by Stan
Brother had his opening line well memorized by now, but hearing Milton’s last name threw him off balance. He grasped the new cub’s hand and said, “Hi, Milton. It’s very fat to meet you.”
Bonnie Brown gasped. Harry looked at Brother in horror. Milton’s ongoing blush turned a deeper shade of red.
“And this,” said Harry quickly, pulling Ferdy forward, “is Ferdy Factual. He’s our resident genius and nephew of the great scientist Actual Factual.”
Again Milton put out his huge hand. “Gee,” he said softly. “It’s an honor, Ferdy.”
Ferdy, delighted at the respect he was being shown, smiled and shook Milton’s hand. But he too could not get Milton’s last name out of his mind. “Thank you very large,” he said, then added, “Ouch!” as Cousin Fred elbowed him in the ribs.
“Way to go, Brother and Ferdy!” boomed a familiar voice behind them. Too-Tall and his gang had arrived. “You sure got off a couple of zingers there!”
Brother said quickly, “But we didn’t mean—”
“Of course, you didn’t,” sneered Too-Tall. “You straight arrows would never stoop to making fun of a new cub, would you?” He looked Milton up and down. The cub was as tall as he was and much heavier. “Well, look what the cat dragged in—or maybe I should say lion.” The gang snickered. Too-Tall frowned and tapped his chin with a fore-finger. “Nah. Let’s forget about cats altogether. Look what the elephant dragged in!”
The rest of the gang doubled over in fits of laughter.
“Come on, big guy,” pleaded Harry, who was Too-Tall’s best chess buddy. “Be nice.”
“Be what?” said Too-Tall. “You gotta be kiddin’! I couldn’t be nice if I tried. It ain’t in my nature.” He turned back to the new cub. “What’s your name, big fella?”
Milton cleared his throat. “Milton Chubb,” he said softly.
Skuzz, Smirk, and Vinnie rolled around on the blacktop, roaring with laughter. Too-Tall just grinned broadly. “What was that?” he said, cupping his hand behind his ear. “I didn’t quite get that—Milton Blubber, was it?”
The new cub was blushing so hard now you could almost see steam rising from his head. “Chubb,” he muttered, looking at the ground.
“Oh, Chubb!” said Too-Tall. “Chubb’s the name, fat’s his game! But he needs a nickname, too.”
“I know, boss!” cried Skuzz. “Let’s make him a gang member! I’ll even let him be your right-hand bear. The two of you would be great together. Too-Tall and… Too-Fat!”
When the crowd’s laughter had died down, Too-Tall waved a hand. “Nah. I got a better nickname.” He stepped forward and brought his right hand down on the new cub’s shoulder in a slow karate-chop motion. “I dub thee… Massive Milton!”
Harry, Brother, and Bonnie gritted their teeth as they watched Milton fix his gaze on the blacktop before him. He seemed to be trying to burn a hole in it with his eyes so he could climb in and hide.
“Wait a minute,” said Too-Tall, sniffing the air. “What’s that I smell?”
Vinnie hurried to Too-Tall’s side. He had the gang’s sharpest nose. “Smells like a combination of hay and chicken feed, boss,” he announced.
Too-Tall looked up at Milton. “You wouldn’t happen to live on a farm, would you?” he asked.
“My dad and mom are the new hands at Farmer Ben’s,” said Milton. “I help them out.”
“You know, you really ought to take a shower before you come to school,” said Too-Tall in a helpful tone of voice.
Milton’s eyebrows raised. “I did,” he said.
“Well, tomorrow take two,” said Too-Tall. “Like I always say, Milt. The first test you have to pass at Bear Country School is the sniff test. Let’s go, gang.”
As they strolled away, Too-Tall looked back and called, “Hang with us after school, Miltie! We’ll show you the town!”
“I don’t know about that, boss!” shouted Skuzz for all to hear. “How they gonna keep him down on the farm after he’s seen Beartown?”
When they’d gone, Harry eased his wheelchair up to Milton. “If you haven’t already guessed,” he said, “that was our resident gang leader and bully. Sorry you had to meet him so soon.”
Just then the morning bell rang, signaling the start of school.
“If you’re in Teacher Bob’s class,” said Brother, “we’ll walk with you.”
Milton just looked around the group of cubs, then stared off at Too-Tall and the gang. “Smart-aleck city cubs,” he muttered. He turned and trudged off alone to the schoolhouse entrance.
Brother caught Harry’s eye, and they both sighed and shook their heads. It wasn’t going to be easy helping Milton Chubb adjust to Bear Country School.
Copyright
THE BERENSTAIN BEARS AND THE NEW GIRL IN TOWN
Copyright © 1993 by Berenstain Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
EPub Edition © 2013
ISBN 978-0-06-218879-3
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Originally published in 1993 by Random House, Inc.
EPub Edition © DECEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780062188793
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