The Pee Wee Jubilee Read online

  The Scouts were so excited, they could not think of any good deeds they had done that week.

  They said the Pee Wee Scout pledge and sang their song. They cleaned up the paper and scraps and got ready to leave.

  “It will be time to go before you know it,” said Mrs. Peters. “Next week we will be off to the Pee Wee Jubilee!”

  CHAPTER

  4

  Pie in the Sky

  Mrs. Peters was right. The Jubilee weekend came fast.

  “You’ll have a good time,” said Mr. Duff. “Just be careful and mind the Kellys and don’t talk to strangers.”

  She’d have to talk to strangers, thought Molly. Almost everyone she would meet at the Jubilee would be a stranger.

  “Beep, beep!” went a car horn outside. It was the Kellys. Molly’s mother kissed her. Her dad gave her a hug. Molly strapped her backpack on and waved good-bye.

  Mary Beth was bouncing up and down in the backseat.

  The Kellys waved to the Duffs and then they started for the airport. When they got there Mr. Kelly parked the car in the weekend parking lot, and they hurried to gate 5. The first Scout they saw was Sonny.

  “I don’t want to go on a plane!” he shrieked.

  “Everyone hold up your tickets,” Mrs. Peters was saying.

  Everyone did. Even the parents.

  Over the loudspeaker a deep voice announced their flight.

  “Leaving at gate 5,” the voice said.

  “We’re ready!” shouted Roger. “I hope I get to sit by a window.”

  “I’d like to ride on the wings,” said Kevin. “Like these guys in this movie I saw on TV. They had parachutes.”

  Sonny wailed even louder. Mrs. Betz picked him up and carried him, like a piece of baggage, under her arm. Sonny kicked. And struggled. But soon he was on the plane.

  “No pushing,” called Mrs. Peters. “Your parents will find your seat number on your boarding pass.”

  “Hey, I’ve got a window seat!” shouted Roger.

  “I want to sit by Patty!” shouted Lisa.

  “Let’s all sit with our families until we are in the air,” said Mrs. Peters.

  Molly sat next to Mary Beth. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly sat behind them.

  “The wings are going to fall off!” shouted Sonny. “Look how loose they are.”

  “Let’s put all our baggage under the seat in front of us,” said Mrs. Peters.

  “Mine won’t fit,” said Tracy. She pushed and shoved, but her bag was too big. Her mother tried to get it under the seat, but it didn’t fit.

  “Remember we were all to bring only one small bag,” said Mrs. Peters. “What is in there, Tracy?”

  “It’s my teddy bear,” she answered. “I can’t sleep without him.”

  Tracy’s mother looked embarrassed. “I didn’t know you took Freddie,” she said.

  Finally Mrs. Peters put the bag with the bear in the luggage rack over the seats.

  The flight attendant showed the Scouts how to fasten their seat belts.

  Then she showed them the emergency exits. And how to use the life jackets.

  And the oxygen masks.

  “These seats we are sitting on can float,” said Rachel, combing her hair. “If we crash into the ocean, our cushion floats like a little boat.”

  Sonny, who had been quiet, began to howl all over again.

  “It’s going to fall,” he cried. “Help!”

  “It is not,” said Mrs. Betz.

  “Then why do the cushions float?” he sobbed.

  Mrs. Betz glared at Rachel.

  All of a sudden there was a loud noise. The engine had started.

  The plane began to move.

  It rolled down the runway.

  Sonny’s face was buried in his mother’s lap. The engine made so much noise, they couldn’t hear Sonny crying.

  The plane went faster and faster! Molly leaned back in her seat and held on to the armrests. Her stomach began to feel queasy. Was she going to throw up? She had no mother to hold her hand. To take her to the bathroom. She couldn’t even go to the bathroom alone, because she was strapped in! She’d have to use that little bag in the pocket in front of her.

  “Mama!” cried Sonny.

  Just when she was sure she would throw up, Molly seemed to calm down. She looked out the window. The houses and cars outside were smaller. And then they disappeared. All Molly could see was clouds. Clouds and more clouds.

  “Maybe this is what heaven looks like,” said Tracy.

  “I don’t see any of those angels with the wings and the white bathrobes,” said Tim. “And none of those guys playing guitars.”

  All the Scouts laughed.

  Sonny heard the laughing and opened one eye. “Are we falling?” he asked.

  “Of course not,” said Mrs. Betz. “It’s a nice smooth flight.”

  “Guitars,” scoffed Roger. “Where would they plug them in? Everybody knows they only play banjos in heaven.”

  Rachel sighed. “They play harps,” she said. “Angels play harps.”

  Molly’s stomach felt better. Now that the plane seemed to stay in the sky, she even felt hungry. Smells of food filled the air.

  Soon a lady came down the aisle pushing a cart with little trays on it. Each tray held a salad, a hamburger and bun, and french fries. Little tiny cups held pickles and olives and ketchup and mustard. And on a little dish of its own was a tiny piece of apple pie.

  “Pie in the sky,” chuckled Roger.

  The lady with the cart said her name was Sally. She showed the Scouts how to pull the tray table down in front of them and set their food on it.

  Suddenly a voice sounded overhead.

  “It’s God,” whispered Tracy.

  “It’s the pilot,” scoffed Roger.

  “This is your captain speaking,” the voice said. “We are experiencing a little turbulence. We will soon pass out of it. Please fasten your seat belts.”

  “In case of what?” said Sonny, with mustard on his face. “In case we fall in the ocean?”

  “We’re nowhere near an ocean,” said Rachel, paging through her airline magazine.

  “She’s brave,” said Mary Beth.

  “She’s a show-off,” said Lisa.

  By the time the trays were cleared away Sonny felt better. And Molly was enjoying her cozy seat by the window. Mrs. Peters led the Scouts in a sing-along, ending up with the Pee Wee Scout song. As they finished they heard the voice again.

  “In five minutes we will be landing,” it said. “Please put your seats in an upright position and fasten your seat belts. Thank you for flying with Ace Airways.”

  The seat belts went click, click, click.

  The plane went down, down, down.

  “Look!” shrieked Molly. “I can see houses again. And little cars.”

  The cars and houses got bigger and bigger.

  “We’re going in the river!” shouted Kevin.

  But the plane slipped over the river onto the runway on the other side. With a tiny bump the wheels touched the ground. The engine roared as the plane slowed down. Then it came to a full stop.

  Mrs. Peters and the parents stood up. They gathered the luggage.

  Sally waved good-bye, and everybody plowed through the door, down the walkway, and into the airport. Mrs. Kelly held Mary Beth’s hand on one side and Molly’s on the other.

  They walked into the big Atlanta airport.

  “This place is ten miles long!” Kevin whistled.

  “Look at all the Scouts!” cried Molly.

  There were fat Scouts, thin Scouts.

  Black Scouts, white Scouts.

  Scouts with braids and Scouts with curls.

  Some troops had green kerchiefs.

  Some had purple and some had blue.

  Some had badges all over their shirts!

  Everywhere Molly looked there were Pee Wee Scouts.

  She could see banners that said IDAHO, and CALIFORNIA, and NEW YORK. There were Scouts from Hawaii with leis around
their necks.

  “There’s Troop 15!” shouted Tim. Some of the Pee Wees from Oakdale turned around. They wore blue kerchiefs.

  Suitcases, tents, and backpacks were propped up against the wall. The airport was packed with Scouts!

  “Well, I guess we aren’t the only Pee Wee Scouts in town,” said Kevin.

  Mrs. Peters smiled. “Kevin is right. We aren’t the only troop around.”

  Molly shivered. All these strange Pee Wees seemed to know what to do.

  “This way!” called Mrs. Peters. She led them through the crowd to a door. It was warm and sunny outside. A big school bus was waiting.

  “Hop on,” said the driver. “And welcome to Atlanta, Georgia. Welcome to the Pee Wee Jubilee!”

  “He talks funny, doesn’t he?” said Molly to Lisa.

  The bus drove through the city. The Scouts stared out the window.

  “That building goes up to the sky.” said Patty. “I can’t see the top of it.”

  “There’s no sky in Atlanta,” said Tracy. “Only buildings.”

  “There will be sky when we get to the campsite,” said Roger’s father.

  The driver drove and drove. Through the city. Onto a freeway.

  “We’re going to a forest,” shouted Sonny. “I saw a tree!”

  Just then the driver turned the bus off the freeway and into the woods. The road became narrow and bumpy. In the woods was a large clearing. Rows and rows of yellow school buses were there. Music was playing.

  Molly felt butterflies in her stomach.

  Roger whistled. “This place is bigger than the airport,” he said.

  The bus driver pulled on the brake and opened the door.

  “Here we are,” he called. “All out for the Pee Wee Jubilee!”

  CHAPTER

  5

  A Million Pee Wees

  “Look at all the tents,” said Mary Beth as the Scouts got off the bus. “I’ll bet there are about a million.”

  “And a million Pee Wees!” shouted Kevin.

  “There’s a lake,” called Roger. “I didn’t know there was a lake in Atlanta.”

  A big red banner stretched over their heads.

  WELCOME, it said. PEE WEE CAMPSITE.

  A million tents.

  A million Pee Wees.

  A lake inside a forest.

  A forest inside a city.

  Molly felt as if she were a million miles from home. From her school. From Mrs. Peters’s cozy little house. From Troop 23 meetings. This was a giant Pee Wee Scout meeting.

  After the Scouts had walked and walked, up one row of tents and down another, they came to a flag that said 23.

  “Here we are!” called Mrs. Betz. “And we are near the lake.”

  The Scouts crawled into the tents with their parents. Molly crawled in with the Kellys. She sat down on a strange sleeping bag.

  The Kellys were nice to her. They even loved her. But they weren’t her own family.

  Molly felt tired. And a little homesick.

  “Isn’t this fun?” said Mary Beth. “Don’t you just love it here? Aren’t we going to have a great time?”

  Before Molly could answer, she had fallen asleep. Mrs. Kelly covered her with a blanket, and she didn’t wake up until morning.

  “You missed supper,” said Mrs. Kelly in the morning. “I guess you were very tired from all the excitement.”

  Molly didn’t feel so homesick now. The sun was shining. The camp didn’t look scary. Neither did all the new Scouts. And Mrs. Kelly was the best mother an orphan could have. If you had to be an orphan.

  “Today is a full day,” said Mrs. Kelly. “Full of things to do. To start, we have a pancake breakfast.”

  The girls brushed their teeth and washed and got dressed. Then they went through the woods and past rows of tents with Mr. and Mrs. Kelly. They went into a big building with a cement floor.

  Roger was there with his father. They were already eating pancakes at a long table.

  Soon the other Scouts started to come with their parents and their leaders. Before long the whole big hall was filled.

  Someone hit a pie tin with a spoon and said, “Attention, please!” into a squeaky microphone. “Welcome to our first Pee Wee Jubilee,” he said. “I am Mr. Reed, one of the chairmen on the Jubilee committee.”

  The Pee Wees looked bored. They wanted to eat pancakes. But Roger and Mr. White put their forks down.

  “Before we eat our breakfast,” Mr. Reed went on, “I’d like to ask each one of you to move to a table with Scouts you have not met. Leave your own troop and meet new friends. That is one of the goals of our Jubilee.”

  It was noisy as chairs shuffled on the floor. Pee Wees left their mothers and fathers and went to new tables.

  “Hi, I’m Rachel, and I’m in Troop 23,” said Rachel, reaching out her hand to a Scout with a lei around her neck. “I went to Hawaii once,” she said.

  Mrs. Kelly gave Molly and Mary Beth little shoves. “Now you two separate,” she said. “Just for breakfast.”

  It was bad enough not having a mother. Now Molly had to leave her best friend.

  Mrs. Peters started putting her Pee Wees at different tables. Molly sat down at a new table. A strange mother reached out her hand and said, “I’m Mrs. Lawson from Texas.” She sounded funny, like the bus driver.

  “I’m Molly,” said Molly shyly.

  There were four other Scouts at the table, but they were shy too. They didn’t say anything. The parents talked to each other.

  Soon big piles of pancakes were served. Mountains of pancakes. Molly loved pancakes. At home. Today she didn’t feel like eating. She felt nervous, as if these new Scouts were all looking at her.

  Soon the other Scouts began talking to one another. They even laughed. But they didn’t talk to Molly. She tried to open her mouth to say something. But nothing came out.

  Suddenly all the Scouts in the room were talking. They were laughing. They were making new friends.

  All except Molly.

  She saw Mary Beth talking to a Scout with an orange kerchief and lots of badges.

  She saw Roger hit a strange Scout on the back in a friendly way.

  Even Sonny was handing a piece of bacon to a girl across the table from him.

  “Rat’s knees,” said Molly. “Everyone has a new friend but me.”

  When breakfast was over, Mr. Reed held up his hand for silence. “I see my trick worked,” he said. “I see you all have new friends. Show me your new friend!” he shouted.

  Hands went up over heads. Hands held together. They showed Mr. Reed their new friends.

  Molly’s hand was not up. She did not have a new friend.

  “Let’s take our new friend by the hand,” said Mr. Reed, “and go to our first meeting of the day. These are the things you can choose to do.”

  He waved a piece of paper over his head. Parents handed papers out to every Scout. The papers had lists on them.

  “Choose what you like the best,” said Mr. Reed into the microphone. “You can do wood carving, ceramics, pottery, or weaving. You can go on a nature hike, go fishing, run in a race. You decide. Get that Pee Wee Scout spirit going.”

  He punched the air with his fist. “Let’s go!”

  All the Scouts cheered, “Yeah!”

  “I’m going fishing!” yelled Roger. “With my dad.”

  Fishing sounded like fun to Molly. But so did hiking. So did weaving. Pottery and ceramics too.

  Lisa held her new friend by the hand. “We’re going to weaving,” she said. “Come with us.”

  Molly shook her head. She’d always wanted to make something nice out of clay. Something that lasted a long time. This might be her only chance.

  She decided to go to the pottery class.

  CHAPTER

  6

  A Bowl and

  a Buddy

  Mr. Kelly showed Molly the way to the pottery tent. It was a big tent. It was open on the sides.

  A lady who looked like a Scout leader
stood in the tent smiling. She wasn’t like Mrs. Peters.

  Molly missed seeing Mrs. Peters up in front. She was the best leader of all. No one could be as good as Mrs. Peters.

  “I’m Mrs. Morgan,” said the new lady. She had clay on her hands. And on her apron too. Pots and vases stood everywhere. And pottery wheels. The kilns were in the back.

  “Come right in,” she called to Molly.

  There were a few Scouts already there. More Scouts came in, holding hands with new friends. Laughing and talking.

  Molly looked at the pretty things on the tables.

  A big blue vase.

  A tiny salt shaker.

  A holder for pipes.

  Molly wished her dad smoked a pipe. It would be fun to make a pipe holder with her own hands and take it home to him. But a pipe holder was no good for a father who didn’t have pipes.

  When everyone was there, Mrs. Morgan showed them the wet shiny clay they would be using. She sat down at the pottery wheel. When she pressed the pedal with her foot, the wheel began to spin. She threw a lump of clay on the wheel and shaped it with her hands as it went round and round.

  Oh, boy! Molly couldn’t wait to get her hands on that clay. She knew she could make something beautiful.

  Round and round went Mrs. Morgan’s wheel. The clay got smoother and smoother. Round and smooth.

  Molly stood patiently with the others while Mrs. Morgan explained how to do it. “And when we are all through, we will bake it in the kiln,” she said.

  “Like a pie,” said one of the Scouts.

  “Like a baked potato,” said a familiar voice. Molly looked around. It was Tracy!

  Finally it was time to take turns. A boy named Hal threw his clay on a wheel. Some of it splattered in his face. The rest of it rode around on the wheel like a lump of dough.

  “Shape it,” said Mrs. Morgan to Hal. “Try to get your hands around it.”

  Hal put his hands on the clay. “I’m making a pitcher for orange juice,” he said. But when he was finished he had a small flat dish.

  “It can be a soap dish,” said Mrs. Morgan kindly. “It’s hard to make a pitcher when you are just beginning.”

  Molly waited for her turn.