Cody and the Fountain of Happiness

by Tricia Springstubb

  At the corner, Cody froze. Something squished lay in the road. Her heart began to beat too fast, and her throat closed up. She reached for Mom’s hand.MewMew was so slow. And deaf. And clueless. What if . . .

  Mom checked. “A squirrel!” she said.

  Whew. Cody felt sorry for that run-over squirrel, she really truly did. But oh, thank goodness it wasn’t MewMew!

  At last, Mom said, “It’s too dark to see. And you haven’t had any dinner.”

  Dinner! Cody would never eat again. But by now, her eyes and ears were playing tricks on her. Every shape was a cat shape. Every sound was a cat cry. It was getting hard to put one foot in front of the other. When they got home, Payton and Wyatt were waiting on the front steps.

  “I just talked to GG,” he said. “They didn’t find her, either.”

  “Not yet, that is,” added Payton.

  What if it wasn’t ever?

  Payton twirled a ribbon of hair and pooched her lips.

  “Wyatt called the animal warden,” she said. “He’s going to post MewMew on the Lost Pets website, too.” She gazed at him with eyes of admiration. “He’s thought of everything.”

  “No hay problema.” Wyatt flexed his arm, making a muscle.

  Payton laughed. Then Wyatt laughed. Even Mom laughed. Laughed! At a time like this! Cody couldn’t believe it. Furious, she rushed past them, up the steps and inside. In her room, she grabbed Gremlin and hugged him tight. Gremlin was made of rubber, so you could cry on him forever and he didn’t get soggy.

  Mom came in. She held out a peanut-butter-and-marshmallow sandwich.

  “I’m not hungry,” said Cody.

  “You’re not giving up, are you?” said Mom.

  Cody hugged Gremlin.

  “Because that wouldn’t be the Cody I know,” Mom went on. “The Cody I know always has a new idea. And she always tries again, even if she makes mistakes. Not only that, but she believes in giving people another chance. She’s a friend to all, even ants. Today at work, I thought of that girl. Mom, I told myself. Mom, take a lesson from Cody.”

  Cody sat up. “For real?”

  “And you know what? Today was my best Head of Shoes day yet. Even Mr. O’Becker said so.”

  Cody sank down. “But now MewMew’s lost.”

  “Tomorrow’s a new day.”

  Grown-ups have to say things like that. No grown-up who walks this earth is allowed to tell a kid, Tomorrow may be just as bad as today, and guess what else? It may be way worse.

  But now Mom put her arms around Cody and rubbed her back in slow, steady circles, just the way the earth goes around the sun.

  “Eat your sandwich, sweetie,” she said. “You’ll feel better.”

  Cody knew she wouldn’t. But she managed a couple of bites, and then Mom helped her get ready for bed.

  Cody lay listening to the night. A dog barked. A siren whup-whupped. A baby cried. In the dark, each sound stood out by itself. It was so different from daytime, when they all mushed together.

  Was Spencer asleep? Or was he lying awake, wishing he’d never met her? Heavy as an iron pot, that’s how Cody felt. A pot filled with sadness stew.

  She climbed out of bed and tiptoed down the hall to Wyatt’s room. She longed to wake him up to keep her company, but he’d only get mad. Besides, she remembered at the last minute, she was mad at him.

  So she just leaned in the doorway a little while, then tiptoed to the kitchen. She opened the back door and slipped outside.

  A lot was happening in the Kingdom of Night. White-winged moths fluttered around the porch light. Fireflies blinked secret messages. Hidden in a tree, a bird sang a silvery solo. The grass rustled with creatures too small and sly to be seen. Up above, the man in the moon smiled down on it all.

  Cody climbed onto the picnic table. How nice it was out here, in the pale glow of the almost-full moon! It made you wish you were an owl swooping or a spider spinning, at home in the mysterious darkness. Daytime was boring by comparison.

  But now Cody’s eye fell on something beneath the maple tree. For a moment, she couldn’t figure out what it was. Then all at once, she knew.

  MewMew’s carrier.

  Spencer had left it there.

  The night’s wonderfulness folded its wings and flew away. That empty carrier was the saddest thing Cody had ever laid eyes on.

  Now she knew what Mom meant about doing the wrong thing for the right reason. She’d meant to help Wyatt and Spencer, but instead she’d embarrassed her brother, made her friend hate her, and lost the world’s sweetest cat.

  That bird began to sing again, but now its song was sad and lonesome. Oh, no, it sang. I’m all alone in the night. Oh, no. Oh, no.

  Creak! Cody jumped and almost toppled off the table. But it was just Wyatt, opening the back door. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, he climbed up on the table next to her. He didn’t ask Cody what she was doing. Instead, he put her in a headlock.

  It felt so good.

  But suddenly he stiffened.

  “What’s that?” He pointed.

  An animal was tenderfooting its way across the dark yard. It stopped to sniff the grass, then trotted toward the carrier. They watched it crawl inside.

  “It looked like a raccoon,” said Wyatt. “It probably wants MewMew’s cat treats.”

  They crept toward it.

  “Careful!” Wyatt held out an arm. “Raccoons can carry rabies, which is an acute disease of the nervous system!”

  But then he reared back.

  And gave a mighty sneeze.

  She was back! Sweet, scaredy-cat MewMew had found her way home.

  While Wyatt ran to tell Mom, Cody cradled her close. Her fur was stuck with bits of burr, and her nose dabbed with mud.

  “Where were you?” Cody asked. MewMew tried to reply, but for once, Cody couldn’t translate.

  “You don’t seem hurt.” Cody rubbed her monogram. “You seem excelente!”

  Mom hurried out in her powder-blue satin bedroom slippers. Like a rock star, MewMew let them adore her.

  “We have to tell Spencer and GG!” Cody said.

  “It’s midnight,” said Mom. “They’re asleep.”

  “I bet they’re not,” said Cody. “Please, Mom!”

  So they put MewMew inside her carrier and walked down the street in the moonlight. But as they got closer, Cody got nervous. What if Spencer didn’t forgive her? After all, she hadn’t exactly found MewMew. The cat had found her own self. Cody hadn’t done any rescuing. What if Spencer still called her a big, fat faker?

  “Hey!” said Wyatt as they turned the corner. “Their lights are on!”

  “They’re on the porch,” said Mom, and began to wave. “Guess what?”

  GG and Spencer rocketed off the swing.

  “Look who’s here!” cried GG. She gave Spencer a bear hug. About half a second later, Cody got one, too.

  In GG’s kitchen, the kids had cookies and moo juice. Mom and GG had cookies and wine. You practically needed a ticket to get a turn petting MewMew. Cody explained how MewMew had strolled up out of nowhere, as if to say, What’s the big fuss?

  Then GG told how she and Spencer tried to sleep but gave up. Spencer, wearing his elephant/toaster pj’s, nodded.

  “This is the latest I ever stayed up in my entire life,” he said.

  “Well,” said GG with a chuckle, “you’ve done a lot of things you never did before since you and Cody became friends.”

  Cody slid down in her chair. Did GG mean that as a compliment? Or something else? Besides, they weren’t friends anymore.

  Mom stood up. “I have to get to bed. Tomorrow’s the final day of my trial.” Her forehead did its folding-fan imitation.

  “And tomorrow I have to dissect” — Wyatt swallowed hard — “a frog.”

  So far, Spencer hadn’t said a single, solitary word to Cody. But now he followed her outside.

  “Maybe it really did work,” he said in a quiet voice.

  “What?” Cody turned around.
/>
  “She came back. All by herself. Maybe MewMew really is hypnotized.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” said Cody. A little fountain of happiness bubbled up inside her. She began to picture all the other people and animals she could hypnotize. But then she shook her head. “We better not take any more chances. It’s too risky.”

  “I never thought I’d hear you say that,” said Spencer.

  “Right. Well, I guess I better go.”

  “Wait. I was thinking.”

  Is the sky blue? Cody almost said. But the wise voice inside her said, Be quiet.

  “Maybe MewMew wasn’t lost,” Spencer went on. “Maybe that first time she ran away — that time it was my fault and you found her in the tree — maybe she liked it, and she wanted to do it again. Maybe she’s not really a scaredy-cat after all. Maybe down deep, she’s brave and adventurous! Maybe” — he stopped for breath — “maybe I’m really sorry I said all that mean stuff to you.”

  Inside Cody, the fountain of happiness shot sky high.

  “I’m sorry I said I knew how to hypnotize,” she told him. “I just wish I did. Only not anymore. I’m sick of hypnotizing, to tell you the truth. And from now on, I’m going to think before I act. Not for a gazillion years, like you, but long enough to make sure I don’t do the wrong thing for the right reason. Or the right thing for the —”

  “Cody Louise!” called Mom. “Come on!”

  Cody sighed. She was worn out, but in a very nice way.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Spencer said.

  “It is tomorrow,” said Cody.

  “You act like you know everything,” he said.

  High above, the stars winked. The man in the moon smiled down. Hush-hush went Mom’s slippers on the sidewalk. Swish-swish went Wyatt’s baggy shorts.

  In this life, many things are sweet. But that night, if Cody had to name the sweetest thing of all, it would be walking in the summer moonlight, with her mother holding one hand and her big brother holding the other.

  Before she went to sleep, Cody wrote two notes. She tucked one inside Mom’s binder and one inside Wyatt’s bike helmet. Then she climbed into bed and catapulted into a delicious sleep.

  In the morning, Payton was so happy to see MewMew that she took photos with her phone. Then she posted them on the computer and showed Cody and Spencer.

  She scrolled quick-quick past all the pictures of popular kids laughing and dancing. And then ta-da!

  MewMew sleeping.

  MewMew looking out the window.

  MewMew sleeping.

  MewMew poking her toy.

  MewMew sleeping.

  MewMew with Cody’s finger pointing to her monogram.

  MewMew sleeping.

  MewMew had special, one-day-only permission to be inside the house. Sleepy from staying up so late, Cody and Spencer watched a movie with MewMew snoozing between them. Outside, it began to rain. If you think that was cozy, you are 100 percent correct.

  “Pretty soon I have to go home,” Spencer said.

  Cody nodded. GG was throwing a party to celebrate MewMew’s adventure. Everyone was invited, even Payton. They were going to dance the night away! They planned to raise the roof!

  “I mean home home,” said Spencer. “My parents are picking me up in a few days.”

  Once, going home was all he wanted. But now Spencer’s face got very complicated. Sadness and gladness were mixed together.

  Sometimes when you look at another person, it’s like looking in a mirror.

  “I just remembered something!” Cody said. “You never met my pet ants.”

  “You mean pest ants?”

  Cody fetched crackers and an umbrella, and the two of them went outside. It had been days since Cody had visited the ants, and she knew they’d be glad to see her. She and Spencer crouched down by the curb.

  Not an ant in sight.

  “Hello,” she said. “It’s me!”

  Rain tapped the umbrella. It dented the tops of the ant volcanoes. Oh, no. What if they thought Cody had abandoned them? Even worse — what if something had wiped them out?

  “Hello? Hello?”

  She should have known! Nothing defeated the ants! Two popped up. They touched feelers, then skedaddled across her toes. They touched feelers again and skedaddled over Spencer’s foot.

  “They like you!” Cody told him. She crumbled up the crackers, and they watched the ants work together to drag a monumental piece back to the colony.

  “I’m going to tell my parents I want to come back,” said Spencer.

  “Really?” Cody did not trust her ears.

  “Before the end of the summer, I’ll be back. Amiga.”

  Spencer smiled a brave smile. He looked so nice, Cody touched her forehead to his and did a little rub-a-dub-dub.

  Spencer laughed. And then he did it back.

  Later, after MewMew and Spencer had gone home, Cody and Payton decided to watch the rest of the movie. They’d just settled onto the couch when footsteps pounded up the front steps. Wyatt burst in, hair glued to his head. Raindrops dripped off his nose.

  “I did it!” He punched the air like he’d won the Olympics. “I dissected a frog!”

  “Oh, wow!” said Cody. “You didn’t faint this time?”

  “Faint?” Payton tee-heed as if Cody had made a joke. “Like Wyatt would ever faint!”

  Wyatt shot Cody a look that said I-will-make-you-faint-if-you-tell.

  “Oh, right,” said Cody. “Tee-hee.”

  But now Payton pointed her finger at Wyatt’s dripping nose.

  “How could you do such a thing?” she demanded. “I am opposed to dissection. I am opposed to anything that involves animal cruelty.”

  “Surgeons have to dissect.” Wyatt rubbed his dripping nose. “Are you opposed to surgeons?”

  “I’m going home to get ready for the party.” Payton flipped her hair. “If you think I’m going to dance with you, you can think again.”

  And she marched out the door.

  Wyatt rubbed his head. “That girl gives me a brain pain.”

  “Hey,” said Cody, “that’s my job!”

  While Wyatt took a shower, Cody curled up on the couch. The rain let up, and sunlight the color of lemonade spilled across her toes. Cody’s eyes drooped, and she was in a beautiful dream. Payton and Wyatt were dancing the Mashed Potato together. GG was laughing. MewMew stood on her hind legs and danced, too. For once Mom came home early, just in time. . . .

  “I’m ready to party,” said Mom.

  “Umm,” said dreamy Cody. “I know.”

  “Open your eyes and see a surprise,” said Mom.

  “Huh?”

  When Cody opened her eyes, real-life Mom was sitting right next to her. Pinned to her dress was a name tag edged in gold. SUPERVISOR, FOOTWEAR DEPARTMENT, it said.

  “Mom! You’re Head of Shoes!”

  “I am!”

  Now Wyatt wedged himself onto the couch, too. He smelled like some new, nonstinky soap. When Mom heard he’d done his dissection, it was group-hug time. This was even more pleasant than usual, since Wyatt smelled so good. And then it was Mom’s turn to tell about her day.

  “When Mr. O. called me into his office, he looked so serious I was sure it was bad news. So I decided to be honest. I told him how at first, I hadn’t been sure I could manage the job.”

  Mom picked up her purse and set it on her lap.

  “I said what kept me going was my family. I showed him the note I found in my binder today.” She opened her purse and pulled it out.

  “Hey,” said Wyatt. “I got one of those, too.”

  Cody held her breath. She’d meant well! Only by now she knew meaning well was no guarantee.

  But Mom broke into a smile as bright as her new name tag.

  “Mr. O. said I certainly have an unusual family. I said he was certainly right. Then he said the number-one requirement for a good supervisor is handling a million things at once. And then he said I was the one for the job
!”

  Group Hug, the Sequel!

  Mom called Dad to tell him all the good news. While they talked, Cody leaned back. She admired Mom’s new pin and Wyatt’s new smell, and she thought of her new friends, and the millions of new cells her body was making, and how tomorrow was a new day and who could tell? Who knew what wonders it might bring?

  Nobody.

  Not even Cody.

  My fountain of gratitude bubbles over with thanks to Sarah Davies, and to Liz Bicknell, Carter Hasegawa, and everyone at Candlewick Press. Thank you, Ohio Arts Council and the Vermont Studio Center. And to all the teachers, librarians, and booksellers who have been so kind to me and who do so much for young readers — a little ant rub-a-dub-dub.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2015 by Tricia Springstubb

  Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Eliza Wheeler

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  First electronic edition 2015

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2014945449

  ISBN 978-0-7636-5857-1 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-7696-4 (electronic)

  The illustrations were done in ink and watercolor.

  Candlewick Press

  99 Dover Street

  Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

  visit us at www.candlewick.com