The Wishbone Wish

by Megan McDonald

  Stink tilted his head to listen. Pssh. Pssh. He heard Judy whispering on the phone! What a rat. What a fink. What a rat fink. Who gave her a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card?

  Stink crept to the doorway of Mom and Dad’s room. He listened. He heard the word turkey a bunch of times. Was Judy calling Grandma Lou? Was Judy telling Grandma Lou not to buy a turkey for Thanksgiving?

  5:13:11 p.m. Mom and Dad’s room

  “Hello? Grandma Lou, it’s Judy,” whispered Judy.

  “Hi, Pickle,” said Grandma Lou. “Why are you whispering?”

  “Long story,” whispered Judy. “I just called to ask, Did you buy a turkey yet?”

  “Not yet,” said Grandma Lou.

  “Good,” said Judy. “Because don’t forget, I’m going to Gobblers-a-Go-Go this year. It’s a festival at my school, and I’m going to be getting a turkey there.”

  “Hmm. I remember. Maybe I should get a backup turkey. You know, just in case.”

  “No backup turkeys!” said Judy. “Do you double-promise pinkie-swear?”

  “I promise,” said Grandma Lou.

  “Good!” said Judy.

  “See you Thursday!” said Grandma Lou.

  “And Friday and Saturday and Sunday,” said Judy. “Dad says we get to stay the whole weekend!”

  5:13:37 p.m. Mom and Dad’s room

  Stink crawled into the room on all fours. Judy had her back to him. He slid on his belly across the carpet. He slid under the bed. He waited until Judy hung up the phone. Stink Moody, Super-Spy Guy, did not dare to breathe.

  5:14 p.m. Mom and Dad’s room

  Judy heard Stink slither into the room. What a snake! She saw his stinky sneaker sticking out from under the bed. What a Sneaky McSneaker. What a Stinky McStinker. Did he really think that she didn’t know he was spying on her from under the bed? She, Judy Moody, Girl Detective, would out-sneak Stink. She would out-Stink him, too.

  5:15 p.m. Mom and Dad’s room

  As soon as the coast was clear, Stink crawled out from under the bed. He oh-so-quietly picked up the phone. He hit REDIAL. Dee-dee-dee-dee-da-da-da. The phone dialed. Stink heard Grandma Lou’s voice. It was her answering machine.

  Stink left a message. “Grandma Lou, this is Stink. Please get a backup turkey. I repeat. Emergency. Backup turkey needed for Thanksgiving, over and out.”

  He sure hoped Grandma Lou got the message.

  5:17 p.m. Stink’s room

  Judy slipped into Stink’s room. She searched around for the stopwatch. Snatcheroo! She grabbed it and ran.

  5:18 p.m. Stink’s room

  Stink patted himself on the back for being a super-sneaky spy guy. He tiptoed back to his room. He went to check his stopwatch. Wait just a sixty-second minute! His stopwatch was nowhere in sight.

  Rat-fink sister strikes again!

  He looked at the clock. Eighteen and a half more time-out minutes to go.

  5:18 p.m. Judy’s room

  Eighteen and a half more minutes to go. One hour of time-out felt like three hours of regular time. No, more like three days.

  If only Stink were not such a stinky little brother. They would not have gotten into a fight. They would not be in time-out for what felt like three years.

  Judy held the stopwatch. Judy clicked the stopwatch. Judy timed herself finger-knitting one inch. Forty-six seconds.

  Timing things wasn’t as much fun without Stink. Judy stopped the stopwatch. Stink’s stopwatch. The thing that had started the fight to begin with. The fight that Stink started! It was all his fault that the picture got broken and landed them in a time-out!

  Judy twisted her mood ring. Well, maybe not all his fault. It was Stink’s stopwatch. And she had been hogging it. She hated to admit it, but Stink was right about her being Bossy McBossy.

  Judy had an idea. A peace-treaty idea. Just like the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags. She would draw up a peace treaty between herself and Stink. She hoped he would sign it.

  In order to secure perpetual peace and harmony (aka no fighting) between Party of the First (Judy) and Party of the Second (Stink), these articles are set forth as the new Moody rule and law on this twenty-first day of November.

  Article 1: Party of the First (Judy) will SURRENDER THE STOPWATCH and return it to rightful owner (Stink).

  Article 2: Party of the First (Judy) SWEARS ON NANCY DREW not to be Bossy McBossy for a period of time no less than three days and no greater than five days.

  Article 3: Party of the First (Judy) will ALLOW Party of the Second (Stink) TO EAT JELL-O as soon as the Triple Fun Relay is over.

  Article 4: Party of the Second (Stink) promises NOT TO BE ANNOYING for period of time set forth in Article 2 above.

  If both parties agree, they will sign in cursive, using quill pen if possible:

  To further seal the deal, each party must kiss the feet of Toady. If either party breaks the peace treaty, they will be forced to eat stinky sushi.

  5:25 p.m. Judy’s room

  Judy tiptoed across the hall and slipped the peace treaty under Stink’s door. She tiptoed back to her room.

  5:26 p.m. Stink’s room

  Stink saw a piece of paper fly under his door. A peace treaty! Cool-o!

  He read the treaty. He was all for peace. He was all for getting his stopwatch back. He was all for Jell-O.

  He signed the treaty in his best cursive. He ran across the hall and slipped it under Judy’s door.

  5:31 p.m. Judy’s room

  Judy’s door opened a crack. Out came a hand. The hand was holding a stopwatch. Stink’s stopwatch! Stink grabbed it and ran back to his room. He stood in the doorway with the door open. Beep! Beep! Beep! He pressed a bunch of buttons on his Rapidfire Ultra XE 611M25.

  5:32 p.m. Hallway

  Judy opened her door all the way. She stood in the doorway. Across the hall, Stink stood in the doorway to his room.

  “I’m sorry I was Bossy McBossy,” said Judy.

  “I’m sorry I called you a turkey,” said Stink. “And a snood. And a wattle.”

  “When?”

  “Oh! Never mind.”

  “So. We have a peace treaty, right?” Judy asked. She held out her hand. “Want to shake hands or something?”

  “We still have three more minutes of time-out,” said Stink. “So technically, I can’t come out of my room yet.”

  “Oh. Right. Me either.”

  Judy and Stink stayed in their doorways. They did not cross the thresholds. They did not set a foot in the hallway. Not even one toe.

  “How many more minutes, Stink?” Judy asked.

  “Two more minutes . . . and twenty-three seconds,” said Stink, looking at his stopwatch.

  Judy and Stink waited some more.

  “How many more minutes now?”

  “One minute, sixteen seconds.”

  Stink started counting down. “Five, four, three, two, one!” Lights flashed and the Rapidfire Ultra beeped like crazy. “Woo-hoo! Jail time is over!”

  Stink set his stopwatch to zero and clicked START again. Judy and Stink celebrated fifty-one whole minutes of peace until it was time for dinner.

  The next day was Peace Treaty Day. Judy and Stink did not get in a fight all day Sunday. Or Monday. Or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Four whole days! Not even when Stink stuck his smelly sneakers under Judy’s nose. Not even when Judy bossed Stink to keep him from eating gummy-shark candy. Not even!

  For four whole days, they jumped rope, crawled up and ran down stairs, and practiced relays with tofu on a spoon. They did not eat candy or drink soda. They stayed away from junk food and anything that ended in -ose. They munched on carrot sticks and drank water and got plenty of sleep.

  At last it was Thursday. Thanksgiving. Turkey-Trot Time!

  Stink got out his stopwatch and started timing Judy just for fun. He timed Judy brushing her teeth. Forty-two seconds. He timed Judy brushing her hair. Zero seconds. He timed Judy putting on her Pilgrim costume. Sixty-six seconds. He timed her sneeze at .8 seconds.

 
; He timed Judy eating her peanut-butter no-jelly brown-bread toast. Three minutes to fix it. Sixty-one seconds to eat it, not counting three gulps of coconut water in between.

  “Stink, I’m going to amend the peace treaty if you don’t stop timing everything I do!”

  “Time to go!” called Mom. Judy grabbed her Pilgrim hat, her wishbone collection, and her Mood Libs to take to Grandma Lou’s. She stuck one of the wishbones in her apron pocket for good luck. Stink grabbed his moon boots, his travel Trouble game, and his motorcycle made of 253 Snappos. Dad grabbed a bag of canned food for the food drive.

  When they got to Virginia Dare School, the Gobblers-a-Go-Go festivities were already under way. Kids and families crowded the school grounds. Signs said TURKEY BOWLING, CAKEWALK, PETTING ZOO. Live turkeys strutted around inside a pen, and kids learned to turkey call. A band called the Snoods and Wattles plucked banjos in the background.

  On the way to the parade, Judy and Stink found the table with all the dioramas made by the third-graders in Mr. Todd’s class.

  “Stink, I can’t look. Did I get an A-plus-plus?” Judy asked.

  “Better,” said Stink. “You got a way-cool sticker!”

  Judy stared at the sticker with vegetables on it. “I got a corn sticker? So my diorama is corny?”

  “Not just corn,” said Stink. “The Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. It’s on the back of my gold dollar. The one with Sacagawea. Only, in the old days, corn was called maize.”

  Judy beamed. “So my diorama is a-maize-ing!” Stink cracked up.

  Judy and Stink ran to join the costume parade. She waved to Frankenstein (aka Frank) and a slime blob (aka Rocky), who were already lined up. Frank was wearing a sign that said HAPPY FRANKSGIVING!

  “That’s funny!” Judy told her friend.

  Rocky had a string tied around his neck. “What’s with the string?” Judy asked.

  “I’m a balloon slime!” said Rocky. “Like in the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City.”

  “Wow,” said Judy. “Great idea.”

  “I’m a balloon, too,” said Stink.

  “Na-uh. You’re an astronaut,” said Judy.

  “Astronaut balloon,” said Stink.

  “Where’s your string?” Rocky asked.

  “Um, see, I’m the balloon that broke free and floated over the parade.” Stink held out his arms and pretended to fly.

  “So you’re a Pilgrim again, huh?” Rocky said to Judy.

  “She’s a three-names lady, the Inventor of Thanksgiving and ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb,’” Stink piped in before Judy could answer. Judy rolled her eyes.

  “Sarah Josepha Hale,” said Judy.

  “Run,” said Stink, “before she gives you a history lesson.”

  “I’m entering three events today,” said Judy. “If I win the best costume contest, the Triple Fun Relay, and the Turkey Trot, I’ll end up with a Thanksgiving centerpiece, a pumpkin pie for dessert, and a turkey to take to Grandma Lou’s.”

  “Hey, it’s time!” said Stink.

  All the kids in costume lined up and marched in a parade to the tune of “What a Wonderful World.” They paraded past the panel of judges.

  In no time, Ms. Tuxedo, the principal, stepped up to the podium to announce a winner. A hush fell over the crowd. “The prize for best costume this year is a cornucopia.” She held up a horn-shaped basket full of grapes and oranges and stalks of corn. “It will make a beautiful centerpiece for your holiday table. And the winner for best costume is . . . Jessica A. Finch.”

  “Where is she?” asked Frank.

  “What is she?” asked Judy.

  An ear of corn waddled up onstage. The ear of corn was Jessica Finch. And she was holding a leash. At the end of the leash was her pet potbellied pig.

  “Hey,” said Frank. “There’s that pig she got for her birthday.”

  “PeeGee WeeGee,” said Judy. “I pig-sat him.”

  PeeGee WeeGee was dressed as a Pilgrim! Jessica Finch accepted her prize. She tried to take a bow, but her corn costume wouldn’t bend. Pop! Pop-pop-pop! Kernels of corn popped off of her costume as she tried to lean over.

  “I can’t believe we got beat by corn on the cob,” said Judy.

  “I can’t believe we got beat by popcorn,” said Frank.

  “They just picked her because her pet pig is cute,” said Stink.

  “PeeGee is a pretty cute Pilgrim,” Judy admitted. “But Frank’s costume is so funny. And Rocky’s is creative. Nobody else came as a parade balloon.”

  “Except me,” Stink piped in.

  “And yours is hysterical and historical,” Frank told Judy.

  “Thanks,” said Judy. “I had to sleep in curlers to get these corkscrew curls to come out right.” Boing! She bounced a curl. “I’ll bet those judges didn’t even know I was Sarah Josepha Hale. I’ll bet they thought I was just a plain-old, boring-old Pilgrim.”

  “You should have won the corny horn,” said Stink.

  “There’s still the Triple Fun Relay,” said Judy. “And don’t forget the Turkey Trot. But the Flying Giblets are going to win the relay race hands down.”

  “Who are the Flying Giblets?” asked Stink.

  “Us,” said Judy. “You and me.”

  “Aren’t giblets all the yucky parts of the turkey?” asked Stink.

  “Yep,” said Frank. “Livers and kidneys and gizzards. Yuck! My dog, Sparky, loves them.”

  “Gross,” said Judy.

  “Sweet,” said Stink. “We’re the Flying Turkey Gizzards!”

  Relay-race time! The Flying Turkey Gizzards lined up at the starting line next to FrankenSlime (aka Frank and Rocky) and tons of other kids paired up in teams like Scrambled Legs, Phoebe and Jay, and Captain Runderpants.

  “Listen up, Stink,” Judy said, hiking up her skirt to duct-tape her left ankle to Stink’s right ankle. “First we do the three-legged race across the soccer field to those orange cones. Then I’ll go first with the Jell-O. You run back to the other side, and I’ll pass it off to you. Then we zoom through the human-wheelbarrow race, and that pumpkin pie is ours.”

  “Got it,” said Stink.

  Mr. Todd was in charge of the Triple Fun Relay. “On your mark, get set, GO!” he called. Judy and Stink hopped across the field.

  “Flying Turkey Gizzards rule!” she called to Rocky and Frank.

  They were ahead. So far, so good. When they reached the orange cones, Stink yanked off the tape and ran back to the starting line while Judy grabbed a spoon with two cubes of red Jell-O on it. She started across the field. It wiggled. It jiggled. It made Judy giggle.

  In no time, she passed the spoon to Stink. He headed across the field, holding the spoon out in front of him. Yum, yum, he thought. Two bright-red cubes of wiggling, jiggling Jell-O. Once-a-year cranberry Jell-O . . . with pretzels . . . my favorite!

  Stink could not stop staring at the spoon. He forgot to look up. He forgot to look down. All of a sudden, one of those wiggly, jiggly Jell-O cubes slid right off of the spoon. It fell — plop — onto the ground. Stink stood and stared.

  “Stink!” Judy yelled. “Go! Never, ever stop!” He rushed to the finish line.

  Human-wheelbarrow time!

  Stink crouched on the ground, and Judy grabbed his ankles. She started to steer him back across the field. “Don’t worry, Stink. This is our best event. This is where the Flying Turkey Gizzards make up time and bring home the pie.”

  They were halfway across the field when Stink suddenly stopped. He saw something in the grass. Something wiggly. Something jiggly. It was not a worm. It was Jell-O. Oh-so-mouthwatering cranberry-pretzel Jell-O.

  He did not bother to make sure it was dirt-free. He did not bother to make sure it was ant-free. He grabbed the Jell-O and — glup! — stuck it in his mouth.

  All of a sudden, Judy could not steer Stink. She pushed his legs, but they did not move one inch. She tripped over Stink and fell flat on her face.

  Stink sat up. He had a red face — a face ful
l of Jell-O. All the other teams had made it to the finish line. The Flying Turkey Gizzards were finished. As in over and done with. As in defeated, destroyed, did-not-win.

  “We have a winner!” called Mr. Todd. Frank and Rocky, aka FrankenSlime, held their hands in the air like champs.

  “Way to go, guys,” said Judy.

  Stink licked his lips. “Sorry we didn’t win,” he mumbled.

  “I hope you liked your Jell-O,” said Judy, “because we’re sure not getting any pie.”

  Turkey-Trot Time! Judy trotted over to the track with Rocky and Frank. Stink tried to follow them.

  “Stink, the peewee races are over on the playground,” Judy teased. “Go strut your stuffing.”

  Stink stood on his tiptoes. “I’m tall enough to pass for eight years old.”

  Judy snorted. “You’re barely tall enough to pass for five years old. Bye, Stink.” Judy waved as Stink headed off for the peewee races.

  This was it. The big kahuna. Turkeypalooza. The moment Judy had been waiting for. For three whole weeks she had been getting ready for this race!

  Judy thought of all the times she had eaten an energy bar (seventeen). She thought of all the times she had run around the block (seventy-three) and jumped rope (seven hundred). She thought of all the times she did not eat sugar (seven gazillion).

  Okay, so maybe there would be no corn-horn thingy for Grandma Lou’s Thanksgiving table. Maybe there would be no pumpkin pie for dessert. But what was Thanksgiving without turkey?

  She, Judy Moody, just had to win the Turkey Trot.

  Judy pushed down on her Pilgrim hat. She tightened the laces on her lucky high-tops (one green, one orange). She straightened her go-faster stripes.

  Reaching into her apron pocket, Judy rubbed her wishbone for extra good luck.

  Judy lined up at the start, next to Frankenstein and Slime. There were turkeys and hockey players, Pilgrims and pirates and princesses. There were two brides and one Chewbacca. There was even one tall kid dressed as a pie crust.