Bookworm Buddies

“
K
er
CHOO!
” sneezed Tracy Barnes. “Kerchoo, kerchoo, kerchoo!”

“Bless you,” said Mrs. Peters, handing her a tissue. “Are you getting a cold, Tracy?”

Tracy shook her head. Her eyes were red, and her nose was running. “It’s my allergies,” she said. “In autumn there’s all this pollen and stuff in the air.”

The Pee Wees were at the park, raking
leaves. Raking leaves was a good deed. They raked them for neighbors who could not do yard work themselves, and they raked the park because it was part of their community. Mrs. Peters was the leader of the Pee Wees, and she believed in helping others.

Tracy leaned on her rake.

“Maybe Tracy should go sit in the bandstand,” said Jody George. Jody was tieing leaf bags from his wheelchair. “There’s mold in these damp leaves, and that may bother her.”

“Tracy’s just saying she’s allergic because she doesn’t want to rake,” said Roger White.

“Yeah, she’s allergic to working,” said Sonny Stone. His mother was the assistant leader.

Rachel Myers glared at the boys. “Anyone can see that Tracy has real allergies,” she said. “You can’t sneeze on purpose.”

“I can,” said Roger. “
Kerchoo, kerchoo, kerchoo!
”

Sonny began to sneeze too, and soon all the Pee Wees were sneezing.

“That’s fake,” said Rachel. “Make them stop, Mrs. Peters.”

“Hey!” yelled Roger. “I’m allergic to rakes!”

“I’m allergic to parks!” shouted Sonny.

“I’m allergic to Rachel,” said Roger. “And to
you
!” he said, pointing to Sonny.

“Tracy has real allergies. There’s no doubt about that,” said Mrs. Peters.

“They say allergies are all in your head,” said Ashley Baker. Ashley was a temporary Pee Wee. She lived in California most of the time. She belonged to the Saddle Scouts there. But now she was visiting her cousins, Patty and Kenny Baker.

“They
are
in my head,” sniffed Tracy. “In my nose and my eyes.”

“She’s had allergies since we were in kindergarten,” said Mary Beth Kelly to her best friend, Molly Duff.

Molly held a big plastic trash bag open while Mary Beth raked a pile of leaves into it. “I feel sorry for Tracy,” Mary Beth said. “She can’t go to the fair or have any pets or pick flowers. Even if she gets out of raking, allergies are no fun.”

Mrs. Peters clapped her hands and said, “I think we’re through for today. We can all be proud of the good job we did. It was a lot of hard work.”

As they put their rakes into the van, Mrs. Peters began to count noses. She had to be sure all the Pee Wees were there. She counted them twice. Finally she said, “I only count twelve.” She frowned. “Who is missing?”

“I hope it’s Roger,” said Tracy with a sniff.

“So do I,” said Rachel. “And I hope he stays lost.”

Just as Mrs. Peters was going to organize a search party of Pee Wees, Roger popped out of a leaf bag.

“Ha!” he said. “I fooled you all!”

“Darn,” said Rachel. “He almost got bagged up with the leaves.”

“Roger would make good compost,” joked Mary Beth.

“Well, don’t play in plastic bags,” said Mrs. Peters to Roger. “That’s very dangerous.”

“Mrs. Peters, we have thirteen Pee Wees, and thirteen is an unlucky number,” said Patty Baker.

“I think we should get rid of Roger,” agreed Rachel. “He’ll bring us bad luck.”

“We could
add
a new member, instead of
getting rid of one,” said Molly. She didn’t like Roger very much. He was mean and tricky. But she hated to hurt his feelings.

“Thirteen is not an unlucky number,” said Mrs. Peters. “That’s an old saying, and it isn’t true. Thirteen is no different from any other number.”

“Then why don’t they have a thirteenth floor in some buildings?” asked Kevin Moe.

Mrs. Peters couldn’t answer that. Teachers could answer
any
question, thought Molly. She wondered if Pee Wee leaders were not as smart as teachers.

“Let’s load these bags in the van and get back to our meeting,” said Mrs. Peters. “I can’t wait to tell you all about the badge we’re going to earn next!”

T
he Pee Wees loved getting badges. All the way back to Mrs. Peters’s house they talked about the new one coming up.

“I hope it isn’t a raking badge,” said Sonny. “My arms are tired.”

“Maybe it’s an allergy badge,” said Lisa Ronning. “Then Tracy would get hers first.”

“There’s no such thing as an allergy badge, is there, Mrs. Peters?” asked Ashley. “Otherwise none of us could get it. We don’t have allergies.”

“It is not an allergy badge,” said Mrs. Peters, laughing. “Just wait and see. You’ll know soon enough what it is.”

At Mrs. Peters’s house the Pee Wees piled out of the van. They still had leaves sticking to their sweaters and shoes and even their hair. Mrs. Peters used a broom to brush them all off. Then they washed their hands in Mrs. Peters’s bathroom and raced down the basement stairs to their meeting place.

“Tell us, tell us, tell us!” shouted Roger, banging on the table. Soon some other Pee Wees joined in his chant. They sang and pounded too.

“He has such bad manners,” said Rachel. “I told Mrs. Peters we need to get a manners badge. I’d get mine in a minute, but Roger would have a lot of work to do.”

Molly could not picture Roger, or even Sonny, with good manners. Both boys interrupted others and talked with their mouths full of food and never said thank you or pardon me.

Mrs. Peters stood at the head of the table and waited. The Pee Wees knew what she was waiting for: quiet. She would not tell them a word about the new badge until they were quiet.

The drumming stopped. The chants got weaker. Finally it was quiet.

Mrs. Peters had a pile of books on the table in front of her. Molly tried to see what books they were, but the titles were upside down and she couldn’t read them. Maybe they were books about getting their new badge!

“We all know that it’s fall,” said Mrs. Peters. “And the biggest thing that happens in fall, is what?”

All the Pee Wees shouted at once.

“Leaves fall!” shouted Tim Noon.

“Halloween!” shouted Kenny.

“We can’t swim anymore,” said Lisa.

“We could swim in fall if we were in California,” said Ashley. “It’s still warm there, and we can swim in our pool all the time.”

“Cannot,” said Tim.

“Can too!” said Ashley, getting cross.

Mrs. Peters frowned. She looked unhappy that the Pee Wees were straying from the subject.

“None of those suggestions is the biggest thing that happens in fall,” she said firmly. “The biggest thing is—”