappy, but she couldn't think of a better way out of the situation.

Obviously, Leslie wasn't pleased. "What?!" she shouted a second time. "I've been growing these out for years!"

Leslie's pigtails reached all the way down to her waist. She had some of the longest hair in Wayside School, so much that no one was even sure if her hair could get much longer. She could still grow out the other pigtail again, but by the time they were even, she'd probably be in high school.

Leslie had to think through her decision. She was worried about losing her pigtail, because then her hair would be asymmetrical for a very long time, and she was worried Sharie wouldn't think she's pretty anymore.

But if she kept the pigtail, then Paul would have to pull it, which would hurt a lot, and then after Dr. Pickell's curse was broken, he'd probably go back to pulling her pigtails twice a day, every day for the rest of the year. He wanted to be fair, so he always pulled the one on the left, then the one on the right. If Paul had one of her pigtails to himself, he could pull that whenever he got the urge to pull her pigtail instead.

Paul was scared to handle Leslie's pigtail. He wasn't good at handling objects he thought were rattlesnakes. He threw it up into the air, grabbed one end, and yanked. It felt good, especially after he realized it was actually just a pigtail all along and not a snake.

Leslie didn't scream when Paul yanked her pigtail, mostly because it wasn't attached to her anymore.

Paul looked at the pigtail in his hand. "Do you want me to tie this back to your head?" he asked.

"No, you can keep it," Leslie said. Paul could tell she wasn't very happy.

Miss Nogard felt as if she had made a very bad mistake. Her goal as a counselor was to make people feel better, and while Paul was probably pretty happy to have one of Leslie's pigtails to himself, Leslie wasn't feeling very good at all.

Leslie walked up the stairs slowly. She didn't want to head back to class, but she knew Mrs. Jewls needed her. A couple students passed her as she walked upstairs, but she turned her head away. She didn't want anyone to see her.

Of course, that didn't mean no one did.

"Hey Leslie!" shouted Kathy. "I see you're looking as terrible as usual."

"Only as much as usual?" Leslie asked.

Kathy looked at her for a good moment. "Yeah. It's not like you can look much worse."

Leslie wasn't sure if she should take that as an insult or a compliment.

Eventually, Leslie made it back to class.

"Ah, Leslie, we've been looking for you!" Mrs. Jewls said. "Miss Nogard needs you. She's in the office on the fourth floor."

Leslie sighed and turned around. She walked all the way back down to Miss Nogard's office.

When she opened the door, Miss Nogard was throwing a small party for her. Sharie and Paul were also there.

"Surprise!" Sharie shouted. She was hoping Leslie would appreciate it. Of course, Leslie appreciated just about everything Sharie did.

"I'm so sorry about what happened earlier," Miss Nogard said, "I was just trying to help Paul, but I didn't know what else to do."

"I suggested we could throw a party," Paul said, "That way, you wouldn't feel so bad. I hope everything will be alright."

Leslie was flattered, but she was worried that she'd need to be somewhere else.

"This is nice and all, but I need to catch up on my work," Leslie said.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Jewls says you're exempt from the rest of your work today," Miss Nogard explained. "Right now the party is mostly just getting to skip class, hang out with friends, and feel good, but if you want I can bake you a chocolate cake or something!"

Leslie perked up at the notion. "That would be great! Chocolate cakes are my favorite! How did you know that?"

"Oh, just a wild guess. Most people like chocolate," Miss Nogard explained. Part of Leslie really wanted a chocolate cake. No party felt complete to her without it.

Leslie was happy to see everyone was looking out for her. But Miss Nogard wasn't quite done yet.

"And one more thing!" Miss Nogard said. She cut off the bit of hair blocking her third ear. "There. I know it doesn't solve everything, but I figure if both of us are struggling together, everything will be alright."

"Can I also cut off a lock of my hair?" asked Sharie.

"No, that won't be necessary," Leslie laughed.

"Awww, no fair, I was hoping we could match," Sharie said. She laughed as she gave Leslie a big hug. Sharie loved cheering up Leslie whenever she could. Actually, Sharie just loved Leslie. But you probably already knew that much.

"Do you want your pigtail back?" asked Paul.

"You can still keep it, as long as you promise not to pull the one on my head," Leslie said.

"Deal," said Paul. He grabbed his own pigtail and yanked. It felt great.

Miss Nogard wasn't able to solve everything. When there are so many problems, solving all of them perfectly is no easy task. However, as a counselor, her job was to help people feel better, and when she listened one last time to all the thoughts in the room, she was glad to hear that she was doing her job just fine.