Justine McKeen, Queen of Green (4 page)

Justine smiled. She opened the closet and pulled out a bag of shredded paper. “First,” she said, “we scoop shredded paper into a blender. Then we add warm water and put the lid on.”

“Let's call it a POWER blender,” Safdar said. “That will make me feel more grown-up.”

Justine smiled again. “Safdar, can you hit the button on the POWER blender?”

When he did, the blender made a lot of loud, satisfying noises.

The three of them filled the blender ten times with shredded paper and water. They poured the mixture into a large plastic tub.

“Now what?” Michael asked.

“We pour it into a mold and deckle,” Justine said. She pointed at something that looked like an old window frame with a metal screen. “Then we drain the water off into the tub.”

When she had finished, she lifted the mold off and f lipped the deckle over onto the old sheet that covered the kitchen table. Then she lifted the deckle off.

“Now we sponge off any extra water,” she said. There was a large square piece of mushy paper on the table. “Finally, we use the hair dryer.”

“That would be the POWER hair dryer,” Safdar said.

“Of course,” she said.

Safdar dried the paper with the hair dryer. Altogether, they made eight sheets of recycled paper.

“Excellent,” she said. “Now we have paper for our posters and compost to fertilize the soil for the Ice-Cream Heaven project. This way we can tell the woman from the newspaper the entire project is green.”

“Newspaper?” Michael said. “I don't remember hearing anything about a newspaper reporter.”

“I thought you had learned,” Justine said. “Some things you can't spring on people all at once.”

Chapter Nine

The Saturday morning they had been waiting for finally arrived. It was sunny and warm. Most of their class had showed up at the Ice-Cream Heaven parking lot to help.

Several parents had delivered the materials. They brought lumber, thin wooden poles and bags and bags of empty plastic bottles. They also had buckets with warm water and wheelbarrows of dirt.

“Where is Mr. Tait, the owner?” Mrs. Howie asked.

“He usually gets here in the afternoon,” Justine said. “It would be great to have our project set up before he arrives. It will be a big surprise!”

Safdar whispered to Michael, “Yes, some things you can't spring on people all at once.”

“That's not our biggest problem,” Michael said. “Look who is watching us.”

Jimmy Blatzo stood at the corner of the parking lot.

“Let me guess,” Safdar said. “Better not call him Fatso Blazto.”

“Exactly,” Michael said.

Justine saw Jimmy Blatzo too. “Remember, when you criticize people they get defensive, it's better to ask them for their help.”

She waved at Jimmy Blatzo. “Hey, Blatzo,” she shouted, “get your butt over here.”

Jimmy Blatzo stomped toward Justine.

“Don't just stand there looking angry,” she said. “You are strong and smart. We need you to help Michael and Safdar nail the frame together.”

“Why should I help you, Miss Queen of Green?”

“Because we can't do it without you. We need your strength.”

Jimmy Blatzo was so surprised, he picked up a hammer and started nailing lumber planks together with Safdar.

“This would be much easier,” Jimmy Blatzo said, “if we had power tools.”

“Ooooh,” Safdar said, “power tools.” He gave Jimmy a high five. They laughed and started back to work.

At school the day before, Justine had explained to her classmates what everyone's jobs were.

Some students nailed boards together in the shape of a giant sandbox.

Some soaked bottles in water to remove the labels.

Some filled the giant sandbox with dirt and mixed in the compost for fertilizer.

Some planted vegetable seeds.

Some cut the bottoms off the plastic bottles.

Some slid the bottles onto thin wooden poles.

A few hours later, the project was almost finished, except for one thing. They needed someone big to put the roof on.

“Hey, Blatzo,” Justine said. “Get your butt over here.”

“What is it now?” he asked.

“You are strong and smart,” she said. “We need to put you in charge of the roof.”

Jimmy Blatzo did all the heavy lifting. A couple of minutes later, the roof was finished.

“Ta-da!” Justine said. “A greenhouse!”

Mr. Tait pulled into Ice-Cream Heaven's parking lot. He parked his car and stomped toward Justine. “What is this?” he said. “You told me you were having a vegetable sale.”

“We are,” she said. “It just might take awhile for the vegetables to grow. They are inside the greenhouse right now. As seeds.”

“A plastic-bottle greenhouse?” he said.

“Reduce. Reuse. Recycle,” she said. “That's only one of the reasons they call me the Queen of Green.”

“That's where you are wrong,” he said. “Your name has been changed to the Queen of Take It Down Right Now.”

Chapter Ten

A woman rushed up to Justine and Mr. Tait. She had a small tape recorder in one hand and a camera in her other hand.

“Hello, Mr. Tait,” the woman said. “My name is Lily Kempler. I'm from the newspaper. I'm glad you are here. I wanted to talk to you about all this.”

“This? This ?” Mr. Tait said. “Did someone complain about it already?” Mr. Tait leaned over and whispered in Justine's ear so only she could hear. “You will pull it down immediately!”

“This is an amazing project. Who would complain?” Lily Kempler said. “It's wonderful that you would encourage kids to make a greenhouse out of empty soda bottles. And it's great advertising, don't you think?”

“Well…,” Mr. Tait said.

“Yes, it's great advertising,” Justine said. “And it's important to be green. I'm glad Mr. Tait is green, aren't you Mr. Tait?”

“Well…” Mr. Tait rubbed his forehead.

“I want to take a photo of you with the kids,” Lily Kempler said. “For the newspaper. I think this should be on the front page. Would that be okay with you, Mr. Tait?”

Mr. Tait sighed. “Well…”

“Maybe we could stand over there beside one of the posters about the project,” Justine said. “The posters are made from recycled paper. The fertilizer for the greenhouse is made from a home composter. No chemicals. This is as green as green can be. And when we sell the vegetables, we can use the money toward another green project. Right, Mr. Tait?”

“Well…,” Mr. Tait said.

Justine took his hand and dragged him toward the greenhouse. She pulled so hard that he leaned forward. “Mr. Tait,” Justine whispered in his ear. “If we stand over there, the Ice-Cream Heaven sign will be in the photo. Free advertising. On the front page.”

Mr. Tait looked at the sign. “Well…”

“Safdar!” Justine called. “Michael! Over here.”

She looked at Lily Kempler. “It's only fair if my friends are in the photo too. They did a lot of work.” Justine stood on one side of Mr. Tait. Michael and Safdar stood on the other side.

“Ready?” Lily Kempler asked. She pointed her camera at them.

“Almost,” Justine said. She shouted again. “Hey, Blatzo, get your butt over here.”

Jimmy Blatzo lumbered over. “What?”

“Come stand beside me,” she said.

“Are you always going to order me around?” he said.

“I
am
the Queen of Green,” she said. “Besides, I'll bring more cricket brownies to school on Monday for you.”

“Say cheese!” Lily Kempler said.

“No,” Mr. Tait said. “Say ice cream!”

Everyone grinned. There was a f lash as Lily Kempler snapped the photo.

“So, Mr. Tait,” she said and held out her tape recorder. “How long will the greenhouse be here? I'm sure folks are going to be talking about it. They will be very proud of your community spirit.”

“I don't know how long it will be up,” Mr. Tait said. “Why don't we let this girl tell you? In fact, she can answer all your questions about the project, right?”