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Authors: Nancy Krulik

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BOOK: Horsing Around
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“Not
all
of us,” Suzanne disagreed.
Kadeem laughed so hard, he almost choked. “Oh, right. Like you’re perfect.”
“What about the time you told everyone that your three-month-old sister could talk?” Mandy reminded Suzanne
Katie sighed again. That amazing talking baby? That had been Katie, too.
“Or the time you put your pants on backward for your modeling show,” George remembered.
Now Katie was getting upset. Thanks to the magic wind, she had been on the runway, not Suzanne. Katie had managed to get
all
her friends into messes!
Just then, Jeremy piped up. “One time, when I was six, I kicked the winning soccer goal—into the
other
team’s goal cage.”
Katie grinned. “And that one wasn’t even me!” she exclaimed.
The kids all stared at her.
Oops.
“I just meant, that, well . . . never mind,” Katie mumbled. “The important thing is that Jeremy went right back to playing soccer.”
“And he’s the best soccer player in the whole grade,” Becky said. “Maybe even the whole school.”
Jeremy blushed.
“Jeremy, do you want me to go back into the ring with Brownie?” Becky asked. “If you want me to, I will.”
Say yes, say yes, say yes
, Katie thought hopefully, crossing her fingers.
“Whatever,” Jeremy mumbled.
Becky brightened. She stood up straight and smiled. “Then I’ll do it for you,” she told Jeremy. “And I’ll win, too!”
Chapter II
“I can’t believe Becky didn’t even win a ribbon in that riding competition,” Suzanne moaned to Katie on Sunday afternoon. “Especially after we all told her about our embarrassing mistakes!”
Katie rolled her eyes. Suzanne hadn’t exactly admitted any mistakes. Everyone else had done that for her.
But out loud Katie said, “I’m just glad she rode Brownie. She only knocked over one cone when she was going through that obstacle course. I think that’s pretty good.”
Suzanne sat back on the steps of Katie’s house. She looked out at the front yard. “Who do you think is making more money?” she asked.
Katie wasn’t sure. George was busy raking the leaves at her house. Kadeem was next door, raking Mrs. Derkman’s leaves.
“I don’t know,” Katie said. “George told me he got up early to rake another lawn before ours.”
“And Kadeem is raking another lawn after Mrs. Derkman’s,” Suzanne told Katie. “My next-door neighbor, Mrs. Martin, hired him.”
“They’re working hard,” Katie said. “Look how big that pile is over at Mrs. Derkman’s. And ours is pretty huge, too.” Because of their leaf-learning adventure in school, Katie now knew there was a maple tree, an oak tree, and two chestnut trees in the Carews’ backyard.
“The sooner George is finished, the sooner we can play on your lawn again,” Suzanne told her.
“Pepper and Snowball will be happy about that,” Katie said. She looked over toward where Pepper and Mrs. Derkman’s dog were resting. “I’ll bet they’re pretty bored just lying there under that maple.”
Suzanne looked over at the two dogs. “They seem pretty happy to me,” she said. “Dogs are lazy, anyway.”
“They are not,” Katie insisted. She hated when anyone—even her best friend—said anything bad about Pepper. Or
his
best friend, Snowball, either.
Just then, a little gray squirrel raced across Mrs. Derkman’s lawn. Immediately Pepper and Snowball jumped up and—
whoosh
—they took off.
“Pepper! No!” Katie shouted. “Snowball, stop!”
But it was too late. The next thing anyone knew, Pepper and Snowball had plowed right into Kadeem’s giant pile of leaves. Red, orange, and yellow leaves flew all over Mrs. Derkman’s lawn.
But instead of yelling at the dogs, Kadeem stormed over to George.
“This is all your fault!” Kadeem shouted.
“
My
fault?” George asked. “What did I do?”
“You sent those dogs over to Mrs. Derkman’s lawn!” Kadeem insisted.
“No way,” George said. “But now you’re going to have to rake up all those leaves again. Maybe
I’ll
go over and rake Mrs. Martin’s lawn. You’re not going to have time now.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Kadeem shouted.
“Oh, wouldn’t I?” George shouted back.
Kadeem jumped up and took a flying leap—right into George’s pile of leaves. Red, orange, and yellow leaves flew all over Katie’s lawn.
Now it was George’s turn to get mad. He ran over to Mrs. Derkman’s lawn and began throwing leaves all over the place.
Kadeem did the same thing on Katie’s lawn.
George ran over to Kadeem and dumped a whole pile of leaves on his head.
“I’ll get you for that, George Brennan!” Kadeem shouted. He picked up his own pile of leaves.
“This is really getting bad!” Katie told Suzanne. “We have to do something.”
“No, we don’t,” Suzanne said. “I think it’s hilarious. Better than anything on TV!”
But Katie was tired of all the fighting. She ran over and stood between the boys.
“STOP!” she shouted.
The boys didn’t hear her. They were too busy throwing leaves.
“Ptttthhhht . . .” Katie mumbled as a handful of dried leaves landed in her mouth.
“Oops,” George said. “Kadeem did that.”
“I did not,” Kadeem insisted. “Those were George’s leaves.”
“I don’t care whose leaves they were!” Katie shouted as she picked bits of dried leaves off her tongue. “I just want you guys to cut it out.” She looked at both yards. What a mess!
“George should pick up my leaves,” Kadeem started in again.
“
He
should pick up mine,” George corrected him.
“No! You’re both going to help each other!” Katie told them.
“Why would we do that?” George and Kadeem asked at the same time.
“Because it’ll go a lot faster,” Katie told the boys. “In fact, if you guys worked together all the time, you’d probably both make a lot more money.”
Kadeem and George just stared at each other.
Finally George said, “We could rake five or six lawns a day that way.”
“I can only do two a day on my own,” Kadeem admitted.
“George and Kadeem’s Leaf-Busting Business,” George said. “I like that.”
“You mean,
Kadeem
and George’s Leaf-Busting Business,” Kadeem said.
Katie frowned. She could sense another fight coming on.
“What about just calling it Leaf Busters?” she suggested.
George and Kadeem both smiled. They liked the sound of that.
“Right now, you’d better rake up this mess,” Katie told the boys. “Start with Mrs. Derkman’s lawn. She’ll be really mad if she sees it like this.”
George and Kadeem didn’t have to be told twice. They both knew Mrs. Derkman well. Besides being Katie’s neighbor, she was the strictest teacher in the whole school. And boy, could she yell.
“Hey, Katie, you want to go inside and listen to a Bayside Boys CD?” Suzanne called out.
For a minute, Katie thought about staying outside and helping the boys. But they seemed to be working really well on their own.
“Sure!” Katie shouted back at Suzanne. She turned toward her house. But before she could take even one step, a cool breeze began to blow on her neck.
Katie gasped.
Oh, no! Was the magic wind back? Was it going to switcheroo her again? Right here? In front of her friends?
Just then, Katie noticed the trees were moving with the wind. And so was the flag outside Mrs. Derkman’s house.
Phew. This wasn’t the magic wind at all. It was just a regular old fall wind.
Katie was sooo glad. She was really happy to be Katie Carew, ordinary fourth-grader.
At least for now.
Don’t Leaf Just Yet!
Mr. G. had a lot of extra leaves left over once the kids had finished decorating their beanbags (and themselves!). But he didn’t let them go to waste. Katie’s mega-cool teacher showed the kids how to make autumn leaf prints. Then he hung their artwork all over class 4A.
BOOK: Horsing Around
8.07Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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