March Mischief
Authors: Ron Roy
The kitchen clock said seven-thirty. The sun was starting to shine through the window over the sink. Bradley smiled.
He didn’t see any doughnuts, but he poured himself a glass of juice. He drank it and listened to a few birds outside the window. Then he remembered the leprechaun statue on the porch. He wanted to check it out again before the contest the next day.
Bradley opened the front door. He stepped onto the porch in his bare feet.
Then he gasped.
The leprechaun was gone!
This book is dedicated to teachers
.
—
R.R
.
To my nephew, Joey O!
—
J.S.G
.
4.
Mischief
“Batman!” shouted Nate.
“A pirate!” yelled Brian.
“Groucho!” cried Lucy.
It was Friday, March 15. In two days it would be St. Patrick’s Day. Every year people in Green Lawn had a St. Patrick’s Day contest. They dressed leprechaun statues in funny outfits. The mayor chose a winner, and there was a prize.
Everyone who entered the contest bought a leprechaun statue for five
dollars. The money went to help a local food bank.
The four kids had chipped in and bought their statue together. They were on Bradley and Brian’s front porch with a cardboard box of costumes. The kids were trying costumes on the leprechaun and on themselves.
Lucy was in first grade with the three boys. She was staying with her cousin, Dink Duncan, for a year. Her parents were in Arizona helping to build a school on a reservation.
Nate Hathaway and his big sister, Ruth Rose, lived next door to Dink on Woody Street.
Bradley and Brian Pinto were twins and lived with their parents and older brother, Josh, on Farm Lane.
Pal, the Pintos’ dog, sniffed the green leprechaun statue. It stood about two feet tall. The statue looked like a little
green man with a bow tie. Its face had plump green cheeks and a green beard. Green buckled shoes were on its feet.
Pal licked the leprechaun’s face.
“Hey, that gives me another idea!” Bradley said. “Why don’t we dress the statue as Pal?”
“Huh?” Nate said. “A leprechaun dog?”
“Sure, why not?” Bradley asked. “Everyone else will make theirs some sports hero or comic book guy. We’d be the only ones with a dog!”
“Can we do that?” Brian asked.
“Why not?” Bradley asked. “The mayor’s rules didn’t say it had to be human!”
“That’s a great idea!” Lucy said. “We can make floppy ears, a tail, and a doggy nose! And we can name it Pal.”
Bradley pulled off the hat he’d been trying on and ran inside. A minute later
he came back with a box of art supplies. Bradley took out scissors, glue, clay, markers, and construction paper.
The kids spent the rest of the afternoon changing the leprechaun into a basset hound.
Lucy made floppy ears. They looked just like Pal’s ears.
Nate molded some brown clay into a nose.
Brian used a tube sock for the tail. He made brown marks on it, like the ones on Pal’s tail.
“It doesn’t look like a dog,” Brian said. “He needs fur.”
“I have an idea,” Bradley said. He went in the kitchen to Pal’s bed. Pal liked to sleep on one of Bradley’s old brown sweaters. Bradley grabbed the sweater and took it outside.
“What’re you doing?” Brian asked.
“You’ll see,” Bradley said. He cut the
sweater’s sleeves off. Then he pulled it over the leprechaun’s head. The sweater made the leprechaun look furry. Sort of.
“He looks good,” Lucy said.
“He smells bad,” Brian said.
Bradley put his nose next to the leprechaun. “It’s the sweater,” he said.
“Well, if the mayor picks the smelliest statue, we should win,” Nate said.
Pal barked at the leprechaun. He rubbed his nose against the sweater. Then he curled up near its green feet and went to sleep.
Bradley woke up thirsty the next morning. He knew there was a carton of orange juice in the fridge. His stomach growled. Maybe he’d find doughnuts in the kitchen, too.
He looked over at his brother’s bed. Brian was sound asleep.
Bradley slipped out of the room. He tiptoed down the hallway and stairs so he wouldn’t wake his family.
The kitchen clock said seven-thirty.
The sun was starting to shine through the window over the sink. Bradley smiled.
He didn’t see any doughnuts, but he poured himself a glass of juice. He drank it and listened to a few birds outside the window. Then he remembered the leprechaun statue on the porch. He wanted to check it out again before the contest the next day.
Bradley opened the front door. He stepped onto the porch in his bare feet.
Then he gasped.
The leprechaun was gone!
Bradley turned and ran back inside the house. He bumped into Josh in his pajamas.
“Whoa, slow down! What’s the matter?” Josh said.
“The leprechaun is gone!” Bradley shouted just as his parents came into the kitchen.
“What’s wrong?” his mother asked. “Why the shouting?”
“The leprechaun ran away from home,” Josh said, cracking a grin.
Bradley raced up the stairs to his room. “Get up, Brian!” he shouted. He yanked off his pajamas and started getting dressed.
“What’s all the yelling?” Brian asked. One of his eyes peeked out from under the bedcovers.
