by Judy Delton
Tim waved his hands at the passing cars. They all slowed down. Some of the drivers smiled. Some stopped. And then a lady with pearls around her neck got out and bought four bags!
“I’m going to make applesauce,” she said. “My grandson loves it.”
Tim helped load the bags in her car. Molly could not believe it was this easy! People wanted apples! They paid real money for them!
When the next car stopped, a lady with three children asked if the apples made good pies.
“You bet!” said Tim. “My mom made about eight!”
The lady bought three bags and left.
“Oh, no,” said Mary Beth. “Here comes trouble.”
Molly looked down the street. It was a bike. Rat’s knees, Roger was riding it.
CHAPTER 10
The Bad Apple
Roger skidded to a stop, dragging his shoes on the cement sidewalk. He picked up an apple and took a bite from it.
“Hey! You have to pay for that!” said Tim.
“How much?” asked Roger.
Molly tried to figure in her head. If a whole big bag of apples was one dollar, how much would just one apple cost?
“A dime,” said Tracy, opening her eyes.
“Hey, look,” said Roger. “There’s a worm in this apple! I’m not paying for it!”
He was right. Molly could see a green worm sticking its head out of Roger’s apple.
“Are there worms in all of them?” asked Mary Beth. “Our customers will be mad!”
“There were no worms in our pies,” said Tim. “Roger just got a bad apple.”
“Roger is a bad apple,” muttered Mary Beth.
“Take that back!” shouted Roger.
Mary Beth wouldn’t take it back. Luckily one of Tim’s neighbors came outside to get in his car. Roger tossed his wormy apple down and got on his bike and sped away.
“I’m glad he got the wormy apple, instead of a real customer,” said Molly. “He always brings some kind of trouble with him.”
“That’s because he’s the thirteenth scout,” said Tracy, who seemed to be wide awake now.
Soon all the apples were gone, but customers kept coming. Tim ran into the backyard and got more. Finally the only apples left were too high on the tree for the Pee Wees to reach. Tracy took down her sign, and they counted their money.
“Thirty-six dollars!” cried Mary Beth. “Are you sure your mom said you could have the money, Tim?”
Tim nodded. “We can pay for the books right now!” he said. “Then you guys get something for helping, and I’ll give the rest back to my mom.”
Tim was smarter than Molly thought. And generous! She could hardly believe their book worries were almost over! Instead of the girls’ having to help Tim, he had helped them! Now it wouldn’t be so hard to confess to the lost books, because their parents and Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Peters would know they could pay for them. They didn’t need to borrow money or beg for money. They had solved the problem on their own! They were responsible Pee Wees!
The four of them dashed to the library and explained about the two books to Mrs. Nelson. “And here is the money for both books!” said Molly. “The one Skippy ate, and the one Tim’s baby brother colored in.”
“Why, that is very responsible of you, children!” Mrs. Nelson said.
“We know,” said Tim. “We did it all ourselves. And I can spell apple and red! Molly helped me.”
“Good,” said Mrs. Nelson. “That is wonderful news, Tim.”
Mrs. Nelson did not say they were careless for leaving the books in danger. She did not say they were too young to have library cards. She said, “This is too much money, though. Those two books were getting ragged, and I was about to order new ones. I’ll only charge you five dollars for both of them.”
Five dollars! If Molly had known that, she would have had to worry only half as much! And work only half as hard to pay the money back!
But Tim deserved the leftover money. It was his idea, and they were his apples.
“We’ll call it even now, and we won’t mention this again,” said Mrs. Nelson. “Just be careful where you put your books in the future.” She laughed. “We wouldn’t want Skippy or the baby ruining a new book!”
When they left the library Molly felt as if a big weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was free! She was not in jail! She could tell her parents! She could check more books out of the library on her card! And she could get her new badge with the rest of the Pee Wees.
As soon as Molly got home, she told her mom and dad what had happened. When she was all done, her dad said he was proud of her for taking responsibility for the book.
“I think you’ve learned your lesson the hard way,” he said. “You’ll probably take better care of your books from now on.”
Parents had to say those things. They had to be sure you had learned a lesson. Well, Molly had.
At the next Pee Wee meeting, Molly told Mrs. Peters the whole story. Mrs. Peters said she was proud of Molly and Tim for what they had done, and proud of Tim for learning some new words with Molly’s help. Of course, she did tack on the part about learning a lesson.
“And now we have some badges to give out!” Mrs. Peters said, “Badges to all of our bookworms!”
Molly did not want to hear about worms. Even bookworms. She had had enough worm talk to last forever.
The new badge was beautiful! New badges always were. They were crisp and clean and had never been in the washing machine. This one had an open book on it, with make-believe words on the make-believe pages.
Badges were fun, and reading books was even more fun. Molly had to admit that Mrs. Peters had been right.
“This is my favorite badge,” said Lisa.
“I’m going to go to the library every day,” said Tim. “Even though I’ve got my badge.”
“So am I,” said Tracy. “I’m going to read every book in the whole place!”
“And now,” Mrs. Peters went on, “we will give out our prize to the one who read the most library books and wrote the most reports.”
“If Roger gets it, I’m quitting Pee Wee Scouts,” said Rachel.
But he didn’t. Jody did. And everyone clapped and clapped. He deserved it.
The prize was a pair of bookends shaped like spaceships. Perfect for Jody, thought Molly. Bookish but not too schoolish.
But the best prize was checking out new books on new cards. And all the Pee Wees could do that!
Ashley’s hand was waving.
“Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Peters,” she called. “This is my last meeting for the year! I’m going back to California for the winter. For school and the Saddle Scouts.”
“That’s too bad, Ashley,” said their leader. “We will all miss you, but we hope to see you in spring when school’s out.”
“Too bad it isn’t Roger who’s leaving,” said Rachel.
Molly nodded. She looked across the table at Roger. He was putting something down the neck of Sonny’s T-shirt. Something that looked wet and disgusting.
Well, it didn’t matter. They all had their shiny new badges, Roger had not won the prize, and they all were bookworm buddies. Rat’s knees, belonging to Pee Wee Scouts was fun!
Pee Wee Scout Song
(to the tune of
“Old MacDonald Had a Farm”)
Scouts are helpers, Scouts have fun
Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!
We sing and play when work is done,
Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!
With a good deed here,
And an errand there,
Here a hand, there a hand,
Everywhere a good hand.
Scouts are helpers, Scouts have fun,
Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!
Pee Wee Scout Pledge
We love our country
And our home,
Our school and neighbors too.
As Pee Wee Scouts
We pledge our best
In everything we do.
Judy Delton, Bookworm Buddies