Judy Moody Saves the World! (2 page)

“You mean we draw something to go on a Crazy Strip?” asked Stink. “What do we win?”

Judy read on.

“Is that all?” asked Stink.

“Rare!” Judy said. “I, Judy Moody, could have my own Crazy Strip.”

“They have to let you win something,” Stink said, grabbing the box from Judy.

“Just think. Knees, ankles, and elbows everywhere will be wearing a Judy Moody original. Even Elizabeth Blackwell, First Woman Doctor, didn’t have her own Crazy Strip.”

“Oh, brother,” said Stink. “Before you get too famous, can I use some of your skinny markers?”

“What for?” Judy asked.

“I want to draw a Crazy Strip, too. It says here the Grand Prize is a pair of Rollerblades.”

“Rollerblades! Let me see that.”

“Dream on, Stink. Only one kid in the whole entire United States of America gets Rollerblades.”

“So?”

“So look at some of the kids who won last year. They’re ten years old. Eleven. One is even thirteen. That’s a teenager. You’re only seven.”

“And a quarter,” said Stink.

“You’d have to be Picasso for them to pick your design,” she said.

“Who?”

“You know. The guy who painted all those blue people.”

“Then let me borrow your blue marker,” said Stink.

Judy dumped all the markers, crayons, colored pencils, and pastels she had on the floor. Stink grabbed the first blue marker he saw and started to draw.

“What are you drawing?”

“Bats,” said Stink. “Blue bats.”

“
You’re
bats,” said Judy. “People don’t like bats.”

“But bats eat millions of insects,” said Stink. “People should like bats.”

“I know
that,
” said Judy. “I’m just saying, bats are not going to beat a teenager.” Stink kept right on coloring bats.

“Your bats sure have big ears,” said Judy.

“They’re Virginia big-eared bats.”

“Oh,” said Judy.

Stink was a good artist, but Judy didn’t want him thinking he was a genius or anything. She had to dream up a good-as-Picasso idea. Better than ucky old bats. Better than a teenager. She wanted her Judy Moody Crazy Strip to be seen all across the U.S.A. The world. The universe.

“Stink, stop squeaking,” said Judy.

“It’s the magic markers.”

“I can’t think with all that squeaking,” Judy said.

Judy studied some of the other winners on the box from last year. There were ladybugs, flowers, soccer balls, rainbows, and peace signs. Happy, happy, happy. Judy tried to think of something happy to draw on her Crazy Strip.

She drew smiley faces. Yellow, red, blue, green, and purple smiley faces. Underneath she wrote CRAZY STRIPS CURE BAD MOODS.

“Everybody draws smiley faces,” said Stink.

“Who?” asked Judy.

“Heather Strong, in my class. And teenagers.”

Stink was right. Smiley faces were not good enough to decorate the ankles of millions. Smiley faces were not good enough to win Rollerblades. Smiley faces were not Picasso.

Judy turned her Crazy Strip upside down. The smiley faces turned into bad-mood faces.

“Nobody wants a cranky Crazy Strip,” Stink said.

“ROAR!” said Judy.

“They like it if you have a message,” said Stink, “but I can’t think of a message about bats.”

“How about BATTY FOR BAND-AIDS?”

“That’s good!” said Stink. “Thanks!”

Stink was already done with his Crazy Strip and Judy still did not have a single idea. Not one inspiration.

“Okay, let’s go mail this,” said Stink.

Fresh air! That was it! Maybe Judy’s brain just needed some good old-fashioned oxygen.

On the way to the mailbox, Stink asked, “Do you think I’ll win?”

“What am I? A crystal ball?” asked Judy.

“How long do you think it takes?” asked Stink, dropping the envelope into the big blue box.

“Longer than one second,” said Judy.

On the way home, Judy gulped in fresh air.

“You look like a goldfish in a toilet,” Stink said.

It was no use. Fresh air was not helping. Fresh air just made her look like a toilet fish.

Stink’s Crazy Strip was already in the mail. What if Stink won the contest? What if she could never ever even come up with an idea?

She, Judy Moody, was in a mood.

All day Saturday and all day Sunday, Judy could not think up one single creative, award-winning Crazy Strips idea. On Monday morning, as soon as she got to the bus stop, Judy told her best friend, Rocky, about the contest. “Help me think of an idea!”

“I know,” said Rocky. “How about a disappearing one? You put it on your arm, only it’s clear, so it’s invisible.”

“Rare!” said Judy. “A disappearing Crazy Strip! That’s good!”

“How are you going to win the contest if they can’t even see it?” Stink asked.

“Good point,” said Judy, thinking it over. “I want the world to be able to
see
my Grand Prize–winning Judy Moody Crazy Strip.”

At school, Judy was dying to ask Frank Pearl if he had any ideas, but the bell had already rung and she could not risk getting another white card for talking. She already had to stay after school once and clean the fish tank with Mr. Todd for getting three white cards. A person could only clean so many stinky fish tanks.

So she wrote a note about the contest to pass to Frank instead. At the bottom she wrote:
P. S. DON’T let Jessica Finch see this.

“Science, everybody,” said Mr. Todd. “Let’s continue our discussion of the environment. Rain forests everywhere are being cut down. When you take medicine or bounce a ball or pop a balloon, you’re using something that came from the rain forest. And right here at home, malls are replacing trees, animals are disappearing, and we’re running out of places to put all of our trash.

“Today, let’s come up with ways we can help save the earth. Sometimes it’s good to start small. Think of ways we can help at home. In our own families. And at school. Any ideas?”

“Don’t leave lights on,” said Hailey.

“Recycle your homework,” said Frank.

“And cans and bottles and stuff,” said Leo.

“Turn garbage into dirt,” said Rocky.

“Yes,” said Mr. Todd. “That’s called composting.”

Judy raised her hand, knocking her note to the floor. “Plant trees!”

“Don’t be litterbugs,” said Jessica Finch.

“I wasn’t littering,” said Judy, picking up the note. She crossed out the Finch in Jessica’s name and changed it to Jessica Fink. Sheesh. Sometimes Jessica Fink Finch gave her the jitterbugs.

“Great!” said Mr. Todd. “These are all good ideas. Look around you — at home, in school, on the playground — not just in Science class. How can we help the planet? How can we make the world around us a better place? We can each do our part. All it takes is one person to make a difference.”

One person! If all it took was one person, then she, Judy Moody, could save the world!

She knew just where to start. With a banana peel.

On the way home from school that afternoon, Judy asked Rocky, “Hey, can you come over and eat some bananas?”

“Sure,” said Rocky. “What for?”

“Compost,” said Judy.

“I’ll eat two!” said Rocky.

In Judy’s kitchen, Judy and Rocky each ate one and a half bananas. They fed the fourth and last one to Mouse, Judy’s cat. Then Judy tossed all four banana peels into a bucket.

“Why don’t we make a sign for the bucket that says TURN GARBAGE INTO DIRT,” said Rocky.