Pickle Puss

by Patricia Reilly Giff

  Dawn was probably home.

  Reading as fast as she could.

  “I'll get a book,” Stacy said. “You can read it to me.” She knelt down next to the picture books.

  Emily went to a bookcase in back. She needed books fast.

  Easy ones.

  She pulled out two. She didn't even read the titles.

  They were skinny minnies.

  Books with lots of pictures.

  She was glad Freddie wasn't around. She didn't want him to see them.

  Stacy came over. She held up a book. “What's this?”

  Emily looked at it. Her mother had read it to her when she was small. “It's called Make Way for Ducklings.”

  “Very good,” Stacy said.

  They went to the desk.

  “What's the prize?” Stacy asked Mrs. Baker. “The Fish for a Good Book prize?”

  “The real prize is reading a good book,” said Mrs. Baker.

  “I like a real prize that's candy,” said Stacy.

  Mrs. Baker smiled. “We're going to have a party. It will be on the last day of the contest. You can come, Stacy.”

  Jill came up behind them. “I have a cat book.”

  “You have a cat too?” Mrs. Baker asked.

  “Almost,” Jill said.

  Mrs. Baker crinkled up her freckles. “I love cats.”

  Emily pushed her books over.

  Mrs. Baker looked at them. “Are you going to read to Stacy?”

  “Only one,” said Stacy. “The rest are Emily's.”

  Emily stared down at her sneakers.

  Maybe Mrs. Baker thought she was a baby.

  Maybe Mrs. Baker thought she just wanted fish.

  Emily grabbed the books. “Let's go, Stacy.”

  She hurried out the door.

  Emily found the last strawberry in her cereal.

  She popped it into her mouth. It tasted wonderful.

  She twisted the radio knob. The weatherman was saying it was hot.

  He was right, Emily thought. She put the bowl in the sink.

  Then she went out the door.

  Beast was waiting. They wanted to find the cat today.

  Stacy was outside too. She was wearing an old Halloween costume.

  “I'm Stacy Arrow-Princess,” Stacy said. “I'll come with you.”

  They went down the street.

  They turned the corner.

  “Here, kitty,” Emily called.

  “How do you make an S?” Stacy asked. “For my name.”

  “Like a snake,” said Emily. She made her neck fat. She hissed a little.

  “I know that one.” Stacy began to screech: “Here, cat. Come to Stacy.”

  “You're going to scare him away,” said Beast.

  They looked under the bushes.

  “S like a snake,” Stacy sang. “A Stacy snake.”

  They passed Dawn Bosco's house.

  Dawn was sitting on her front steps. She was reading a fat book.

  “Snaggle doodles,” Emily said.

  “Hi, Dawn,” Beast yelled. “Want to help us look for a cat?”

  Dawn put her book down. “Sure,” she said. “I have a cat now too. I found him.”

  Emily frowned a little. “What does he look like?”

  “What comes next after 5?” Stacy said.

  “Never mind,” Emily said. She looked at Dawn. “What-”

  “Tell me,” Stacy said. “Please.”

  Emily made a cross with her two thumbs.

  Stacy nodded. “I almost forgot.”

  Dawn bent down to look under a car.

  Emily bent down to look too. “My cat is black and white,” she said.

  “Mine has a white tip on his tail,” said Dawn.

  “Hey,” said Beast. “There he is.”

  Emily stood up. “Where?”

  “Look.” Beast pointed up. “In the tree.”

  Emily shaded her eyes.

  “Here, Pickle Puss,” Stacy yelled. “Come on down.”

  “I have cat food,” Emily told Dawn.

  “He's mine,” said Dawn.

  “I'll get him,” Beast said.

  He jumped for a branch.

  The cat meowed.

  “I saw him first,” Emily said.

  “My mother said I could have him,” said Dawn.

  “So did mine. I asked her last night,” said Emily. “My mother was glad.”

  She crossed her fingers. Her mother hadn't been so glad. Emily had begged until her mother said yes.

  Beast reached up. The cat climbed on his arm.

  “Yeow,” said Beast. “His claws are sharp.”

  He climbed down with it.

  Emily grabbed for the cat.

  So did Dawn.

  “Wait,” said Beast. “Choose for him.”

  “I'm not choosing,” said Dawn.

  “Me neither,” said Emily.

  “Want to make a bet?” asked Beast.

  “He's really mine,” said Dawn. “He slept with me last night.”

  “What bet?” Emily asked.

  Beast looked up in the air. “Whoever gets the most fish keeps him.”

  Stacy frowned. “Emily's not such a hot reader.”

  “All right,” said Dawn. “I'll bet.”

  “I am so a hot reader,” said Emily. “I'll bet too.”

  “Cross your heart?” Dawn said. “Hope to die?”

  “Spit on my toes,” Emily said.

  Beast put the cat down.

  Emily reached for it.

  So did Dawn.

  Dawn scooped it up. “I'll keep him for now. He likes it at my house.”

  Emily stood there for another minute.

  She wanted to grab the cat.

  She put her nose up in the air. “Mongoose.”

  “What's that?” Dawn asked.

  “Come on,” Emily told Stacy. “I'm going home to read.”

  Today was Friday. August was half over.

  Emily sat on her front step. She looked up at the tree. She could hear a locust buzzing.

  She held her two skinny-minny books on her lap.

  No one else was around.

  Jill was at the store with her mother. They were buying stuff for school.

  Beast had to stay in today.

  He had run his bike over his mother's daisies.

  Even Stacy was staying overnight at Aunt Anne's.

  Emily looked at one of the books.

  It was a book on tying knots.

  Emily knew how to tie knots.

  It was silly to read a whole book about them.

  She made her eyes cross.

  The knots ran together.

  She turned the pages as fast as she could.

  Then she slapped the book shut.

  She picked up the other one.

  It had a picture of a tree on the front. A green tree.

  She had read that one a long time ago. Maybe when she was in kindergarten.

  No good. She'd have to bring it back to the library.

  Mrs. Baker had said old books didn't count.

  She stood up.

  She didn't feel like walking four blocks.

  It was no fun alone.

  She'd try to hold her breath.

  She'd see how many breaths it took to get there.

  She breathed in as hard as she could.

  She started to run.

  A neighbor was standing on the corner. “Hi, Emily,” Mrs. Mann said.

  Emily let her breath out.

  “Your face is red,” Mrs. Mann said. “Are you sunburned?”

  Emily nodded. She didn't want Mrs. Mann to know she was holding her breath.

  She took another breath and started across the street.

  It took her eleven breaths to get to the library.

  On the way home she'd try to do it in ten.

  Mrs. Baker wasn't at the desk.

  There was another woman there. The library helper.

  She took the two books from Emily.
“Help yourself to two fish,” she said.

  Emily opened her mouth.

  The library helper pointed to the chart. “Take any two you want. Put them next to your name.”

  Emily went over to the chart. She looked at her tan fish.

  Then she looked at Dawn's name.

  Dawn had two fish now.

  “Hey, Emily,” a voice said.

  It was Freddie.

  His friend Edward was there too.

  “Take a red fish,” Edward told Emily.

  Emily stood on one foot.

  She picked a red fish and tacked it up.

  “Don't forget the other fish,” Edward said.

  Emily stared at her name for a minute.

  It was bad enough to take a fish for the knot book.

  It had taken two minutes to read it.

  But it was wrong to take one for the tree book.

  “Go ahead,” said Freddie. “Here.”

  He pulled off a blue fish. He tacked it next to her name.

  Emily licked her lip. “Thanks,” she said.

  She went to get another book.

  She picked out an in-between kind.

  Not a fat one.

  Not a skinny minny.

  She wasn't going to read skinny minnies anymore.

  It wasn't fair.

  On the way home she breathed in hard.

  Then she let her breath out.

  She didn't want to play holding breaths anymore.

  At least she had more fish than Dawn now.

  She didn't feel better though.

  If only Freddie hadn't put up the blue fish.

  Maybe she should have stopped him.

  She went up her front porch.

  She wanted to cry.

  A blue fish was swimming after Emily.

  It was going to grab her.

  Emily tried to swim faster.

  Then she felt the sun on her face.

  She was in her own bed.

  She opened one eye.

  She didn't want to think about the blue fish.

  Maybe she'd think about her new book. The in-between one.

  It was all about a girl. A funny girl like Stacy. Her name was Ramona.

  She had read a pile of pages last night.

  Today she'd read another pile.

  “Wake up, Emily,” Stacy said. “I want to show you something.”

  Emily opened her other eye.

  Stacy waved a paper around.

  “What's that?” Emily asked. She looked at a bunch of scribble-scrabble lines.

  “Can't you tell?” Stacy asked.

  “Is it a picture of a railroad track?”

  Stacy shook her head.

  “I give up,” Emily said.

  Stacy leaned over her. “It's a Stacy. Part of a Stacy.”

  Emily turned the paper upside down.

  She could see a big shaky S.

  She could almost see a t.

  “S for Stacy Snake,” said Stacy. “And the crossing-thumbs one. 7”

  “Not bad,” Emily said. “Too big though.”

  “I like them big,” said Stacy. “I like to see them.”

  Emily reached for her book.

  Stacy leaned closer. “I wish I could write my name. I wish it more than anything.”

  Emily sat up.

  “I want to get a card,” Stacy said.

  She tapped on Emily's foot.

  “I don't care about my name on the wall.” Tap.

  “I don't care about a fish.” Tap.

  “I want to get my own books myself.” Tap.

  Emily blinked. “I won't have a foot left.”

  “Sorry,” Stacy said.

  Emily looked down at her book. “I have to read,” she told Stacy. “August is almost over.”

  Dawn was probably reading too.

  Maybe she'd catch up with Emily. Maybe she'd even pass her.

  Emily looked up.

  Stacy had milk around her mouth.

  Her brown eyes had tears in them.

  Emily sighed. “Get me some paper,” she said. “Get a whole bunch.”

  Stacy jumped off the bed. “What are we going to do?”

  “We're going to write your name,” Emily said. “A hundred times. Until you know it.”

  Stacy went down the hall. “Hundred-nun-dred,” she sang.

  Emily slid out of bed.

  She put on her torn pink shorts.

  She put on her I hate spinach shirt.

  She looked under the bed for her flip-flops.

  “Here I am,” Stacy said. “Ready or not.”

  Emily sat on the floor, She put on her flip-flops. “Make an S. Make af.”

  She leaned over Stacy. “Not so big.”

  Stacy made an S. She made a little t. “Look at that skinny little thing. Small as anything,” she said.

  Emily looked at it. “Make another one. Make it darker.”

  Stacy put her tongue out a little. She wrote another S-t. “Perfect,” she said.

  “Almost,” said Emily. “Now we're going to do an a.”

  She drew one for Stacy on the paper.

  “A has a nice fat stomach,” said Stacy, singing. She leaned over the paper.

  Emily swallowed. Stacy's a was terrible.

  She'd have to do it over and over.

  They'd be sitting on the floor all morning.

  All day. All week.

  “You're a good-good-sister,” Stacy sang. She wiped her mouth on her hand. Emily smiled.

  She tried not to think about Dawn. “I know,” she said.

  It was Thursday again. School would begin next week.

  Today was the last day to fish for a good book. Tomorrow was the library party.

  Emily sat in the driveway reading.

  Stacy sat next to her. She had a purple crayon.

  She was writing y's.

  They looked like 4's.

  “Two pages to go,” Emily said. “I love this book.”

  She took the crayon.

  She made a y with nice arms.

  “Very pretty,” Stacy said. “I can do that too.”

  Emily turned the page of her book.

  She'd have four fish today.

  She'd take another tan one.

  Too bad she kept thinking about that blue fish.

  She bit her thumbnail.

  She should have three fish.

  Not four.

  “Only babies suck their thumbs,” Stacy said.

  “Snaggle doodles,” said Emily. She looked up.

  Beast and Jill and Dawn were coming down the street.

  Pickle Puss was curled around Dawn's neck.

  “You have a fur coat,” Stacy yelled.

  “Want to play something?” Beast asked.

  The three of them came up the path.

  Emily reached out.

  She gave the cat a pat.

  It yanked on Dawn's hair.

  “Crazy cat,” Emily said.

  “He does that all the time,” said Dawn. “He sleeps with me too.”

  Emily swallowed.

  The cat stuck its head in Dawn's neck.

  It began to purr.

  “He really loves Dawn,” said Jill.

  “He loves me too,” said Emily.

  “Me too,” said Stacy.

  Beast jumped over a crack in the sidewalk. “Let's play giant steps.”

  “Just a minute,” Emily said.

  She held up her book. “I have a teeny bit left.”

  “Just another minute too,” Stacy said. “I have to make another j.”

  Emily read the last sentence.

  “Terrific,” she said.

  “You read all that?” Beast asked.

  Emily nodded.

  “Didn't your eyes get tired?”

  “Not one bit.”

  “Mine don't get tired either,” Dawn said.

  Stacy put down her paper. “My hand gets tired. Very tired.”

  “I'll do the calling,”
Beast said. He stood in the middle of the driveway.

  Everyone else went to the end.

  “Dawn,” Beast called. “You may take two giant steps.”

  Dawn took two great big giant steps.

  Beast started to laugh.

  He jumped up and down.

  “Go back,” he yelled. “You forgot to say 'May I?'”

  “You're right.” Dawn laughed. She stepped back.

  Emily watched Dawn out of the corner of her eye.

  The cat was still hanging around Dawn's neck.

  Jill was right.

  The cat loved Dawn.

  Dawn loved the cat too. She was rubbing her chin on its fur.

  Too bad, Emily thought. She loved the cat more.

  “How many fish do you have?” she asked Dawn.

  “I'm not telling,” said Dawn.

  “Emily,” said Beast. “Take two grandma steps.”

  “May I?”

  “Yes, you may,” said Beast.

  Emily bent over. She took two teeny grandma steps.

  She was going to win.

  Dawn had only three fish.

  She was sure of it.

  She tried not to hear the cat purring.

  Emily looked in the mirror.

  Her party dress was pink.

  It was too short.

  Her knees showed. They had two brown scabs.

  She made a face.

  “Your face looks ugly like that,” Stacy said.

  Emily felt ugly. She felt like a mongoose.

  “What's the matter?” Stacy asked.

  Emily didn't answer.

  She shook her head.

  She kept thinking about the blue fish.

  Stacy danced around the bedroom.

  She was wearing her party dress too. A yellow one.

  “Li-berry par-par-party,” Stacy sang. “Will I get my card today?”

  “Write small,” Emily said. “Write dark.”

  They went downstairs.

  Their mother was in the hall. “You look great,” she said.

  “Except for my knees,” said Emily.

  Her mother smiled. “You're growing. The dress is a little short. We'll have to get you a new one after school starts.”

  Emily and Stacy went down the street.

  They waved back at their mother.

  They turned in at the library door.

  Mrs. Baker was standing at a table. She was giving out juice and cupcakes.

  She smiled at them. “I have to ask you something later.”

  Emily nodded. She said hello to Jill.

  Then she went over to the Fish for a Good Book chart.

  Dawn was standing there.

  Emily looked over her shoulder.