Judy Moody Declares Independence (5 page)

“ROAR!” said Judy.

“If you don’t want the washcloth, I’ll take it,” said Stink.

Judy went to bed her same old un-free self. But the next morning, she decided Mom and Dad and the world would see a brand-new Judy Moody. A free and independent Judy. A more responsible Judy. Even on a school day.

Judy started by getting out of bed (without an alarm clock) before her mom had to shake her awake.

Next, she brushed her teeth without complaining. Mom had set out a new blue washcloth — a plain old boring blue washcloth, but it was just for her. Judy wrote
Bonjour Bunny
on it, and made the capital
B
s into funny bunny ears.

Then Judy did something she had not done for three days. She brushed her hair (and put on her Bonjour Bunny headband from Tori). A responsible person did not have bird’s-nest hair.

Then Judy did something she had not done for three weeks. She made her bed. A grown-up, independent person did not have a bed that looked like a yard sale.

On the bus, Judy told Rocky about the star-spangled bananas at the Giant Milk Bottle and the Sugar Packet Girl named Tori and about throwing tea off the Tea Party Ship. She could not wait to tell her teacher and her whole class.

“What are you going to tell your class about Boston?” she asked Stink.

“The musical toilet,” said Stink. “What else?”

When Judy got to school, she told Mr. Todd and the whole class all about Boston. “We went on the Freedom Trail and it was so NOT boring, and it’s okay I missed my spelling test because I learned stuff there, too, like about Mr. Ben Famous Franklin and Paul Revere and —”

“Judy! Take a breath!” said Mr. Todd. “We’re glad to have you back.”

Judy showed them her
Paul Revere’s Ride
flip book and explained all about tea and taxes to the class.

“My mom drinks tea, and she’s not a traitor,” said Rocky.

“I went to Boston once to visit my grandpa,” said Jessica Finch.

“Sounds like you had quite an educational trip, Judy,” said Mr. Todd. “Thanks for sharing with us. Maybe I’ll read your book aloud in our reading circle today. First, let’s take out our math facts from yesterday.”

Judy multiplied 28 × 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 until she thought her eyes would pop. At last, Mr. Todd announced it was reading-circle time.

“Today I’ll be reading a poem Judy brought to share with us from her trip to Boston, called
Paul Revere’s Ride
. This poem tells a story.”

“I saw his house and his real wallpaper and his false teeth and everything!” said Judy.

“This was my favorite poem when I was a boy,” Mr. Todd continued. “In school, we had to memorize it and recite it by heart. It’s by a man named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem tells about three men and their famous midnight ride during the American Revolution. One of those men was Paul Revere.”

Judy raised her hand. “And one was a doctor!” she told the class.

“Shh!” said Jessica Finch.

Mr. Todd lowered his voice to a whisper. Class 3T got super quiet.

“‘Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. . . .’”

The poem told all about how Paul Revere rode on horseback through the night to warn each farm and town that the British were coming.

Judy raised her hand again. “Mr. Todd, Mr. Todd! I saw Ye Olde Church where they hung the lanterns! For real! You know how it says, ‘One if by land, two if by sea’? Paul Revere said to light one lantern if the British were sneaking in by land, two if they were coming across the water.”

“Did that guy really ride his horse and do all that stuff?” asked Jessica Finch. “Because I never even heard about it the whole time I was in Boston.”

“It’s true,” said Mr. Todd. “Paul Revere warned two very important people, Sam Adams and John Hancock, to flee. But before he could warn everybody, he was stopped by the British and his horse was taken.”

“But the doctor escaped and warned everybody!” said Judy.

“That’s right,” said Mr. Todd. “You know, there’s also a girl who had a famous ride just like Paul Revere. Her name was Sybil Ludington.”

Star-spangled bananas! A Girl Paul Revere! Judy Moody could not believe her Bonjour Bunny ears.

“They don’t often tell about her in the history books,” said Mr. Todd, “but we have a book about her in our classroom library.”

“Huzzah!” said Judy Moody.

“Huh?” asked Frank.

“It’s Revolutionary for YIPPEE!” Judy said.

She, Judy Moody, was the luckiest kid in Class 3T. Mr. Todd let her take the Girl Paul Revere book home. Judy read it to Rocky on the bus. She read it to Mouse the cat. She read it to Jaws the Venus flytrap.

Sybil Ludington lived in New York, and her dad needed someone to ride a horse through the dark, scary forest to warn everybody that the British were burning down a nearby town. Sybil was brave and told her dad she could do it. She stayed up late past midnight and rode off into the dark all by herself. Sybil Ludington sure was grown-up and responsible. She showed tons of independence.

Judy would be just like Sybil Ludington. Responsible. Independent. All she had to do was prove it to Mom and Dad. There was only one problem.

She, Judy Moodington, did not have a horse.

And she would never in a million years be allowed to stay up past midnight.

Crumb cakes! She’d just have to be responsible right here in her very own house, 117 Croaker Road. Starting N-O-W.

Judy went from room to room all over the upstairs. She picked stuff up, put stuff away, hid stuff in the closet. Downstairs, she picked up one cat-hair fur ball, two giant lint balls, her basketball, Stink’s soccer ball, and Mouse’s jingle ball.

Being responsible sure made a person hungry.

Judy stopped to eat some peanut butter with a spoon (not her finger!) out of the jar. She stopped to feed Mouse (not peanut butter) and empty out the litter box (P.U!). She stopped to do some homework (without one single peanut-butter fingerprint!).

Mom and Dad were always bugging her to be nice to Stink, so she went up to his room to be nice. She looked on his desk. She looked under his bed.

“What are you looking for?” asked Stink.

“I’m looking for something nice to say,” said Judy. “I like that ant farm poster on your wall.”

“You gave it to me,” said Stink.

“Well, um . . . your hair looks good.”

“Did you put something in my hair?” Stink shook his head. “Eeww, get it out!”

“Stink! Nothing’s in your hair. Not even a spider.”

Stink plucked at his hair like a dog with fleas.

“I said
not even
! I was just trying to be nice.”

Judy never knew independent people had to be so nice. And so clean. But wouldn’t Mom and Dad be surprised when they saw all the stuff she could do on her own? Without anybody telling her she had to. She, Judy Moody, would be Independent-with-a-capital-
I
. Just like Sybil Ludington. For sure and absolute positive.

Judy traced her feet onto red construction paper.
Snip, snip, snip
! She made a trail of red footprints all through the house. Not a messy, drop-your-stuff-everywhere trail. An independent, show-how-responsible-you-are trail. She even made signs for each stop along the way, just like the real Freedom Trail.