That Mushy Stuff Read online

  The Scouts cleaned up the paper.

  Then they told their good deeds. They sang their Pee Wee Scout song and said their Pee Wee Scout pledge.

  On the way home, Roger handed his valentine to Patty. Patty opened the card shyly. It had a picture of a boy with a bat in his hand. It said, I’d go to bat for you, Valentine.

  “I read that on a valentine at the drug-store,” said Roger proudly.

  Inside the valentine were four baseball cards.

  Patty turned bright red. As red as the hearts on the card. She really is shy, thought Molly.

  What could Molly give Sonny? If Roger gave Patty his baseball cards, he really must like her. She had to find something to give Sonny. Or something to do for him.

  Molly had too much to think about. Her head ached from thinking. When she got home, she went to her room and sat down.

  She tried to write a no-smoking saying. She thought and thought. “Rat’s knees,” Molly said. She thought some more. Smoke. Croak. Don’t smoke or you will croak!

  No, that was not a nice thing to tell people. She didn’t think Mrs. Peters would like it.

  Molly threw herself on her bed and fell asleep. She was tired from thinking so hard.

  The next day, on the playground, Roger slipped a Twinkie in Patty’s coat pocket. And when they went into school, he put a ballpoint pen on her desk. During math, Roger just sat and stared at Patty.

  “I wish someone would stare at me,” said Molly to Mary Beth at recess. Sonny hadn’t said one word about Molly’s valentine.

  “We’re too young to have boyfriends. My mom says so,” said Mary Beth.

  “I don’t care,” said Molly. “I want one.”

  She was not going to give up on Sonny. She would get him. But she wouldn’t tell anyone. Not even Mary Beth.

  After recess, Molly noticed something white on her desk. It was an envelope. When she opened it, a heart-shaped valentine fell out. It did not have a name on it. It just said, From your secret valentine.

  Molly was glad to get a valentine. But who had given it to her?

  After school Roger grabbed Patty’s books and carried them for her. Patty turned red again.

  Molly tried to grab Sonny’s book bag, but he pushed her away and ran off down the street.

  “Do you like Roger?” whispered Molly in Patty’s ear.

  “He’s all right,” said Patty shyly.

  All right! The cutest, tallest boy in the second grade liked Patty, and all she said was all right!

  Molly would have thrown her arms around Roger’s neck and hugged him. Maybe even given him a kiss like they did on TV. Smack, smack, smack.

  The next morning there was a new pencil on Patty’s desk. And an eraser in the shape of Big Bird. She put them into her desk.

  On Molly’s desk was another envelope!

  She tore it open. It said, From your secret valentine. Again! Who could it be? She looked at Sonny. He was chewing on his pencil. He didn’t look like a secret valentine to Molly.

  The week was going by fast. Molly did not have a smoking verse. And she did not have a first-aid badge. She did not have a boyfriend either.

  She ran home from school and wrote down all the words that rhymed with smoke. Coke. Folk. Poke. Soak. Woke. Yolk.

  Maybe she should turn the rhyme around. She wrote, Rub a dub dub, don’t smoke in the tub. That was good! But only for people who smoked in the bathtub. Lots of people smoked in their cars. Or while watching TV. What about those people?

  “Rat’s knees!” said Molly. She stamped her foot.

  She couldn’t give up. She would be the only one without a valentine to hang in the bank. People would say, “Where is Molly Duff’s? Isn’t she a Pee Wee Scout? Maybe she wasn’t smart enough to make one.”

  Cigarettes are bad.

  No smoking, Dad.

  But Molly’s dad didn’t smoke. No good.

  Help your heart, please don’t puff.

  Help your heart, says Molly Duff.

  There! That was just right. People who read it would know Molly wrote it.

  Now, if she could just think of a way to make Sonny her boyfriend. Or was he her valentine already? Her secret valentine.

  CHAPTER

  5

  Sonny Slides Away

  It was cold the next morning. February was a cold month. On the way to school, Tracy and Mary Beth wore their first-aid badges on the outside of their jackets.

  That is just to make me jealous, said Molly to herself. The first-aid badge seemed bigger than the other badges. And brighter.

  The girls met the other Pee Wee Scouts on the corner. Patty was running and sliding on the ice. Roger and Tim ran behind her, sliding and slipping.

  “Whooa!” shouted Kevin, sliding farther than any of them.

  “I can slide farther than that!” shouted Sonny. He got a running start. He bent over like a racer and shot toward the icy strip of sidewalk. “Look at me!” he called.

  Just as he said that, Molly bent down to brush some dirt off her boot.

  Smack! Sonny slid right into Molly. He went down on the ice.

  “You tripped me!” Sonny shouted. “Oooo, my head.”

  “It was an accident,” said Molly.

  Sonny lay on the sidewalk with his arms and legs out like a snow angel. The other Scouts kept sliding around. But Molly and Lisa stayed near Sonny.

  “He hit his head!” shouted Molly. “Get some ice!”

  “I don’t want any more ice,” wailed Sonny.

  But Lisa was busy packing snow into hard balls to put on Sonny’s head. “This will keep it from swelling,” she said.

  “You need first aid,” said Molly.

  “I don’t want first aid!” shouted Sonny, struggling to push Lisa and Molly away. “You tripped me on purpose.”

  Sonny’s mittens had fallen off. His hands looked cold and white.

  “I think he’s got frostbite!” said Molly. She jumped up and down with excitement. She looked in her first-aid book to see what to do.

  “Is anything broken?” asked Lisa.

  Sonny sat up in the snow. “Just my lunch box,” he said.

  “Dummy,” said Molly, “we don’t give first aid to lunch boxes.”

  “You have to buy me a new one,” said Sonny. “You broke it.”

  The other Pee Wee Scouts gathered around to watch the first aid. Soon they were as excited as Lisa and Molly.

  “We need a stretcher!” shouted Kevin, taking charge. He took off his jacket and began to make a stretcher the way Mrs. Peters had shown them.

  “He’s our victim,” shouted Molly, stamping her foot. “Get out of here!”

  But Kevin did not have his badge yet either. He wasn’t going to leave when he could see a perfectly good chance to earn a badge.

  “Give me another coat,” he ordered, grabbing Tim’s jacket by the sleeves.

  “Hey, I’m cold!” said Tim. But Kevin grabbed Tim’s coat anyway. He tied the sleeves together. He pulled the two jackets under Sonny.

  “Hey, quit it,” said Sonny. “I’m fine.”

  Sonny didn’t want to be a victim. But every time he tried to get to his feet, one of the Pee Wees pushed him back onto the stretcher.

  “Get down,” said Kevin, giving Sonny a shove.

  Lisa put more snow on his head.

  Molly put Sonny’s mittens back on his hands. “He has to be warm because of the frostbite,” she said.

  The Scouts started carrying Sonny down the street toward his house.

  “I’m going to school!” he shouted.

  “You can’t!” Molly shouted back.

  She took her bandage roll from her kit and started to bandage Sonny’s head. “Lie still!” she said. “Rat’s knees, you’re hard to help.”

  “His knee is bleeding,” said Lisa.

  “Really?” said Molly.

  Sure enough, there was a hole in the knee of Sonny’s pants. He had scraped his knee on the ice.

  “BLOOD!” shouted Molly. “
Oh, boy. Blood!” She jumped up and down. This was no game. This was real first aid!

  Her secret plan was working better than ever.

  Patty got some antiseptic lotion out of her kit and put it on Sonny’s knee. Molly popped a Band-Aid with a clown on it over the scrape.

  “I don’t see any blood,” said Kevin, looking over Molly’s shoulder.

  “There wasn’t much, but it was there,” Molly said.

  Kevin smiled at her.

  “We could have put one of those tourniquet things on his leg if there was more blood,” said Lisa. “Oh, well. Maybe next time.”

  The Scouts dragged Sonny along on the coats through the snow.

  “I’m going to be late for school,” he said.

  “We all are,” said Roger. “But this is important.”

  Suddenly Sonny jerked forward and jumped off the coats. He dashed down the street toward school.

  “Get him!” screamed Molly.

  The Scouts chased Sonny, but he had a head start. And he was a fast runner. The Pee Wees let him go.

  Tim and Kevin untied their jackets and put them back on.

  “Oh, no!” cried Molly. “Our only victim and he got away. How will I get my first-aid badge now?”

  CHAPTER

  6

  The Big Blue Badge

  All day Molly felt bad for tripping Sonny. She did need to get that badge, but that was no way to treat a boyfriend.

  The next morning she waited outside of Sonny’s house. When he came out, she said, “I’ll carry your books to school.” She had her hopes up.

  But Sonny said, “Why? I can carry my books myself.”

  Molly grabbed Sonny’s book bag.

  Sonny grabbed it back.

  “Get out of here!” he yelled. “Just leave me alone!”

  Having a boyfriend is hard work, thought Molly.

  Sonny ran all the way to school.

  “Wait!” Molly shouted. She chased him every step of the way.

  After school, Molly was the first Pee Wee Scout out of the classroom at three o’clock. She was the first onto the bus. The big bus that took the Pee Wee Scouts to Mrs. Peters’s house.

  Molly had her valentine ready.

  But Mrs. Peters held up some badges. First-aid badges!

  “Some people do not have their first-aid badges,” she said.

  “I do,” said Tracy.

  “Are there any others who have earned their badge this week?” Mrs. Peters asked.

  Molly waved her hand. So did Lisa and Kevin and some of the other Scouts.

  “We saved Sonny’s life,” said Lisa. “He fell on the ice and hit his head and his knee was bleeding and he had frostbite.”

  “We were the only ones around,” said Kevin. “It was definitely an emergency.”

  “But he got away,” said Molly, not wanting to lie about something as important as a Scout badge. “Can we get a badge if the victim jumps off the stretcher?” she asked anxiously.

  “We put ice on the bump on his head,” said Lisa.

  “We made a stretcher in case anything was broken,” said Kevin.

  “It wasn’t!” said Sonny. “I wasn’t even hurt. And Molly tripped me.”

  “Liar!” shouted Kevin. “You were too hurt! Your knee had real blood on it!”

  “We bandaged his knee,” said Molly. “Patty put lotion on it because we didn’t have soap and water to wash it.”

  “Well, it sounds like you did a good job,” said Mrs. Peters. “And you surely deserve a first-aid badge. You may have prevented an infection in Sonny’s knee.”

  “And a bump on his head,” said Kevin.

  “I wasn’t even hurt,” Sonny muttered again.

  “Well, you all acted wisely,” said Mrs. Peters. Then she called out the names of the people who had helped.

  Molly and Lisa were first! Molly had her new badge at last. Her big blue badge.

  Lisa pinned hers on her blouse.

  Molly pinned hers on her sweater.

  “This was the hardest badge I ever earned in my life,” said Lisa.

  If it wasn’t for my plan, thought Molly, we still wouldn’t have it. But she didn’t tell anyone. Not even Lisa.

  Just then Nick woke up. Mrs. Peters brought him out for the Scouts to see.

  “Look at him smile!” said Rachel.

  “In a few months, he’ll have a tooth to show you,” said Mrs. Peters proudly. “His very first tooth.”

  All the Pee Wees gathered around Nick to look in his mouth. But there were no teeth yet. Not even one little white tooth.

  “Then he’ll be able to eat sandwiches,” said Roger. “Like regular people.”

  “Silly,” said Rachel. “Babies eat baby food even when they have teeth.”

  But Roger didn’t snap back at Rachel today. He was in a good mood. It was almost Valentine’s Day. And his valentine was Patty.

  Molly used a little glue and stuck a big red heart on the back of Sonny’s shirt. It said, Molly and Sonny.

  The Pee Wees pointed to it and laughed. “Sonny’s got a girlfriend,” they sang.

  Patty was glad that the Scouts were teasing somebody else for once.

  Sonny looked mad. When he found the sign on his back, he tore it up into pieces.

  Mrs. Peters put Nick down in his crib and said, “Let’s hear the no-smoking valentines. Who wants to read theirs first?”

  “I read mine last week, Mrs. Peters,” said Rachel loudly.

  “That’s right, I remember,” Mrs. Peters said.

  Molly waved her hand.

  “Molly,” said Mrs. Peters, “read yours first.”

  Help your heart, don’t puff.

  Help your heart, says Molly Duff.

  Mrs. Peters clapped. “That is wonderful!” she said. “Who would like to be next?”

  “Happy Valentine’s Day to my heart!” read Tracy.

  Mrs. Peters clapped again.

  Kevin read,

  Healthy heart, healthy heart,

  Put out that weed and do your part.

  “A weed is a dandelion,” said Sonny. “That’s dumb.”

  “A weed is a cigarette,” said Kevin. “My dad said so.”

  “Tim, do you have a saying?” asked Mrs. Peters.

  Tim stood up and read, “Don’t smoke.”

  The Scouts laughed.

  “I can’t write poems,” said Tim. His face turned red.

  “That’s fine,” said Mrs. Peters. “It’s short and to the point.”

  “Now,” she went on, “we will write our sayings neatly in our valentines. Then we’ll go off to the bank and hang them up.”

  “I love banks,” said Kevin. “Can we get some money there?”

  Mrs. Peters laughed. “I don’t think so, but maybe we’ll get lollipops.”

  “Yum!” said Tim.

  “Now,” said Mrs. Peters, “the bank has a community bulletin board. While people wait in line for the tellers, they can read our messages.”

  Soon all the Scouts had finished writing their valentines.

  “Let’s go!” shouted Roger.

  “Yeah,” said Molly, “let’s go to the bank!”

  CHAPTER

  7

  The Real Valentine

  Mrs. Peters dressed Nick and put him in his car seat. Then all the Scouts piled into Mrs. Peters’s new van. It was crowded when all eleven Pee Wee Scouts were inside. Roger pulled Patty down on his lap to make more room. She turned red again.

  Molly tried to pull Sonny down on her lap.

  “Hey, cut it out!” Sonny yelled. “I hate that mushy stuff.”

  “Molly’s got a boyfriend,” sang Tracy.

  Molly only wished it were true. She wouldn’t mind being teased. But she didn’t have a boyfriend. Sonny was a pain in the neck. For someone who had sent her two secret valentines, he wasn’t very friendly!

  Maybe it wasn’t Sonny. Who could it be?

  At the bank, the president, Mr. Phipps, came out of his office. He welcomed the P
ee Wee Scouts of Troop 23. He showed them a nice big bulletin board near the bank tellers. He gave Mrs. Peters a box of thumbtacks.

  Each Pee Wee Scout troop had its own part of the bulletin board.

  Troop 23 got to work. They hung up all their no-smoking valentines.

  “Those are good valentine messages,” said Mr. Phipps. “I just quit smoking this month.”

  “Your heart will thank you,” said Kevin.

  “That’s true, young man,” said Mr. Phipps with a smile.

  Molly noticed that Roger hung his valentine next to Patty’s. Molly’s was between Mary Beth’s and Kevin’s.

  Mr. Phipps took a picture of all the Pee Wee Scouts lined up in front of their valentines. “I’ll put the picture at the top,” he said. Then he thanked them for coming to the bank. He gave each Scout a lollipop.

  The Pee Wees piled into the van and went back to Mrs. Peters’s house.

  The Scouts told some good deeds they had done that week.

  “I helped my grandma roll up her knitting yarn,” said Lisa.

  “I gave our dog a bath,” said Tim. “And he wouldn’t hold still.”

  “Those are very good deeds,” said Mrs. Peters. “Anyone else?”

  “I gave Patty a Big Bird eraser,” said Roger.

  “That’s not a good deed,” said Kevin. “That’s because she’s your girlfriend.”

  “It is too a good deed,” said Roger. He smiled at Patty.

  “Roger’s a pest,” said Kenny. “I think he should leave my sister alone.”

  “Says who?” said Roger.

  Kenny put his fists up. “You leave Patty alone.”

  “Wanna fight?” said Roger. “I’ll fight for Patty.”

  “Molly’s a pest too!” shouted Sonny. “Give her a punch for me.”

  All the Pee Wees began to shout.

  Mrs. Peters held up her hand for silence. “We’ll sing our song now, and say our pledge. Everyone calm down, please.”

  The Pee Wee Scouts joined hands in a big circle. Roger held one of Patty’s hands and Kenny held the other.

  Molly grabbed Sonny’s hand. He yanked it away.

  “Why won’t you be my boyfriend?” demanded Molly.