Grandma Rose leaned toward Grandpa Dash.
So did Helen and Herb Divine.
The triplets held their breath.
“I was simply going to ask if you’d had the chance to tend to my bow tie,” he said. “Have you?”
The girls let out their breath.
“As a matter of fact, I did, and here it is,” Grandma Rose said, taking it from her purse. “Good as new,” she added.
“Thank you, Rose,” said Grandpa Dash, clasping her hand. “I’m so very grateful.”
“And I’m so very confused,” said Daisy, scratching her head.
“So let’s get this straight,” said Violet. “You’re not getting married.”
“You won’t be getting engaged,” said Lily.
“And you’re not even dating,” Daisy said.
“Guilty as charged,” Grandpa Dash said, holding up his palms in surrender.
All the adults began laughing. But this was no laughing matter to the triplets.
“Will someone please tell us what the surprise is all about?” Violet said.
“Let’s just say you can expect a new addition to the family,” said Grandpa Dash.
Daisy jumped up, this time knocking Violet and Lily to the floor.
“Mom, are you going to have a baby?” she asked.
“No way,” Helen Divine said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
Their father’s face was practically purple from laughing so hard.
The girls turned to Grandma Rose.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said. “Dash, you’d better tell them before someone explodes.”
The doorbell rang. “Saved by the—ha, ha, ha—bell,” Herb Divine said. He stood up to answer the door.
“Wait for me,” said Helen Divine, grabbing his arm. “That was hilarious,” she said as they hurried from the room.
The girls still didn’t see what was so funny.
Grandpa Dash explained. “Actually, this is serious business,” he said, pulling a pen out of his shirt pocket. “You girls will need to sign some very important papers.”
“What kind of papers?” Violet asked, crossing her arms.
“Adoption papers,” said Grandma Rose.
“Did our parents adopt a baby?” Lily asked.
“Well, you see . . .” said Grandma Rose.
“Is it a boy?” said Daisy.
“Yes indeed,” Grandpa Dash said.
“Wow, a baby brother!” said Violet.
“How old is he?” asked Lily.
“Actually, he’s . . .” said Grandma Rose.
“Arf, arf.”
Their parents walked back into the room. Herb Divine set a box on the floor. The girls ran over and knelt down. Inside was a gold-and-white puppy.
“He’s the cutest ever,” said Lily. “He looks like a little Lassie.”
“That’s because he’s a sheltie,” their dad said.
“Can we hold him?” asked Violet, softly petting his head. The pup licked her hand.
“What’s his name?” Daisy asked.
“You’ll get to decide,” their mother said. “But right now there’s someone here from the animal shelter, waiting for us to sign the adoption papers.”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you,” said Grandpa Dash. “Your new pup is a gift from us,” he added, wiggling his ears.
“That’s our big surprise,” Grandma Rose said, opening her arms.
The girls hugged their grandparents.
“This is ten times better than what we thought,” said Violet.
“A thousand times better,” said Daisy.
“A million,” said Lily, gently picking up the little pup. “Now, what will we name you?”
Chapter 6
Where Triplets Go . . .
Wherever the triplets went, the puppy followed. The only trouble was that the girls still couldn’t decide on a name for their dog.
Daisy gently tugged her slipper from the puppy’s mouth. She tried giving him a toy bone. “Our pup would rather chew on my slipper than his own special bone,” she said.
“From now on, we’ll have to hide our slippers,” Lily said.
“And we can’t leave our socks on the floor anymore,” Violet said. “I already caught him trying to snag them.”
“Mom and Dad said we have to be more careful with all our things,” Lily said. “We don’t want him getting sick.”
“The trouble is, he wants to chew on everything,” Violet said. She rolled their dad’s old tennis ball toward the puppy. He chased after it. “Who knew one little pup could get into so much trouble?”
“What about naming him Champ, Prince or Frisky? Do you like any of those names, little pup?” Lily asked.
Daisy set the dog down and he flopped over.
“I guess not,” Lily said, tickling his tummy.
“How about Hotdog, Muffin or Bagel?” Violet said.
Lily pretended to snore.
“Now that we have a boy in the family, we could name him Hank or Frank, or Billy or Willy,” Daisy said.
“What about Larry, Barry or Harry?” Lily said, giggling.
“Now where did that cute little troublemaker go?” Violet said, looking around the room.
“Oh, no,” Lily said, jumping up. “He’s gotten into our craft box.” She quickly scooped him up. He was chewing on a red ribbon. “Give me that, you naughty boy.” She stuffed the ragged ribbon into the trash.
“From now on, we’ll have to keep lots of stuff on shelves,” Daisy said. She hoisted the craft box onto a high shelf.
“And we’d better keep our door closed when we’re not around,” Violet added.
“Who knows what trouble our pup will get into, right, boy?” Daisy said. She tried cuddling the pup, but he squirmed out of her arms.
The girls laughed as he chased the tennis ball around the room. When it rolled under Violet’s bed, the puppy tried going after it.
“You can’t go under there, little guy,” Lily said, reaching for him. “We don’t want you getting stuck.”
Violet reached under the bed, stretching her arm out as far as it could go. “I can’t get it,” she said. “Help me pull the bed away from the wall.”
The girls pulled the bed away and Daisy reached down and brought up the ball, which had some dust on it. “Oh, gross,” she said.
“It’s just a little dust,” Violet said.
“That’s not the gross part,” Daisy said. “Check it out.”
Violet peeped over. “Wow, it’s my old toothbrush.” She picked up the purple toothbrush.
“Eew, Violet,” Lily said. “Get rid of it. It’s all covered with germs and icky bits.”
“I told you I’d find it,” Violet said, waving it near Daisy’s face. “Heh, heh, heh. Maybe I’ll use it for my science project,” she said in a witchy voice.
“Get that gross thing out of my sight,” Daisy said, batting it away.
“That makes two of us,” said Lily.
“Ruff, ruff.”
“Make that three,” Daisy said.
Lily picked up the puppy and kissed the top of his head. “We love you even when you get into trouble, trouble, trouble,” she said, putting him down.
“Arf, arf.”
“It sounds like he’s answering you,” said Daisy.
“Yeah,” said Violet. “Maybe he thinks Trouble’s his name.”
The girls looked at each other. Then they looked at their dog.
“Let’s give it a try,” said Daisy.
Lily walked to the other end of their attic room. “Here, Trouble,” she called, patting her leg. “Come here, Trouble.”
“Arf, arf.” Trouble trotted over to Lily.
She cuddled him in her arms. “Good boy, Trouble,” she said.
Trouble wagged his tail.
“Let’s tell Mom and Dad we finally have a name for our dog,” Daisy said.
The triplets got going.
Trouble followed.
> Chapter 7
Sticky-Out Ears
Violet was in a panic about her science project. It was mainly because she still didn’t have one. At school, Frostine was stepping on Violet’s last nerve. She wouldn’t stop nagging her. Violet insisted it was a secret. And it was, even from Violet.
The girls had finished taking Trouble for a walk and were playing with him in the backyard.
“I just can’t get started on my project,” Violet groaned, flopping down on the grass. “I stink at science.”
Lily was trying to get Trouble to roll over. She circled a dog treat above his head. “Come on, Trouble,” she said. “Roll over, that’s a good boy.”
“You’d think I’d get some help from my own sisters,” Violet complained. “Triplets are supposed to stick together.”
“All right, all right. Your drama is driving me crazy,” said Lily. “Brina and I are doing a project about how plants use sunlight to make energy that helps them grow. Maybe you could do a different project with plants or flowers.”
“Plants are boring,” said Violet, turning to Daisy.
“We’re doing a project on rockets,” Daisy said.
“Rockets!” Violet shouted. “Since when do you know anything about rockets? You’re only doing it because you like Justin.”
“I do not like him,” Daisy shot back. “We just play baseball together.”
“Rockets are even more boring,” Violet grumbled.
Lily and Daisy nodded to each other and flared their nostrils at Violet.
“Cut it out,” she said, throwing grass at them. “How come Mom and both of you can flare your nostrils and I can’t?”
Lily shrugged, pulling bits of grass out of her hair. “I guess it’s the same reason why you, Daisy and Mom have brown hair and I don’t,” she said.
“But you and Dad have freckles and blond hair,” Violet said.
“And only Dad and I wear glasses,” said Daisy. “So la-dee-da.” She threw a squeaky rubber toy across the yard. “Fetch it, boy.”
Trouble scampered after the toy.
“You don’t have to brag about it,” Violet huffed. “Just because . . . hey, wait a second,” she said, a flicker of a smile appearing on her face. “I can sort of wiggle my ears a little, just like Dad and Grandpa.”
Their father and grandfather had large sticky-out ears. Sometimes they wiggled them just for fun. It was okay for them. But Violet was sensitive about her ears, which stuck out a little. She thought they were big and ugly. Grandpa Dash said it was a Divine family trait and she should be proud of it. But Violet didn’t think there was anything the least bit divine about her ears. She covered them with her hair. And she had never told anyone before that she could wiggle them.
“Wiggle your ears, just this one time,” said Lily.
Why, oh, why had she blurted out this secret? “Okay, but just this once.” Violet sighed, pushing her hair behind her ears and wiggling them a little bit.
“That’s awesome,” said Daisy.
“Don’t tell anyone. I’m never doing it again,” Violet said, reaching for Trouble, who had returned with the toy and dropped it at her feet. She stroked his silky ears, and they quivered.
“It looks like Trouble’s wiggling his ears,” said Daisy. “He has the same Divine trait as you do.”
Violet laughed. “And he has blue eyes like us.”
“He’s a true-blue Divine,” said Lily.
Trouble rested by Violet’s side. She gave him a brisk back rub. “I wonder if he has brothers and sisters and if they look exactly alike,” Violet said, gazing at her sisters. That’s when it hit her. It had been staring her in the face all along. She snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it! I’ve got an idea for my science project,” she said, tossing the soggy toy in the air.
“Ruff, ruff,” Trouble barked, chasing after it.
“That’s great! What is it?” Daisy asked.
Violet grinned. “I’m going to do a project about the genes we get from Mom and Dad.”
“What jeans?” said Daisy. “Mom and Dad’s jeans wouldn’t fit us.”
“I don’t mean those kind of jeans,” Violet said, rolling her eyes. “I mean the kind of genes our parents pass on to us.”
“I get it,” said Lily. “You mean like getting brown hair from one parent or blue eyes from another?”
“Exactly right,” said Violet, growing more excited.
“Grandma Rose says I have Mom’s nose,” Lily said, laughing.
Daisy agreed. “I see what she means. It’s the same shape. And my middle toes are longer than my big toes, just like Mom’s,” she said.
“Hmm,” said Violet. “My nose is a different shape than both of yours and I don’t have that toe stuff going on.”
“That’s why we’re not identical,” said Lily. “We each have some different genes from our parents.”
“Too bad I didn’t get their science genes,” Violet said. “Then I wouldn’t be in this mess.” But now that she had a plan, she wouldn’t worry about Frostine bugging her.
“But you did get the ear-wiggling gene,” said Daisy.
“Don’t remind me,” Violet said, frowning. “I’m definitely not including that in my project. That’s private family business.”
“Speaking of your project, you’ll have to write a report,” Daisy said.
“Oh, whoop-dee-do,” said Violet, twirling her finger in the air.
“But you can also draw a chart showing the things we talked about,” said Lily.
Violet brightened up. “Yeah, that would be cool,” she said. “But you’re better at drawing, so will you help me? Pretty please,” she added.
“You have to do the work,” Lily said. “It’s your science project.”
“And you’ll get the extra credit,” Daisy said.
“Arf, arf,” barked Trouble. He had dug up some dirt, and his paws were all muddy.
“Then I guess I’ll get going on my ginormous project,” Violet said, standing up. “And while I’m at it, you guys better clean that cruddy mud off our dog before you bring him inside and get into trouble.” Then she ran off.
Once Violet got going, she was on a roll. She decided to include her grandparents in her chart. She pasted pictures of each family member next to his or her name.
The next day, Violet showed her sisters the chart.
“Why did you write ‘no’ next to your name under ‘wiggles ears’?” Daisy asked.
“I told you, it’s private,” said Violet. “Now I have to write my report.”
“What will you say?” asked Lily.
“I’ll say I’m the oldest and that we’re not identical,” she said. “Then I’ll write about the genes we got from our parents and some different family traits.”
“You can also write that I like playing baseball,” said Daisy.
“And say I like reading and writing poems,” added Lily.
“Don’t tell me what to do for my project,” said Violet. “Go work on your own stuff.”
Then she wrote down exactly what they had said.
Chapter 8
Eggs-cuse Me
On the day of the science fair, Violet felt like she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Her stomach was full of boxing butterflies. She wore her favorite black leggings, purple shirt, and matching headband. Her hands shook as she brushed her hair in front of her ears. Daisy and Lily didn’t have anything to worry about. They had done science projects before, and they had partners. Violet had never felt more alone.
Their father dropped them off at the school. “Good luck with your projects,” he said. “We’ll check in on you later.”
When the girls walked into the lunchroom, there were dozens of kids already setting things up at their tables.
Lily tucked her pink blouse into her skirt. Someone called her name. “There’s Brina,” Lily said, picking up her project bag. “I’ll see you guys later.”
Daisy wore jeans and a blue sweater that matched her glasses. �
�I have to get going,” she said. “I’m meeting Justin by the water fountain.”
“Right,” said Violet. “You’d better get rocking with your rockets.”
Violet turned and bumped into the one person she didn’t want to see. It was none other than mean Frostine Frazier.
“I can’t believe you actually showed up with a project,” said Frostine, hands on her hips. She snatched the chart from Violet’s hands. “Hmm,” she said giving it the once-over. “So this is the big secret project you’ve been working on,” she said. “It’s no big deal.”
“It’s just part of my project,” Violet said, pulling the poster back. “I also did a report,” she added, keeping the folder close to her chest.
Frostine flicked her long, perfectly styled blond hair over her shoulder. “Well, my eggs-cellent project is going to win for sure,” she said, getting up into Violet’s face. “Kidz Crafts, here I come.”
Phew. Violet wanted to step back, but she didn’t budge. “Who cares,” she said. “I’ll still get eggs-tra credit for my project. That’s all I care about.” Then she stepped back. “By the way, did you have eggs for breakfast?”
“Eggs-actly,” said Frostine. “How did you know?”
“For one thing, you have egg breath, and for another, there’s some on your shirt,” Violet said, pointing to Frostine’s left shoulder.
Frostine looked at the icky egg stain on her sparkly red top. She scrunched up her face, looking as if she had eaten a sour pickle.
“I guess you will win for going the eggs-tra mile,” Violet said. “Now, if you’ll eggs-cuse me, I have to go set up my project.” Although Violet’s legs felt like they were made of jelly, she carefully carried her project and managed to make her way to table 19.
She propped the large poster board chart up against a tall stack of lunch trays. Then she placed her report on a little easel. “Looking good,” she whispered to herself. Then she took a deep breath and stood behind her project, answering questions as kids, teachers and parents came by.
Where Triplets Go, Trouble Follows Page 3