CHAPTER 11

Sophia

Sophia is a tree hugger. That means she hugs trees. Literally.

But she also protects them. And not just trees, but animals and oceans and grass and pretty much anything on the planet that is natural.

So when Lucy asked her what she wanted to be famous for, Sophia smiled wide and said, “I want to save the planet.”

“I like it,” Lucy said. “Go with it!”

The Ace Agent Agency drove Sophia to a local construction site where they were tearing down a forest to put up a new business building. When Sophia saw this, she was furious. She shouted, “What did these woods ever do to you?!”

Sophia was so angry, she chained herself to the trees. “You can’t knock down the rest of the forest without running me over. So take that!”

Within an hour, every news crew in the state had showed up to interview Sophia. “I just want to help clean up the world,” Sophia explained. That night, she let all the air out of the tractor tires.

“I was expecting a peaceful protest,” Lucy said, “but this works even better.”

Next, the Ace Agent Agency flew Sophia to an oil field where they were drilling for oil. Once again, she chained herself up. This time, she yelled, “Quit stealing from the earth!” Once again, the news crews showed up to interview her. And that night, she gunked up all the drills with lots and lots of chewing gum.

After that, the Ace Agent Agency boated her to a fishing village, where she put on a scuba suit and chained herself to the fishing boats. “Leave the little fishies alone!” she shouted. News crews came again. With so many cameras watching her, Sophia felt something snap! Overcome with rage, she sank the fishing boats. And it was all caught on film.

The next morning, Lucy called her up and said, “Great news on the news! You’re famous! They’re calling you the Eco-Warrior.”

Sophia read the headline:

ECO-WARRIOR TERRORIZES LOCAL FISHING TOWN. SINKS BOATS AND PUTS WORKERS OUT OF WORK.

“Oh no,” Sophia said. “I didn’t mean to make people lose their jobs!”

“But it’s helping the planet!” Lucy said. “You want to help the planet, don’t you?”

“I guess so,” Sophia said, not so sure.

“Well, people all over the world are looking to you for the next step in saving the planet. I’m thinking Eco-Warrior T-shirts and Eco-Warrior posters and… how about an Eco-Warrior Million Person March?! You can march to the nation’s capital and demand better treatment of plants.”

“If it will help the earth…” Sophia said.

So the next week, Sophia arrived in Washington, D.C., by helicopter. There, she led a Million Person March to save the planet. But as the millions of people marched toward the Capitol, Sophia saw they were trampling the grass.

“Walk on the sidewalks!” Sophia shouted, but no one heard her. They were protesting too loudly.

By the time the millions of people had finished their march, they had killed the grass and left a trail of trash behind them.

“What have I done?!” Sophia yelled in anguish. For the next several weeks, Sophia cleaned up the trash, replanted every blade of grass that had been destroyed, and told Lucy she quit. She tore up her contract—and then recycled it.