Mrs. Jewls's closet

— Mrs. Jewls in "The Closet That Wasn't There"

Mac stumbling upon Mrs. Jewls's closet. ("The Closet That Wasn't There," 2020)

**Mrs. Jewls's closet** is a large cabinet that appears in *Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom*. The closet, located just outside of Mrs. Jewls's class, is heavily locked, and covered in signs warning students to stay away from it. As is explained by Mrs. Jewls in "Inside the Closet," it additionally has a smokescreen and siren for people who try to open it without knowing how. In that chapter, it is revealed that inside, Mrs. Jewls stores a single box of paper clips.

## Appearance

Mrs. Jewls's closet is a large cabinet made of thick wood. It has two doors, each with a keyhole, one that is red, and one that is green. Keys of opposite colors must be stuck in these holes and turned at the same time to avoid triggering a smokescreen and fire alarm. The doors are held shut by a steel bar, which is held in place by two letter-based combination locks. A chain is wrapped around the closet four times, and it is held in place by a padlock. Various signs are plastered around the door reading "KEEP BACK!," "DANGER!," "DO NOT OPEN DOORS!," and "CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IF YOU SMELL SOMETHING UNUSUAL!" Inside the closet, is a small box with a sticker labeling that it costed 85 cents. Inside the closet is Mrs. Jewls's paper clips.

## Role in series

The closet first appears in "The Closet That Wasn't There," where Mac notices it after returning to class after lunch. As the other students come up the stairs, they notice it to, and start fiddling with it, trying to find out what's inside, until Mrs. Jewls shows up, warning them to stay away, saying that the danger signs are there for good reason, and that they should just treat it as if it is not there. In "Science," Joy is lifted by Mrs. Jewls on top of the closet, so she can open a trapdoor to the roof. In "Inside the Closet," Jason shows up to class having finished reading his 999-page book, but having bent his paper clip in the process. Mrs. Jewls takes him to the closet, and opens it, first by turning the dial on the padlock with the combination 24-17-6, then by unwrapping the chain, setting the two latches to the combinations ACBD and BDBC, throwing off the steel bar holding the door shut, opening a secret compartment on the third step from the top revealing red and green keys, sticking them in the opposite-colored keyholes and turning them towards each other at the same time, eventually opening the closet. Jason is first alarmed when he sees nothing in the closet, and panics about Mrs. Jewls locking him inside, but when he takes a closer look, he sees that the closet actually has a small box in the corner, with paper clips in it. Mrs. Jewls locks the closet again, and they both return to class. The closet makes its final appearance in "Kachooga Boop," where the impact of the thunder from the Cloud of Doom knocks it over, blocking the door to the classroom, triggering the siren and smokescreen, and spilling paper clips across the floor.

## Appearances

Mrs. Jewls's closet appears in a total of four chapters.

* "The Closet That Wasn't There"
* "Science"
* "Inside the Closet"
* "Kachooga Boop"

## Trivia

* One of the notes reads "DO NOT OPEN DOORS!" despite "door" being claimed a bad word in "A Bad Word."

## References

1. ↑ "The Closet That Wasn't There"
2. ↑ "Inside the Closet"