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Triple Pet Trouble (Judy Moody and Friends)

Page 2

by Megan McDonald


  while Frank told Judy the problem.

  “My parrot hates my sister,” said

  Frank. “Every time my sister gets too

  close, Cookie bites her.”

  “Let me ask Mouse the Mind

  Reader,” said Judy.

  “I think your mind reader

  is sleeping,” said Frank.

  :

  in

  “She’s not sleeping. She’s thinking,”

  said Judy, putting her ear up to

  Mouse.

  “Mouse the Magnificent says it’s all

  about the treats. Do a fun trick with

  Cookie, but let your sister give her a

  treat.”

  “Mouse told you all that?” said

  Frank. “Wow!” He dropped a quarter

  in the jar.

  .

  Next in line were Amy Namey and

  Jessica Finch. “I don’t have a pet,”

  said Amy.

  Mouse curled her tail into a

  question mark. Judy said, “Mouse the

  Magnificent says, How about a pocket

  pet? Sugar gliders are cute. They fit

  in your pocket. Or a goldfish. Not

  the cracker kind. Twenty-five cents,

  please.”

  “But I’m not here about a pet for

  me,” said Amy. “I’m here about

  PeeGee.” She pointed to Jessica

  Finch’s potbellied pig on a leash.

  .

  34

  “PeeGee is freaking out,” Jessica told

  Judy. “Every time he comes into my

  room, he knocks over my chair and

  chews my shoes and squeals like a —”

  “Pig?” asked Judy.

  Jessica nodded.

  “Got that, Mouse?” Judy said. Mouse

  purred. Mouse purred some more.

  “Mouse is thinking,” said Judy.

  “How do you know what she’s

  thinking?” asked Jessica.

  “Mouse and I are of one mind.

  It sounds to me — I mean to

  Mouse — like somebody needs to learn

  a few rules at obedience school.”

  “I love rules!” said Jessica. “And

  obedience. Maybe I can teach

  PeeGee myself.”

  .

  36

  Clink. Clink. Clink-clink-clink. The

  quarters kept on coming.

  a fish with ick,

  a.k.a. measles

  (Hello! Get fish

  medicine from

  the pet store),

  Mouse helped a

  parakeet with no

  tweet (Hello! Turn

  on the light),

  37

  and a pet rock that lost one googly

  eye (Hello, glue!).

  Mouse was a regular Dr. Dolittle,

  an animal whisperer of the third

  kind, a pet psychic with a sixth sense.

  .

  38

  Judy jingled and jangled the

  quarters in her jar for Stink to hear.

  “Hey!” said Stink. “You’re stealing

  all my customers. Everybody wants

  to see Mouse the Mystic. Nobody’s

  thirsty anymore.”

  Judy held up Mouse’s water bowl

  for everyone to see. “Mouse the Mystic

  will now gaze into the Eternal Water

  Bowl of Serenity.”

  .

  Mouse twitched her whiskers.

  Mouse licked her lips. “Mouse feels a

  great thirst coming on,” said Judy.

  Mouse stuck out her tongue and

  lapped up water like crazy.

  A hush fell over the crowd.

  Everyone gazed at Mouse the Mind

  Reader.

  “Come to think of it,” said Frank, “I

  feel thirsty, too.”

  “Me, too,” said Rocky and Amy at

  the same time.

  “Me, three,” said Jessica Finch.

  “PeeGee’s thirsty, too.”

  .

  Now everybody rushed to get in

  line at Stink’s table. In two minutes

  flat, Stink ran out of lemonade. He

  ran into the house and came back

  carrying a pitcher of water.

  43

  “Ice-cold water!” Stink yelled.

  “From the Eternal Fountain of Thirst

  Quenching. Hand-stirred! Only

  twenty-five cents a cup!”

  .

  45

  Toady and the Vampire

  CHA

  CHA

  p

  p

  TER

  TER

  3

  3

  Zing! Toady zinged off Judy’s bottom

  bunk bed. Boing! He boinged off her

  finger-knitting yarn. Stink’s pet toad,

  Toady, was going nutso, zinging and

  boinging all over the place.

  Judy scooped him up, then

  squished into her window seat

  between Mouse and the bog buddies,

  Jaws and Petunia.

  .

  46

  EEW! All of a sudden, Judy felt

  something warm and wet in her hand.

  Gross-o-rama! She set the toad down.

  Toady made

  a puddle on her

  mood pillow.

  “Bad Toady!”

  Judy said.

  Then he made a

  puddle on top of her

  gumball machine.

  “Bad, bad Toady!”

  Judy said.

  “That does it!” said Judy. “You and

  I are going on a field trip.”

  He made a puddle in the middle of

  her squiggle rug.

  .

  Judy rode Toady to Jessica Finch’s

  house on her bike. A sign in the yard

  said JESSICA

  FINCH

  ’S

  DOGGY DAY

  CARE AND

  OBEDIENCE SCHOOL

  .

  J

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  Judy did not see a single dog. She

  did see Houdini, Rocky’s iguana;

  Cookie, Frank’s parrot; and PeeGee

  WeeGee, Jessica’s pig, running around

  like crazy. Jessica was shouting, “Sit,”

  “Stay,” and “Heel,” but none of them

  listened. None of them behaved.

  This looked more like DIS-

  obedience school!

  .

  50

  Jessica Finch and Amy Namey ran

  over to Judy. A stripe-faced fur ball

  with dark eyes and a pink nose stuck

  its head out of Amy’s pocket. “Meet

  Boo,” said Amy. “It’s short for Peek-a-

  Boo.”

  “You got a sugar glider?” asked

  Judy. “You lucky dog!”

  “How come you’re here?” Jessica

  asked Judy.

  “Toady’s being a bad toad today.”

  Judy told them about the toad pee on

  everything. “Will you take one more

  student?”

  Jessica frowned. Jessica hemmed

  and hawed.

  “Don’t be a toadstool,” said Judy.

  “Okay. He can stay.”

  .

  “Sit!” Jessica said to the animals.

  Houdini crawled away.

  “Sit!” Jessica said again. Cookie

  hopped up and down and clacked her

  beak.

  “Sit!” PeeGee just chased his tail.

  “Sit!” Boo jumped out of Amy’s

  pocket and knocked over his barrel of

  toy monkeys.

  “Sit!” said Jessica. Toady sat.

  Judy clapped her hands. “Toady!

  You did it!”

  .

  “Stay!” said Jessica. Houdini

  crawled under a pile of leaves.

  “Stay!” Jessica called again. Cookie

  flapped her wings and flew onto

  Judy’s head.

  “Stay!” PeeGee chased his tail some

  more.

  “Stay!” Boo glided through the air

  and landed on PeeGee.

  “Stay!” Jessica told Toady. Toady

  stayed.

  “Good Toady!” Judy yelled.

  .

  Jessica held up a Hula-Hoop.

  “Jump!” she said. PeeGee

  chased after a ball. “Bad pig!”

  yelled Jessica. Boo chased

  after PeeGee. Cookie chased

  after Boo.

  Jessica tried again. “Jump!”

  Toady jumped . . . right

  through the Hula-Hoop!

  57

  “You’re good at getting Toady to

  obey,” said Judy.

  “Gold star for you, Toady.” Jessica

  held him in her hand. “I still want to

  be in your Toad Pee Club,” she said to

  the toad, “but you won’t even pee on

  me.”

  “Toady gets an A-plus for Toad

  School,” said Judy.

  “That’ll be one dollar,” said Jessica

  Finch.

  “Will you ta
ke four quarters?” Judy

  asked.

  .

  58

  The next day, Judy teased Toady

  about obedience school. “You are

  toadally teacher’s pet!” she said. All

  of a sudden, she felt something warm

  and wet on her hand. Eew! That

  naughty toad sprang out of her hand

  and hopped under the bed.

  Judy heard a voice. “Hey, Judy!

  Want to go monster hunting?” It was

  Amy Namey.

  “I am monster hunting,” said Judy.

  She rescued Toady and dusted him

  off. “This monster. Toady acted perfect

  at obedience school. But the second I

  got him home, he turned into a little

  monster again. I don’t get it.”

  Amy wasn’t listening. Amy was

  staring. Amy was pointing at Judy’s

  .

  60

  new plant on the window seat. “You

  have a pitcher plant? I saw one in

  Borneo. It had one of those long

  scary names like Carnivoria vampira or

  something.”

  “This isn’t a vampire,” said Judy.

  “This is a new friend for Jaws. Her

  name is Petunia.”

  “Uh-oh,” said Amy.

  “What-oh?” asked Judy. She set

  Toady down on her top bunk.

  “Um, I hate to tell you this, but . . .

  some giant pitcher plants can eat

  a frog.”

  Judy sprang up. A frog-eating pitcher

  plant? Gulp!

  “Or a mouse or a rat,” said Amy,

  “or a . . . toad!”

  “No wonder Toady’s been acting

  psycho,” said Judy. “He’s scared of

  Petunia, the vampire pitcher plant!”

  .

  Judy turned to look at Toady —

 

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