Eggs with Legs (5 page)

“Why, what a surprising thing to put in an Easter basket!” said Mrs. Peters. “Yours is the most imaginative Easter basket here, Molly.”

“What do they do with zippers?” asked Sonny.

“They can put them in shirts and dresses and stuff when they sew,” said Molly.

“Those old geezers can’t sew,” said Roger. “They have bad eyesight. Anyway, what if a guy gets it? Men don’t sew.”

“Men can sew as well as women, Roger,” said Mrs. Peters. “And it is rude to call people names.”

“Even if they can’t sew,” said Patty
Baker, “they can just look at them. They’re like a giant bouquet.”

Mrs. Peters packed the baskets into the van. Then the Pee Wees piled in. When they got to the nursing home, the children tumbled out of the van. Loaded down with baskets full of treats and eggs, they went through the front doorway.

An elderly man smiled. “Look,” he cried, “here come eggs with legs!” The Pee Wees laughed. They realized their faces were hidden behind the tall baskets! They set the baskets down on a table nearby and introduced themselves to all the senior citizens.

The seniors made a big fuss over the holiday visit and the baskets. They all admired Molly’s zippers. Even the nurses asked how she had thought of such a clever Easter decoration.

Then one of the men played the piano in the community room, and the whole group sang “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” and “Easter Parade.” Some of the women modeled their Easter bonnets. Others got out pictures of past Easters with their families and their many grandchildren.

It felt good to Molly to cheer these people up. When you cheer someone else up, you start to feel good yourself, she thought.

And Patty was right, no matter what Roger said. Even if no one used the zippers, they were fun just to look at.

T
he next weekend the Pee Wees raked the park. Then they went to a number of homes where people needed help with their yardwork. Molly washed windows and scrubbed lawn furniture.

The others helped load leaves and trash into Mr. Peters’s pickup truck. By the end of the day, they were tired and hungry.

“The Tuesday after Mother’s Day,” said their leader, “we will get out new badges. You have all worked very hard for this badge. You’ve really earned it.”

It had been fun helping clean up the park, thought Molly.

It had been fun visiting the nursing home.

And it would be fun having Easter dinner at her grandma’s house!

When she got home Easter evening, Molly crossed everything off the list in her notebook except “Mother’s Day.”

The days passed quickly, and Molly spent time looking for just the right box for her mother’s gift. She looked in the attic and in the closets, but none of the boxes she found was right. She couldn’t ask her parents to find her one. That would spoil the surprise.

When she told Mary Beth about her problem, her friend said, “My mom just got a big box of yogurt pretzels, and we can put them in something else and you
can have the box. It has a plastic top and you can see through it!”

The girls ran to look, and Molly said, “It’s pretty big for the zippers.”

“You have to put tissue paper in first,” said Mary Beth. “Then you spread out the zippers on top, and when your mom unwraps it, she’ll see all the pretty colors!”

Molly had to agree it would make a nice impression. The girls put the pretzels in a plastic bag and sealed it. Then they washed out the pretzel box and dried it. They dashed back to Molly’s and filled it with pink tissue paper and the zippers.

“It’s gorgeous!” said Mary Beth. “No other mother will get anything like it!”

Mary Beth was right, Molly was sure of that. But would Molly’s mom like her gift better than catching her own fish at The Trout Farm? Molly hoped so.

After Mary Beth left, Molly wrapped the big round box in flowered paper. It wasn’t easy to wrap a round box, and it was a little lumpy. She put a big yellow bow over the biggest lump to hide it.

The next morning Molly heard her dad up early getting breakfast. Before long he brought a tray to Molly’s mom in bed, and a tray for Molly too.

Molly followed him into her parents’ bedroom. “I’m not a mother!” she giggled.

“No, but I wouldn’t be a father if it wasn’t for you!” he said.

After they ate their French toast and scrambled eggs, Molly took out her box.

“Happy Mother’s Day,” she said. “I think it’s just what you wanted.”

“Why, what a pretty, big box!” said her dad.

Mrs. Duff tore off the wrapping, saying, “I can’t imagine what it can be!”

Molly couldn’t imagine how her mother
couldn’t
imagine what it was! After all, she had said it out loud! When the wrapping was off, Molly waited for her mother to shout “Just what I wanted! Zippers! And I wanted them in a hurry!”

But she didn’t. She just stared at the colorful zippers in their little plastic house, on their bed of tissue paper. She had a quizzical look on her face. Mr. Duff stared too.

“What is this pretty thing?” asked her mother finally.

“It’s what you asked for!” said Molly. “Zippers!”

“Why, thank you,” said her mother. “What a … nice gift. But I don’t remember asking for zippers.”

“I heard you!” said Molly. Things were not going as she’d planned. Just as with Roger’s April Fool,
she
was the one who was surprised! Why were her holiday surprises always backfiring?

“You were upstairs in the den, and I heard you tell Dad that what you wanted real bad were zippers. Lots of zippers, because you never could find them.”

A smile spread slowly over Mrs. Duff’s face. At the same time Mr. Duff began to laugh out loud.

Mrs. Duff came and gave Molly a big hug. “How thoughtful,” she said, “to get me what I wanted! But I think what I said was ‘slippers,’ not ‘zippers’. ‘Furry slippers.’ I never can find my slippers when I want to put them on.”

Molly felt like a fool. How silly this box of zippers must look to her parents! It was April Fools’ Day all over again. Her parents
would tell this funny story to their friends, just as Roger had! She would be the laughingstock of the town!

“I like these zippers better,” said her mother. “Really I do. I never have a zipper when I need one, and I never think to buy them!”

“Anyway,” said Mr. Duff, taking a big box from behind his back, “it wouldn’t be a good idea for both of us to give your mom the same thing!”

And there inside Mr. Duffs box were furry slippers for Mrs. Duff! Two pairs, one blue and one pink!

“All’s well that ends well,” said Molly’s mom. “I love both gifts very much.”

On Tuesday at the Pee Wee meeting, everyone told about giving her or his gift.

“My dad liked his steak!” said Roger.

“My mom liked her fish too,” said Rachel.
“It wasn’t as easy to catch as you’d think.” She glared at Roger.

“How did your mother like her zippers?” Mrs. Peters asked Molly. “Was she surprised?”

“Yes, she was,” said Molly. “And she liked them a lot. It was just what she wanted.” There was no need to confess the misunderstanding when it had all ended so well.

Then, one by one, Mrs. Peters called out names for badges. Everyone got one. The badge had a little green tree—for spring, their leader told them. And under the tree was an egg, brightly colored.

Molly ran her fingers over the smooth, silky stitching on the tree. Nothing in the world felt as good as a fresh, new badge! And this one felt twice as good because she had worked so hard for it!

As they joined hands and sang the Pee Wee song, Molly was very, very glad to have her friends around her to share in the Pee Wee warmth and fun.

Rat’s knees, it was great to be a Pee Wee!

Even with Roger in the troop.

    (to the tune of    
“Old MacDonald Had a Farm”)

Scouts are helpers, Scouts have fun,

Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!

We sing and play when work is done,

Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!

With a good deed here,

And an errand there,

Here a hand, there a hand,

Everywhere a good hand.

Scouts are helpers, Scouts have fun,

Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!

Pee Wee Scout Pledge