Sonny's Secret

by Judy Delton

  The Brewsters were rich. They had a pool inside their house. They swam in it in the middle of winter.

  “Big deal,” said Molly, when they were gone.

  “It’s bad manners to brag,” said Mary Beth.

  Both girls wrote “Rachel bragged” in their notebooks.

  For a while no one came along with any manners. Good ones or bad ones. Then a girl stopped in front of a store window and combed her hair. Her friend blew bubbles with her bubble gum.

  “It’s bad manners to comb your hair in public,” whispered Molly. “And to blow bubbles.”

  They wrote it down.

  A little boy sat on the bench next to them. His nose was running. He sniffed. Then he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

  The girls wrote it down.

  Their notebooks were filling up fast.

  “There’s Kenny!” shouted Molly.

  Sure enough, Kenny was helping a man with a cane to cross the street.

  “I’ve got twenty-five manners!” he called to them. “Patty’s got fifteen.”

  Molly groaned. They would have to work harder to beat the twins.

  But when the girls looked at Kenny’s notebook, they saw a long list of the times he said “Please” and “Thank you.”

  “You get more if you do the manners yourself,” he said. “We said ‘Excuse me’ and ‘Have a nice day’ a lot. And we smile at people.”

  “You can’t write it down every time you smile at someone,” scoffed Mary Beth.

  “Yes, you can,” said Kenny. “Mrs. Peters said.”

  Good manners was getting easier. No wonder the Baker twins had so many on their list!

  Pretty soon Lisa and Kevin came by. They sat down on the bench next to the other Pee Wees. Everyone shoved over. It was getting crowded on the bench.

  The sun felt warm on Molly’s head. Molly began to daydream. It was a good time for a wedding, she thought. Grass would come up. Flowers would bloom. The Pee Wees would be all dressed up. Molly couldn’t wait. She had never been in a wedding before.

  Suddenly she remembered something. At weddings people took pictures. They put them in shiny white albums. Molly would be in that album. All the Pee Wees would be in the Stones’ wedding album forever.

  She turned to tell Mary Beth that news, but Mary Beth was arguing with Lisa.

  “That’s a lie,” said Mary Beth.

  “It is not,” said Lisa. “My mom told me.”

  “Told you what?” asked Molly, forgetting the wedding pictures.

  “Lisa says, if you talk with your mouth full, your teeth will fall out,” said Mary Beth.

  “Talk and chew, no teeth for you,” sang Lisa.

  Molly felt a chill go down her back, even though they were sitting in the sun. Was Lisa right? Was her mother reliable? Molly believed what her own mother and father said. Parents usually told the truth.

  What if her teeth really did fall out? Clunk, clunk, clunk. Everyone would laugh and point at her. She wouldn’t be able to chew at all. She’d have to eat baby food, like Mary Beth’s little sister.

  “I have to go home,” said Kenny, jumping up. “It’s almost supper time.”

  Molly didn’t feel hungry at all.

  CHAPTER

  4

  Good-bye, Teeth

  The Pee Wees started toward home.

  Mary Beth turned at the corner and Molly ran home. Her mother and father were waiting at the dinner table.

  “You’re late,” said her dad, giving her a hug. “I was getting hungry.”

  Molly didn’t feel hungry. She kept feeling her teeth with her tongue. She kept hearing them all drop out of her mouth.

  Clunk, clunk, clunk.

  How tight were they in there?

  She had to remember never to talk and chew. Probably the best way was not to eat or chew at all.

  “I’m not hungry,” she said to her parents.

  “Pork chops are your favorite,” said her mother. “And I made mashed potatoes and gravy.”

  Molly ate a little bit. She hoped her father didn’t ask a question about school. She only opened her mouth a little bit to slide the meat in. Then she clamped it shut and didn’t open it until she swallowed.

  “Do you want some applesauce?” asked her mother.

  Was this a trick? Was her mother trying to trick her into a bad manner? Molly shook her head.

  “It’s bad manners to shake your head, Molly,” said her dad. “You should say ‘No, thank you,’ if you don’t want any.”

  Was everything a bad manner? She had to pick one. Was it a worse bad manner to talk and eat, or to shake her head? At least Lisa didn’t say what happened if you shook your head instead of saying “No, thank you.”

  Finally Molly excused herself and ran to her room. She opened her notebook and wrote down, “Shook my head instead of saying ‘No, thank you,’ ” under BAD MANNERS.

  Then she turned to the back of the notebook and wrote a message to herself. “Never never never talk with food in my mouth.”

  Then she drew a picture of a row of teeth at the bottom. The teeth were on the floor. They weren’t in her mouth. Beside them, she drew a picture of Lisa with the words, “I told you so,” in a balloon coming out of her mouth.

  The next morning Mary Beth said, “I’m going over to Tracy’s after school.”

  “Can you come too?” Tracy asked Molly. “We can find some more good manners.”

  “I’ll ask my mom,” said Molly.

  All day long Molly kept saying the rhyme over and over to herself. She didn’t want to forget it for one minute. It was too risky. “Talk and chew, no teeth for you,” she said under her breath.

  “Molly,” said her teacher. “I asked you to spell ‘wagon.’ ”

  Molly spelled it. She spelled it wrong.

  In math class, she said four and four were six instead of eight.

  In geography, she couldn’t find the north pole.

  At recess she played the Farmer in the Dell with her classmates. She forgot all about the silly rhyme until Lisa said, “Look at that boy who is the cheese.”

  Molly looked. He was smiling even though he wasn’t a Pee Wee Scout. And when he smiled, Molly could see that he had no teeth in his mouth!

  “I’ll bet he talked and chewed at the same time,” said Lisa.

  Lisa clapped and sang, “The cheese stands alone,” with the rest of the group. But Molly couldn’t sing. Here was proof that Lisa’s mother was right! Molly had lost one baby tooth, but a new one had come in. This boy didn’t seem to have a single tooth in his mouth. New or old.

  Molly thought about the boy who was the cheese all day long.

  After school, Molly stopped at her own house to get permission to go to Tracy’s.

  “Be home for dinner,” said her mother.

  The girls played with Tracy’s dolls in her room. Then they went out to her garage and watched her brother, Mike, build a go-cart out of orange crates. He used old bicycle wheels to make it roll.

  The girls had such a good time they forgot all about manners. They rode in the go-cart when it was finished.

  Up and down the sidewalk.

  In and out of the driveway.

  Their hair blew in the breeze as they flew along in the cart.

  “It’s like a car!” shouted Mary Beth. “It’s like having your very own car!”

  Tracy’s brother nailed on an old license plate.

  He put on a running board.

  Then he put on an old horn from a tricycle that was too old and rusty to ride.

  “Honk, honk!” they all sang as they drove down the street. “Get out of our way!”

  “I wish this thing had an engine,” said Mike.

  “Then we could get gas and go faster,” said Tracy.

  Tracy’s mother came out in the yard and gave them candy bars. The girls thanked her, and unwrapped them. Molly stuffed half of the bar into her mouth. She was thinking of the go-cart.

  “We could take the engine out of my dad�
��s old lawn mower in our basement!” she shouted. “He doesn’t use it anymore.”

  Three peanuts jumped out of Molly’s mouth and onto the sidewalk as she talked. “Yikes!” she said out loud.

  Would her teeth be next?

  CHAPTER

  5

  An Easy Mistake

  Molly started to run home. She ran and ran without stopping until she got to her house.

  “What’s the rush?” called her mother, as Molly ran through the kitchen and upstairs to her room. Molly didn’t answer.

  She slammed the door to her room and threw herself on her bed. She moved her tongue around in her mouth. They were still there. There were no empty spots. Not yet.

  When her mother called her for supper, she went down. She had better eat while she still could chew. Pretty soon she’d be eating baby food and applesauce.

  After she dried the supper dishes, she looked in the mirror in the bathroom. She counted every tooth. None missing so far. But would she have to spend her life counting her teeth every hour? She decided to brush her teeth for the last time. She remembered how she used to argue with her mom about brushing them. If only her teeth could be saved, she wouldn’t have to be reminded to brush them ever again.

  When Molly brushed her teeth, she felt one move. She put her finger on it. Sure enough, it was loose! The tooth wiggled back and forth when she touched it.

  “Molly,” her mother called up the steps. “Mary Beth is here.”

  Molly went out in the yard. Mary Beth was sitting on the steps. Roger and Kevin were riding by on their bikes.

  “Where did you go so fast?” demanded Mary Beth. “Why did you leave Tracy’s? We were having a good time.”

  Roger and Kevin came and sat on Molly’s steps too.

  “I talked with food in my mouth,” Molly blurted out.

  The three Scouts looked at her.

  No one said anything.

  She waited for Mary Beth to put her arm around her and say something comforting. She could say, “It will be all right. You can get false teeth. No one will ever find out.”

  Molly’s own grandma had false teeth. They were white and straight and if she didn’t take them out at night no one knew they weren’t real.

  “But why did you leave?” repeated Mary Beth.

  “Because my teeth are going to fall out!” Molly screamed. “One is loose already. Remember what Lisa said; ‘Talk and chew, no teeth for you’?”

  “That’s dumb,” said Roger. “Talk about dumb.”

  Then he started to laugh and walk around with his lips over his teeth. Kevin joined him. They both staggered around, laughing on the front lawn.

  “You don’t really believe that stuff of Lisa’s, do you?” asked Mary Beth.

  Molly nodded and sobbed and wiped her nose with a piece of Kleenex.

  “That’s just an old wives’ tale,” said Mary Beth.

  Molly shook her head. “That boy on the playground. The one who was the cheese. He has no teeth.”

  “Ho, Timmy Johnson,” said Kevin. “He just lost his front baby teeth, and the new ones aren’t in yet.”

  Could Molly have missed seeing Timmy Johnson’s molars? Did she just think they were missing?

  “Look,” said Molly, wiggling her loose tooth.

  Mary Beth nodded. “It’s a baby tooth,” she said.

  Now Molly felt foolish. Why was she the only one who believed Lisa? Molly always believed people. Especially parents. Parents weren’t supposed to lie.

  “It’s not like a lie,” said Mary Beth, as if she were reading Molly’s mind. “It’s more like a fairy tale.”

  What a baby Molly had been! Probably even Sonny hadn’t believed Lisa.

  “It’s an easy mistake,” said Mary Beth. “Anybody could have been fooled,” she said kindly.

  Molly felt embarrassed. But she also felt relieved. She wouldn’t be fooled so easily again. She wouldn’t believe everything she heard.

  After the Scouts went home, Molly told her mother about Lisa’s rhymes. “Why do people say that if it isn’t true?” she asked.

  “To help people remember,” said her mother. “When you hear a verse like that, it helps you remember not to chew with your mouth full. It’s just a trick to help you.

  “Remember how you learned, ‘When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking’?”

  Molly nodded.

  “That helps you know how to pronounce a word when you are reading,” she said.

  “Well, it works,” said Molly. “I’ll never talk with my mouth full for my whole life. Even if I’m one hundred!”

  CHAPTER

  6

  The Mock Wedding

  The days went by quickly. The Pee Wees wrote down lots of good manners.

  At their Tuesday meeting, Roger waved his hand and called, “Don’t talk out loud in movies.”

  “Don’t wipe your nose with your sleeve,” said Tim.

  “He does that. I’ve seen him,” whispered Tracy.

  “When I cough, I cover my mouth,” said Rachel. “So I don’t spread germs.”

  “I don’t have germs,” said Sonny.

  “Everybody has germs, dummy,” said Kevin.

  “My mom says it’s bad manners to talk in church,” said Lisa.

  Molly wasn’t going to pay any attention to anything Lisa’s mother said. Lisa’s mother was a troublemaker.

  When no one else had any more good manners to report, Mrs. Peters said, “We will have lots of wedding talk today. It’s time to think about wedding manners. And when we finish, I have a surprise.”

  The boys groaned. The girls jumped up and down in excitement. They liked weddings. It was fun for Molly to think about brides and long white dresses and cakes with rosebuds on them. And love.

  “I hate all that mushy stuff,” said Roger.

  Rachel cheered. “It’s so romantic,” she said. “Where is the reception, Mrs. Peters?” she asked.

  Rachel knows all about weddings, thought Molly.

  “The reception will be in the church basement,” said Mrs. Peters.

  Mrs. Peters talked about the reception. She told them it was a party after the wedding. There would be wedding cake. And sandwiches. And punch and soda pop. And little candies and nuts.

  “Take out your manners diaries,” said Mrs. Peters, “and write down, ‘Don’t load your plate with food. Take only one sandwich, a few nuts, and a small piece of cake.’ ”

  The Pee Wees wrote it down. They also wrote down, “Don’t whisper during the ceremony. Don’t kick the church pews. Don’t wiggle. Remember all of our good manners on the day of the wedding.”

  “My mom’s got a long dress,” said Sonny. “And Larry’s got a new suit. I get to carry the wedding ring on a little pillow.”

  Sonny’s lucky, thought Molly. She wished her mother were getting married.

  “Moms should get married after they have kids,” she said to Mary Beth. “Then the kids could be at the wedding. Sonny’s lucky.”

  Mary Beth looked shocked. “You have to get married first to have kids,” she said.

  “Do not,” said Lisa. “Lots of parents aren’t married.”

  Mrs. Peters clapped her hands. “Some are,” she said, “and some are not. And now I have a surprise for you. We are going to the church to practice for the wedding. In fact, we are going to have a little wedding of our own today. A mock wedding!”

  Mrs. Peters went on to explain that a mock wedding wasn’t a real wedding. It was a pretend wedding.

  “Who will be the pretend bride and groom, Mrs. Peters?” asked Rachel.

  “Just wait and see,” said their leader.

  The Scouts all piled into Mrs. Peters’s van. Even baby Nick.

  When they got to the church, Mrs. Betz was waiting for them.

  “Look at that diamond!” whispered Tracy.

  “It’s huge,” said Patty.

  “That’s the kind I want when I get engaged,” said Rachel.

  Molly watch
ed the ring sparkle. Every time Mrs. Betz moved her hand, it flashed. She couldn’t wait till she was old enough to be married. But who would she marry?

  Molly looked around the group. Not Roger. He was a bully. Sonny was nice, but he may still be a baby when he grew up. Kevin had given her a valentine. And he carried her books home from school once. Kevin would be a good boyfriend. A good person to marry. He wanted to be mayor of their town. And he wanted to be rich. Kevin was probably the best bet. Molly decided she would marry Kevin. But she wouldn’t tell him yet. It would be her own little secret.

  Mrs. Betz explained that on the day of the wedding, the Pee Wees would come down the aisle two by two. Terry, the flower girl, would follow them. She was Sonny’s little cousin. She was three. Then Sonny would come in, with the ring on the pillow. And then the bride would walk down the aisle.

  “You will all be carrying flowers,” she said, “and dropping the petals in the aisle as you walk.”

  Mrs. Peters showed the Scouts how to walk two by two to the front and stand along the side of the aisle.

  “When the ceremony is over, we will walk out the same way and go downstairs to the reception,” she added.

  “To the food!” said Roger.

  Rachel was waving her hand. “Mrs. Peters!” she called. “Will we scatter petals on the way out of the church too?”

  “That is a good question, Rachel,” said Mrs. Peters. “No, only on the way in.”

  Molly wished she’d asked a question. A good question.

  The Scouts went downstairs to see the reception room. They saw where the cake would stand.

  “The room will be decorated on Saturday,” said Mrs. Betz. “And there will be flowers and music.”

  “Are there any questions?” asked Mrs. Peters. “Do we all understand what to do on Saturday?”

  The Pee Wees nodded.

  “Now,” said Mrs. Peters, “we’ll have our mock wedding. Let’s have Patty pretend to be Terry, the flower girl.”

  Patty began to blush and act shy. She went to stand beside Mrs. Peters. “You will just pretend to be carrying a little basket of flowers,” said Mrs. Peters.