As soon as we got to my house after school, I made a hot and tasty winter drink for everyone. It’s called a Bop Shoo Bop. Here’s how you make it:
1. Put a cup of milk in the microwave for 45 seconds.
2. Add a packet of instant hot chocolate.
3. Add in three shakes of cinnamon.
4. Plop on five mini marshmallows.
5. Stick a cherry on top.
There’s only one thing better than a cherry on top, and that’s two cherries on top.
Pearl sat right next to Matt at our kitchen table. She is oh-so-curious about people she has never met before. She stared at him as she hugged Ricardo and sipped her drink. Then, suddenly, she pulled on the sleeve of Matt’s striped shirt and said, “I’m so big! I go potty! I go AWW the time!”
I thought he’d snicker or say something dumb. But to my surprise, he turned to her with a big, bright smile and exclaimed, “You do? Wow! That’s so cool! You really are big!”
Then he asked her what her rat’s name was, and she said, “Wicawdo. He’s fwiendly.”
“Yeah, rats get a bad rap, but they are usually really friendly,” he said. “You know, they get blamed for starting the bubonic plague. But it wasn’t the rats that did it. You know who did it?”
Pearl was looking at him with wide eyes. “Who?”
“Gerbils!” he said. “So they’re the bad ones. Not rats!”
“Bad gewbiws!” she said, making her mad face.
I gave Cora a look that said, Can you believe this? Because never in a million years would I have guessed that Matthew Sawyer would be so nice to my baby sister!
When we’d gulped down every drop of our Bop Shoo Bops, Cora, Matt, and I went to find Jude and Ezra.
They were hunched over Jude’s neat and tidy desk. Their foreheads were wrinkled like they were concentrating hard.
“Ninety-three, ninety-four,” Jude counted.
“Hey there!” I exclaimed. “What’s cooking?”
Jude groaned. “You messed up our count!” he hollered. “Now we have to start all over again!”
“It’s okay,” said Ezra. “I think we messed up that count, anyway.”
I wished for the ten thousandth time that Ezra could live with us instead of Jude. He never yells at me for being a slob, and he laughs at all my jokes. He also has an adorable kitten. He would be the perfect roommate.
“What are you doing for your 100 Days project?” I asked Ezra.
“We’re writing a story with one hundred sentences,” Ezra said speedily. “And for the illustration, we are making a drawing with exactly one hundred pencil strokes.”
“That is very cool,” I said, “but I think you might want to add a tad more razzle-dazzle.”
“Razzle-dazzle?” Jude snorted. “You don’t need razzle-dazzle when you have a great idea.”
“Hey, you know, a little bling might not be the worst idea,” said Ezra. “Just to jazz up the presentation.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Just to jazz it up. Give it pizzazz.”
I love words with z’s in them, and words with double z’s are even better.
“We don’t need jazz or pizzazz, and we definitely don’t need razzle-dazzle,” Jude said.
“Suit yourself.” I shrugged. “Listen, we need to have a Fix-It Friends meeting, for Matt.”
“Maybe later,” said Jude, looking down at his project. “We’re in the middle of something.”
“Not later,” I insisted. “It has to be ASAP! Pronto! Without delay! Matt’s here just for that reason, and plus Miss Mabel told us to.”
“You can’t just order everyone around all the time,” grumbled Jude. “You’re not the boss of the world.”
“That’s what I tell her!” said Matt.
“So buzz off,” Jude said, and he waved me away, like a mosquito.
Then Cora said the magic word. “We need to make a list!” she said quickly. “Can you help us?”
That got his attention, all right. He looked up at us and started to laugh.
“Can I help you make a list?” he asked. “Can a bird fly? Can a dolphin swim?”
He put his pencil down and leaned back in his chair. “Tell me everything.”