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  “The biggest fool,” said Mary Beth. “No one will vote for you. You don’t even obey laws. Mayors always obey laws.”

  “Pooh,” said Roger.

  “Well, they should,” said Mary Beth. “That’s why we vote. To get someone better.”

  “Maybe I’ll run for mayor,” said Molly.

  Roger looked shocked. “A girl mayor?” he shrieked. “No way!”

  Mary Beth stamped her foot. “Girls can do anything boys can,” she said. “In fact, I think Molly would make a great mayor.”

  “Boy, that won’t be any competition for me!” said Roger. “I’ll win in a minute! Nobody would vote for a girl.”

  Roger ran off laughing and shouting to catch his friends and tell them the silly news. “Molly for mayor—ha ha ha!”

  “I don’t know anything about being mayor,” said Molly, sounding worried about what she had said.

  “Neither does he,” Mary Beth said. “That doesn’t matter. You can read about what to do and make better promises than he will.”

  Molly felt more worried now. She didn’t want to be mayor. She just wanted to be sure Roger didn’t get to be mayor. That was not a good reason for doing something.

  Of course, Kevin and Jody would run, and they would get elected anyway. Even so, Molly had to keep her word. She had told two people that she would run for mayor, and now Roger was telling others. She didn’t want to be a chicken.

  “I could be your campaign manager,” said Mary Beth. “Mayors need managers to help them make signs and stuff. I’ll ask Mrs. Peters if it’s okay. Then we could work twice as hard. I’ll bet Roger won’t have a manager.”

  When the girls got to Molly’s house, Mary Beth went in with Molly.

  “Molly’s going to run for mayor,” she said to the Duffs. “And I’m going to be her campaign manager!”

  Well, now the news was really out. Molly had no choice. Mary Beth called Mrs. Peters to make sure she could manage Molly’s campaign. When she hung up, she said, “Mrs. Peters said it was fine! And she said, “ ‘to the victor belong the spoils.’ I wonder what that means?”

  So did Molly.

  CHAPTER 4

  Molly for Mayor

  All week long Molly and Mary Beth read about what a mayor did. They made big posters and lots of flyers. They thought up lots of campaign promises.

  “The good thing about Peeweeville,” said Mary Beth, “is that it isn’t real. I mean, you don’t actually have to keep your promises once you’re elected. We’ll just get the badge and forget all about it.”

  Molly didn’t think that was a good spirit to have when she was running for mayor. She certainly wanted to keep the promises she made. Someday she might be a real mayor, and this would be good practice. Just in case.

  “I think we should only make promises that are sensible,” she said.

  “You can bet Roger won’t,” said Mary Beth. “He’ll say things like ‘I’ll build a new zoo’ and ‘I’ll let all the prisoners out of jail.’ ”

  “It would be awful to let all the prisoners out,” said Molly.

  “Of course, but Roger would do it, he’s so dumb,” said Mary Beth.

  “I’ll bet Jody and Kevin will have great promises,” said Molly.

  “Well, we’ll know on Tuesday,” said Mary Beth.

  But when Tuesday came and they went to their meeting, the girls had a surprise. Jody was not running for mayor.

  “I want to run for school superintendent,” he said. “I think I could be more effective there.”

  Effective was a big word. Leave it to Jody to use it. He was so smart he should be president. Even the president didn’t use words as big as Jody’s.

  “A lot of changes are needed in the schools,” he said. “I think good teachers should get more money. Teachers are really important. Kids believe what they say.”

  How smart of Jody! Kevin would have a hard time winning against him!

  But when Kevin came in, he was carrying a sign that said VOTE FOR KEVIN, THE COUNCILMAN FROM HEAVEN!

  “I think I can be more effective on the city council,” he said to the Pee Wees.

  There was that word again!

  “On the council I can be more in touch with the common people. I can work among them and get more done.”

  That sounded like something Molly’s dad would say. Maybe Kevin’s dad had said it! He was probably very smart too.

  “Good for you, Kevin,” said Mrs. Peters.

  “With those guys out of the way, you have a great chance to really get elected!” said Mary Beth. “We’ll have to work even harder!”

  It was true. If Kevin and Jody weren’t running for mayor, Molly would be Roger’s toughest competition. It looked as if the only other Pee Wee running for mayor was Tim, and he was too quiet to be a good politician. At least that was what Mary Beth told Molly. “He hasn’t got a chance,” she said. “It’s you or Roger.”

  “Rachel,” said Mrs. Peters. “What will you run for?”

  “I’m going to run for councilwoman,” said Rachel, with a toss of her head.

  “Fine,” said their leader.

  “I’d hate to be Kevin running against her,” said Mary Beth. “Rachel is smart.”

  “So is Kevin,” said Molly. “He can hold his own.”

  “We should really vote for Rachel,” said Mary Beth. “We women have to stick together.”

  At the meeting, the Pee Wees worked on signs and posters. Mrs. Peters had lots of paper and paints and scissors.

  Tim’s sign said TIM FUR MARE.

  Lisa’s had a picture of a dog that looked more like a cat.

  “Its legs are too short,” said Mary Beth.

  On the sign it said LET ME CATCH YOUR DOGS.

  “I’m going to keep all the dogs I catch,” said Lisa, “and have them for pets.”

  “You can’t,” Roger shouted. “That’s against the law. They have to go to the dog pound and get made into glue.”

  The Pee Wees looked shocked.

  Lisa added some words to her sign. They said I WON’T TURN YOUR DOGS INTO GLUE.

  “They don’t turn them into glue,” said Jody. “If no one claims them they give them shots and find them good homes.”

  Kenny was running for dogcatcher too. His sign said SAVE OUR PETS.

  Sonny was running against Jody. He made a big red sign that said SHORTER SCHOOL DAYS. NO HOMEWORK. LONGER VACATIONS.

  “I don’t care about that teachers’ pay stuff,” he said. “I’d do things for the kids, like longer recess and pizza every day.”

  “I want to be chief of police,” said Tracy. “I’d like to drive one of those fast cars with the siren on and the red lights flashing.”

  “The chief doesn’t drive around arresting people,” said Kevin. “He stays in the office and makes sure all the police officers are doing good work.”

  “That’s okay,” said Tracy. “I wouldn’t mind that. I could ride with them sometimes.”

  Patty was running against Tracy.

  “Two girls for police chief!” yelled Sonny. “I want to be police chief! A girl can’t do it!”

  “You can’t be police chief. You said you were running for school superintendent.”

  “I forgot about police chief! I want to be police chief!”

  “Then Jody will win and get to make all the school rules,” said Patty.

  Now Sonny was worried. Jody wanted more pay for teachers, not pizza and recess.

  “I want to run for both,” he said.

  “Only one office per Pee Wee,” said Mrs. Peters firmly.

  “Okay,” grumbled Sonny. “I’ll be the school boss.”

  “In your dreams,” said Rachel.

  By the time the meeting was over, everyone had signed up for something. Everyone had made a sign and some flyers.

  Molly, Tim, and Roger were running for mayor.

  Kenny and Lisa were running for dogcatcher.

  Kevin and Rachel were running for councilperson.

 
Sonny and Jody were running for school superintendent.

  Patty and Tracy were running for chief of police.

  And everyone was sure they would win. Except Molly.

  CHAPTER 5

  Campaign Fever

  “I’m going to put signs up in the grocery store and the bank and the drugstore,” said Mary Beth. “That’s what a good manager does. Gets you lots of attention. Maybe you could even get on TV like Cliff Nelson. He just smiles and holds his baby and says, ‘I’m a family man.’ ”

  “I wouldn’t know what to say on TV,” said Molly.

  “We could find you a baby to hug,” said Mary Beth. “All politicians hug babies. That gets votes.”

  How did Mary Beth know so much? Molly was lucky to have her for a manager.

  Mary Beth had gone to the stores and bank and asked if she could put a sign in their windows.

  “Everybody said yes, except old man Fogel, at the medical building. He doesn’t let anyone hang up any signs. But that’s okay because I have a better idea than signs,” she said. “I think we should go to the mall and shake hands and kiss babies.”

  Molly was doubtful. Still, if her manager said to go to the mall, her manager knew best. After all, Mrs. Peters had been in favor of a campaign manager.

  The girls told their mothers where they were going and started the short walk to the mall.

  “I wish this was a big mall, one of those huge ones where lots of people come,” said Mary Beth, frowning. “This one’s dinky.”

  Molly had to agree that their mall was small. It had only four stores. But it had a roof over it and a tree growing in the middle.

  “Wait!” said Mary Beth, snapping her fingers. “We need to take a baby along to be a sample, in case there are no babies there.”

  She led the way to Sonny’s house. Sonny had a little twin brother and sister. They were not tiny babies—they were big enough to go for a ride in a stroller.

  Mary Beth knocked on the door. “Can we borrow your babies?” she asked Mrs. Stone politely. “We’d like to take them for a little walk, say, to the mall. It’s such a nice day.”

  “Why do you want my babies?” shouted Sonny from inside the house.

  The girls ignored him.

  “Why, what a good idea!” said his mother. “I’ll be glad to have some time to myself for an hour! And you two girls are so good with babies.”

  She bundled the twins up and put them in the double stroller. She told the girls to be careful crossing streets and to come back in an hour, and she shut the door.

  “Why do you want my babies?” shouted Sonny from the window as they walked down the street.

  The girls ignored him. When they got to the mall, Mary Beth put a big sign in front of Molly that said MOLLY FOR MAYOR OF PEEWEEVILLE.

  “Now if a real baby comes along, you can kiss it—if the mother doesn’t mind,” she said. “But if a grown-up comes along without a baby, you shake their hand and say, ‘I hope I have your vote,’ then kiss one of our own babies here.”

  The Stone twins were busy sucking their pacifiers and watching the girls. It was very quiet in the mall. Hardly any people were there. Elm City was a small town. Most people shopped on weekends. Often they went to the big stores in Minneapolis.

  “You can practice kissing these kids,” said Mary Beth. “Go ahead. Just on the top of their heads.”

  Molly felt silly, but a campaign manager was a campaign manager. Mary Beth knew more than Molly about what would get votes.

  Finally a man came by and stopped. “I hope I have your vote, sir,” said Molly.

  He looked surprised.

  “When is the election?” he asked.

  “A week from Tuesday,” said Mary Beth. “At our Scout meeting at Mrs. Peters’s house.”

  “I’ll be out of town,” the man said.

  Mary Beth whipped a paper out of her pocket. “Here is an absentee ballot,” she said. “You can fill in the names and send it in.”

  “Who else is running?” he asked.

  “Tim Noon and Roger White,” said Mary Beth. “And you wouldn’t want either one of them. Trust me. They’re not mayor material.”

  The man walked away, shaking his head.

  “I just thought of something,” said Molly. “It’s really the Pee Wee votes we need. I mean, Mrs. Peters may not let strangers come to the meeting and vote.”

  Mary Beth looked thoughtful. “She said Tuesday was voting day. I’m sure that means anyone. I mean, this is a democracy.”

  Molly shook her head. “If that was true, Rachel could get all her dad’s patients to vote, and you’d get all your aunts and uncles, and my mom could get people from work. I don’t think grown-ups can vote. It’s just the Pee Wees that vote in this election.”

  “Rat’s knees!” said Mary Beth, using Molly’s favorite saying. “That means all this hand shaking and baby kissing is for nothing! We need to get the Pee Wees out here!”

  But there were no Pee Wees in the mall.

  “Maybe we should go where they are, like the park,” said Molly.

  Mary Beth was playing peekaboo with the twins. They began to giggle.

  “Babies are fun, aren’t they?” she said. Then she stood up. “Okay, let’s go to the park.”

  She took the sign down, and Molly pushed the stroller.

  “The hour’s almost up. We’d better get these kids home,” said Molly.

  As they got to Sonny’s house, he was glaring out the window, making ugly faces.

  “Your face might freeze that way,” shouted Mary Beth.

  Mrs. Stone thanked the girls and said they could take the twins for a walk anytime.

  Mary Beth ran to her house and got some flyers they had made, and the girls headed for the park. Sure enough, several of the Pee Wees were there, playing on the swings and slides and jungle bars. Mary Beth led Molly to the middle of the park where everyone could see them. She set up the big sign. Then she began to hand out the flyers to the Pee Wees.

  “Molly is the best bet,” she called to them. “If you don’t vote for her, you’re all wet!”

  Molly smiled and tried to shake the Pee Wees’ hands, but none of them except Tim and Jody wanted to shake hers.

  “That’s not fair,” said Roger. “Advertising isn’t fair.”

  “Why not? You could advertise if you wanted to,” said Molly. “What you need is a campaign manager.”

  “Do not,” said Roger.

  “Do too,” said Mary Beth.

  Suddenly Roger got on his bike and left. “See? We scared him away. We’re so good at campaigning,” Mary Beth said. “We have what they call campaign fever.

  “Here she is!” she shouted. “The mayor that’s a whiz! Vote for Molly, by golly!”

  Molly didn’t know about the fever, but she knew she wanted to win!

  CHAPTER 6

  Mudslinging

  In half an hour Roger was back with American flags and posters. He had a boom box that blared “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” and he stood on a stool waving a banner that said NO GIRL FOR MAYOR! A MAN IS NEEDED FOR THIS JOB!

  “Ha!” said Rachel. “Where’s the man, Roger? It’s sure not you!”

  Roger stuck out his tongue at Rachel and made a face.

  “We should take his picture,” said Rachel. “A mayor sticking out his tongue? I don’t think so!”

  “That would be blackmail,” said Mary Beth. “It’s not allowed. You have to fight fair and square.”

  “Roger isn’t!” said Lisa. “Listen to all the bad things he’s saying about Molly! Just because she’s a girl!”

  Sure enough, Roger was screaming above the music: “Keep Molly out! Keep Molly out! No girl for mayor! No girl for mayor!

  “A vote for me is a vote for TV,” he went on. “I’ll make sure every Pee Wee has their own TV in their bedroom. I’ll make parents let kids stay up as late as they want. And I’ll build some more city swimming pools right near our houses.”

  “Jody already has a pool,�
� said Patty. “And we always go to Tiger Lake. We don’t need any more pools.”

  All the Pee Wees were listening to Roger now instead of to Molly. It wouldn’t have mattered how many babies she hugged. Roger was getting all the attention. He was making a lot more noise.

  “ ‘The squeaky wheel gets the grease,’ ” declared Mary Beth. “That’s what my grandma says.”

  Molly didn’t know what a squeaky wheel had to do with Roger, but before she could ask, Mary Beth explained, “The one who talks the loudest gets the vote.”

  As the girls watched, Roger opened his backpack and took out a sack of candy bars. He held them up and said, “For every vote, you get a candy bar!” And all the Pee Wees except Jody and Kevin and Rachel swarmed over to collect. Even Mary Beth!

  “Get back here!” shrieked Molly. “You’re voting for me!”

  “I love those caramel clusters,” Mary Beth said.

  “Rat’s knees!” said Molly. “Roger is turning out to be a better manager than you!”

  Mary Beth looked sheepish. Their sign looked pretty mild now. Roger was beating a drum and singing, “Beat Molly! Beat Molly! Beat Molly!” and “My candy is dandy! My candy is dandy!” And the other Scouts were chanting along with him!

  Tim was sitting on a park bench eating one of Roger’s candy bars and wearing a sign saying VOTE FER ME.

  “You have to vote for Roger now, you know, since you took a candy bar,” said Lisa.

  “Do not,” said Tim. “He said I do, but I’m not going to.”

  Tim was smarter than Molly had thought! Roger was playing dirty, and Tim knew it! Maybe they all would take his candy bars but vote for Molly because she had such a good campaign.

  “Roger is a mudslinger,” said Mary Beth. “My dad said never to throw mud. That means saying bad stuff about the other candidate.”

  “Unless you sling mud too, to get back at him,” said Rachel. “You could make signs saying ‘Roger’s a dummy; as mayor he’d be crummy,’ or something.”

  Molly and Mary Beth thought about it.

  “I think we’ll win by being better than he is. We don’t have to stoop to dirty tricks,” said Mary Beth.