Joy (book chapter)

Illustrated by Tim Heitz

"**Joy**" is the twenty-seventh chapter of *Sideways Stories from Wayside School*.

## Synopsis

When Joy steals Dameon's lunch, she leaves the blame on the other students in Mrs. Jewls's class.

## Plot

This chapter begins by saying Joy has forgotten her lunch at home, and she doesn't have a meal ticket to buy a meal from Miss Mush. Though according to the narrator, Miss Mush's lunches taste horrible, probably worse than a brown paper bag. However, Joy is *so* hungry, that it wouldn't matter anyway. Dameon, on the other hand, hasn't forgotten his lunch, which consists of a turkey sandwich, a large slice of chocolate cake, and a red apple. He leaves his desk to get some milk from the lunchroom, which is the only thing Miss Mush doesn't know how to spoil. Once he leaves, Joy observes Dameon's lunch and thinks it looks very delicious, so she decides to steal it. She takes out the apple first, only to notice the turkey sandwich. She grabs the sandwich only to notice the cake, but upon taking out the cake, she realizes it would just be easier to take the whole thing.

First, she eats the sandwich and discards the empty Baggie it was in on Jason's desk. Next, she eats the chocolate cake wrapped up in wax paper, leaving the wax paper on Allison's desk. Then, she eats the apple, leaving the core on Deedee's desk. When she's finished, she places the paper bag on Calvin's desk. When Dameon comes back from the lunchroom, he discovers that his lunch is missing and tells Mrs. Jewls. To deflect the blame, Joy points out the empty lunch sack on Calvin's desk and blames Calvin for stealing Dameon's lunch, so Mrs. Jewls writes Calvin's name under the discipline list. One by one, Joy incriminates her classmates for the missing lunch items. Even when Mrs. Jewls asks how she knew Dameon had a turkey sandwich, Joy dodges the question and says that she's just smart. Even the chocolate all around her lips and Allison's denial does not convince Mrs. Jewls. She tells Dameon to thank Joy for solving the mystery of his missing lunch, and he does.

Just then, Louis walks in with Joy's lunch, which was brought in by Joy's mother. Joy offers it to Dameon since she's not hungry, but it consists of an old bologna sandwich and a dried-up carrot. Mrs. Jewls is thrilled with Joy and tells her to help herself to a Tootsie Roll Pop for solving the mystery and being so generous with her lunch. Joy goes up to grab one, and when Mrs. Jewls isn't looking, grabs another.

At the end of the day, all of the names are eventually erased from the discipline list, they were all good. Dameon had a lousy lunch while Joy had a great one, but neither could taste the food after five minutes and they were full. Dameon played basketball and Joy didn't get hungry again until dinnertime. Everyone involved in the missing lunch incident forgets about it, except for Joy. Due to how guilty she feels for stealing Dameon's lunch and blaming her classmates for it instead of telling the truth, all of the food items she took taste like Miss Mush's porridge for the rest of the year.

## Characters

* Joy
* Miss Mush (mentioned)
* Dameon
* Jason
* Allison
* Deedee
* Calvin
* Mrs. Jewls
* Louis
* Joy's mother (mentioned, only appearance)

## Trivia

* While in this chapter Joy fills up with remorse after stealing Dameon's lunch, in "Lost and Found" she steals Maurecia's lunch without any question.
* This is the second and last time Miss Mush's porridge (which is mud) is mentioned.

## Gallery

Dennis Hockerman illustrationJulie Brinckloe illustrationAdam McCauley illustration
### Foreign editions

Peter Allen illustration (UK)Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan)