Ivy and Bean (2 page)

“Get it, get it, get it!” moaned Bean. She had never been so bored in her entire life. She was so bored she fell on the floor. Then she took a tiny peek up at the lady in the dressing room next door.
Yow
.

“Get up, Bean!” said her mother. “This minute.”

Bean got up and sat on the triangle seat again. She waited. Nancy looked at herself.

“I kind of like it,” Nancy said. “But it costs forty dollars. That’s all my money. I could get two shirts for forty dollars.”

“Don’t be a tightwad,” said Bean. She had just learned that word. It meant someone who didn’t like to spend money.

“Don’t call your sister a tightwad,” said Bean’s mom.

Bean saw Nancy’s eyes looking at her in the mirror. “Tightwad,” Bean mouthed without any sound. Nancy’s eyes got narrow, and so quick that their mother didn’t see, she stuck out her tongue. Then Nancy turned to their mother and said, “I think the skirt costs too much, Mom. I think I’d rather try on some tops.”

Bean knew then that Nancy was being slow on purpose. Just to drive her crazy.

Bean thought about kicking her in the shin. But then she got the idea. It was a great idea. It was also a helpful idea, one that would teach Nancy not to be such a tightwad. And best of all, her idea would make Nancy freak out. “You’ll be sorry,” Bean mouthed to Nancy.

Bean was hiding inside a big, round bush in her front yard. The bush was right next to the sidewalk, and it was very scratchy and sticky inside, but Bean needed to be in the bush for her plan to work. Here’s how Bean’s plan went: She took a $20 bill out of Nancy’s purse and taped a long thread to it. She put the $20 bill on the sidewalk. Then she held on to the other
end of the thread and climbed into the bush. Nancy would be coming home from school soon. She would see the money on the sidewalk. She would bend down to pick it up. Bean would quickly pull the money away. And then Nancy would freak out. Bean could hardly wait.

There was only one problem. Nancy didn’t come. Bean sat inside the bush for a long time. A branch poked her arm. Leaves fell down her shirt. She itched. She waited. Nothing happened. It was very quiet. Bean was hardly ever this quiet for this long. Because there was nothing else to do, she looked at the house across the street. Really, it wasn’t across the street. It was around the street. Bean loved her street. The first reason was its name: Pancake Court. The second reason was that
it ended in a big circle right in front of Bean’s house. Her dad called it a cul-de-sac. Bean called it cool. If Bean started riding her bicycle at the end of the block and pedaled really, really hard, she could whiz around the circle, tilting low over the sidewalk like a motorcycle racer.

Slam!
Bean looked up. She saw Ivy come out onto her front porch and plop down on the top step. Bean squinted at her. Ivy looked strange. She wasn’t wearing a dress today. She was wearing a black bathrobe with lots of little pieces of paper stuck to it. Weird, thought Bean. She squinted some more. Instead of a big book, Ivy was carrying a stick, painted gold. Bean made a face. What a goony costume, she thought. What a dork.

Ivy sat. She didn’t do anything. She just sat there all by herself. That was another strange thing about Ivy. She didn’t mind being alone. She never played with anyone.

Bean played with
everyone
. Big kids, little kids, all the kids in the neighborhood played with Bean. Even crummy Matt—who was so crummy he threw other kids’ toys into the road—wanted to play with Bean.

She took care of the little kids. When they fell down and got blood all over their knees, Bean would take them home to get Band-Aids. The big kids let her play with them because she had good ideas, like seeing how many backyards they could cross without touching the ground. Bean loved big groups of kids playing big games, like pirates or hide-and-seek.

Sometimes Bean wished she were an orphan so she could live in an orphanage with a hundred other kids. Of course, she didn’t tell her mother and father that.

Bean watched Ivy, alone on her front porch. Wasn’t she lonely? Now Ivy was muttering something that Bean couldn’t hear. And then she began to wave the stick in the air. Bean couldn’t stand it anymore.

“What the heck are you doing?” yelled Bean from inside her bush.

Ivy looked all around. Bean forgot that Ivy couldn’t see her. “What’s with the stick?” she yelled.

Ivy’s eyes got big. “Who’s there?” she said. “Are you a ghost?”

A ghost! What a great idea! Bean made her voice scratchy and spooky. “Yessss,” she howled. “I am the ghost of Mr. Killop.
I lived in your house before. And I died there, too.”

Mr. Killop had actually moved to Ohio, but Bean thought it was more interesting to say he had died. “I’ve come to haunt you! Tonight when you’re sleeping, I’ll wrap my icy fingers around your neck!”

“Bean! What are you yelling about?”

Oops. It was Nancy.

Bean peeked out between leaves. Nancy hadn’t seen the $20 bill. She was standing on it. Hmm, thought Bean. Her plan was a bust, but if she kept on being a ghost, maybe she could scare Nancy a little. “I’m going to wrap my fingers around your neck, too,” she howled in her spooky voice. “And I’m going to spit in your ear!”

“No, you’re not,” said Nancy. She didn’t sound scared. She reached into the bush and yanked Bean out. “Stop yelling.” That’s when she saw the $20 bill. “Hey!” she said. “Where did you get the money? You don’t have twenty dollars.” Then she saw the string. “I see what you’re doing, burp face! I bet this is my money, too!” Then she picked up the bill and looked at it. “You stole my money! I’m telling Mom!” She began to pull Bean toward the front door.

Uh-oh, thought Bean. None of her ideas were working out today. Now
she had two choices. She could go inside with Nancy and face Mom. Or she could run.

So Bean fell over on the ground and started to wail. “My ankle!
Ow-wow-wow!
My ankle’s killing me! It’s sprained!” She held her ankle.

Nancy frowned. “You didn’t sprain your ankle, you faker!” she said, but she bent down to take a look.

That was all Bean needed. She stood up and ran. She ran out of her yard and around Pancake Court until she found herself in front of Ivy’s house.