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  New leader? Had Molly heard her mother right? Surely Captain Spencer could not be a genuine troop leader, the real thing, a replacement for their beloved Mrs. Peters!

  “But Mrs. Peters has to come back!” cried Molly.

  “Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Duff. “I’m sure she’ll be back.”

  But her mother’s words did not feel sure at all. They felt as if maybe Mrs. Peters would be back and maybe she wouldn’t. If she really was coming back, Mrs. Duff would say, “Of course she will. She will be back next Tuesday.”

  Instead, Mrs. Duff said, “Her mother is old, and there’s no one else to take care of her. It’s hard to say just when she’ll be well enough for Mrs. Peters to come home. She took baby Nick with her.”

  Took baby Nick? Why didn’t she leave him with Mr. Peters? Why didn’t she get a baby-sitter?

  Molly knew why. Because Mrs. Peters was going to stay a long time. After all, she couldn’t leave her poor, sick mother alone in another city. And she could not leave baby Nick with his dad because his dad had to go to work. This meant only one thing: Mrs. Peters was not going to welcome the Pee Wees in her basement next Tuesday. Or any other Tuesday.

  There would be no Halloween party.

  There would be no new badges.

  There would be only tying knots and coloring pictures.

  It was good-bye, Mrs. Peters. And hello, Captain Spencer!

  CHAPTER

  4

  Welcome, Ms. Bubble Gum

  Molly called Mary Beth and Rachel and some of the other Scouts and told them the bad news.

  “It won’t be any fun waiting for Tuesdays anymore,” said Mary Beth.

  Molly agreed. She used to count the days and hours till Pee Wee time. Now it didn’t matter. There was a hole in her life where the fun used to be.

  To make matters worse, the Pee Wees were not going to meet at Mrs. Peters’s house anymore. They were going to meet at a room in the town hall. There would be no smell of baking cupcakes. Just a cold, dusty room with city maps on the wall and posters that said MOONY FOR MAYOR.

  On Tuesday, the Pee Wees trudged slowly up the steps of the town hall and into their new meeting room.

  “This feels like the principal’s office at school,” said Sonny.

  “He should know, he gets sent there often enough,” said Ashley.

  “Maybe Roger won’t be here today,” said Molly.

  But he was. The rest of the Pee Wees could hear him coming even though he was way down the hall. When Roger was nearby, thought Molly, you could feel it in your skin. It felt goose-bumpy even before you could see him in person.

  “Where’s that stupid Scout leader?” laughed Roger.

  None of the Pee Wees ever called an adult stupid. It was definitely not a nice thing to do. But there was no one there to stop Roger from doing it.

  Rachel glared at him. “You’re the stupid Pee Wee Scout,” she said.

  Now the whole troop was shocked! Rat’s knees, thought Molly. What were the Pee Wee meetings turning into?

  “You’d think he would be on time,” grumbled Kevin. “Army guys are always on time.”

  “Where’s our leader, where’s our leader!” chanted Kenny. The other Pee Wees joined in and pounded on the table in rhythm. Molly supposed that the only thing worse than having the captain for a Scout leader was having no leader at all.

  All of a sudden the door popped open and two people came in. Molly had seen the woman who entered in one of the offices they had passed. The woman had someone with her. The someone was not Captain Spencer. It was a girl not much taller than Rachel, who was the tallest Pee Wee. The girl was chewing bubble gum. Mrs. Peters never liked the Pee Wees to chew gum. The girl must be in the wrong room, thought Molly. Maybe she was a new Pee Wee.

  The woman from the office cleared her throat and said, “This is Brandi, and she will be your Scout leader today. Be sure you make her feel welcome.”

  The woman left quickly as if she was glad to go. Glad not to be a Scout leader herself.

  “I’m your new leader,” giggled Ms. Bubble Gum. She threw her backpack onto the table, twirled her hair around a finger, blew an enormous purple bubble, and said, “I spell my name with an i, not a y. I’m a little late because Mrs. Morris kept us after school for wearing makeup to class. There’s a rule about that, you know.” Brandi rolled her eyes.

  The Pee Wees were shocked. Where was Captain Spencer? Molly was beginning to realize there might be worse things than being in the army. And one of them was having a teenage Scout leader! Molly wondered what grade Brandi was in.

  “I’m in high school,” said Brandi, giggling. “I’m a freshman this year.”

  “Where’s the army guy?” yelled Roger, tipping back in his chair.

  “I guess he couldn’t handle the job,” said Brandi. “He said there were some kids who gave him a hard time. He had to, like, split.”

  Pop! went another purple bubble.

  “So what do you guys do in Scouts?” asked Brandi, sitting down in a chair and tipping it back, just like Roger.

  There would be no lining up and marching with this leader, thought Molly. And probably no knot tying.

  “We earn badges,” said Tracy. “And do good deeds.”

  Brandi wrinkled up her nose as if she didn’t think much of those things.

  “We goof off,” said Roger. “And go to Playland at the mall. And we order pizzas with lots of pepperoni.”

  “You’re funny,” laughed Brandi, pointing her finger at Roger. “I like you.”

  Roger turned red, but he looked pleased.

  No one liked Roger! What was this girl saying?

  “How can she think lying is funny?” whispered Mary Beth.

  Now that Roger had received attention from their leader, he began to act sillier than ever. He chased Sonny out of the room and down the hall with a rubber spider. A clerk from another office had to bring them back.

  “Try to keep your meeting in this room,” she said sternly.

  “Ta-ta,” said Brandi, waving to her with two fingers.

  “What does ta-ta mean?” Lisa asked Molly.

  “I think it’s baby talk,” Molly said.

  “I think it means thanks,” said Mary Beth.

  Rachel shook her head. “It means good-bye,” she said.

  Brandi was going through some papers from her backpack. A Pee Wee Scout handbook and a copy of a teen magazine fell out. Brandi paged through the handbook, frowning.

  “This stuff looks boring,” she said. “When I was in Scouts we did fun stuff like having our colors done and finding out what kind of nail polish stayed on the longest.”

  Roger groaned.

  “I wonder what kind of Scouts she belonged to,” said Patty.

  “Probably the Fashion Scouts,” muttered Kevin.

  When no one seemed interested in nail polish and colors, Brandi moved on to other things.

  “I think Scouts should learn about dating,” she said. “I mean, something practical that we can all use. Stuff they don’t teach you in school.”

  A hush fell over the noisy group. Mary Beth raised her hand. When Brandi didn’t respond, she said, “We’re only seven. We don’t date.”

  “My mom wouldn’t like it if we had to date in Pee Wee Scouts,” said Tim.

  Molly tried to picture a dating badge. What would be on it? Two people kissing?

  “Hey, I’d like that!” said Roger. “All the girls would be lining up to go on a date with me.”

  Brandi laughed and laughed at Roger’s words. “You are so funny!” she said.

  “That’s not funny, it’s gross!” said Tracy.

  Now Roger was telling his jokes, the same old jokes they had all heard a million times before. But Brandi was roaring at them. “I’d love to take you home with me,” she said to Roger as she wiped her eyes. “I could use a cute little brother like you.

  “Okay,” she said then. “We’ll skip the dating badge if it will cause a problem. Let’s think of som
ething else that would be fun.”

  Mrs. Peters never tried to think of something “fun,” thought Molly. She planned ahead and came in and said things like “Today I’m going to tell you about the badge we’ll earn next, for skiing.” Or for baby-sitting or visiting a nursing home or walking dogs. It was clear that Brandi did not know what she was doing.

  “I think I’ve got it!” Brandi snapped her fingers, showing off her bright blue nail polish. “I’ll bet you kids would like to do slimeball art.”

  CHAPTER

  5

  One Slimy Mess

  “Once when I was in Scouts, a long time ago, we made stuff out of newspaper that had been soaked in water mixed with flour. It got all gooey and slimy and it felt real cool. We shaped it into, like, dolls and spaceships and things. Some kids even made little pretend lipsticks. After it dried, we painted it. Some of it looked really real, like the little red apples and green veggies my friend Bunny made.”

  Brandi would have a friend named Bunny, thought Molly. There was a mixed reaction as the Pee Wees considered Brandi’s idea.

  “Hey, neat! I’d make a computer, or a robot,” said Roger.

  “Ms.—I mean Brandi,” said Ashley. “I don’t think that’s a real Scout thing. I mean it isn’t helping anyone or anything.”

  “It sounds like kindergarten,” said Rachel.

  “I want to make grubworms and snakes,” said Sonny. “And maybe a dinosaur or a whale.”

  “I’ll get the stuff, then,” said Brandi, standing up and jingling some money around in her pocket. “I’ve got some supply money here. I’ll just run across the street to the store and get what we need. Roger can come with me and help.”

  After telling the Pee Wees to sit down and think about what they wanted to make, Brandi ran out the door with Roger. He pretended to trip her, and Brandi said, “You little scamp!”

  “She didn’t even let us vote!” said Jody. “The Pee Wees are supposed to be democratic.”

  “She didn’t pay any attention to what I said,” said Ashley.

  “She is definitely not a good leader,” said Rachel. “Don’t you have to go to school or something to be a Scout leader?”

  “She’s just a substitute,” said Tracy. “Maybe there are no classes for that.”

  Molly felt like pouting. The Pee Wees had been forced into doing Brandi’s slimeball project. At least Roger was gone, and Sonny was the only one really acting up. And even he wasn’t so bad when he didn’t have his partner in crime. Some of the Pee Wees were doing what Brandi had said to do, thinking about what they would make.

  But more of them were upset because they had not been asked what they wanted to do. Just forced into doing baby stuff. School stuff. Stuff that didn’t help anyone or even earn them a badge.

  “She didn’t even mention Halloween,” grumbled Mary Beth.

  “Well, we could make pumpkins out of the gooey paper,” said Kenny. “And some witches and spooks.”

  “It’s not the same,” said Jody, who rarely complained. “Halloween should be planned. We shouldn’t have to think of it ourselves.”

  “We could leave,” said Mary Beth. “And just go home.”

  Everyone thought about that.

  “I think we should go on strike,” said Tim. “Like my mom’s office did.”

  “You strike for more money,” said Rachel. “We don’t get any money from Scouts.”

  “We could strike to get Mrs. Peters back,” said Ashley. “We could say we won’t come to the meetings till she comes back.”

  “I could make those picket signs!” said Tim. “I could cross out the writing on my mom’s and write ‘Come Back, Mrs. Peters’ instead. If any Pee Wees crossed the picket line, they’d be arrested.”

  Molly was getting nervous. All this talk of striking and quitting scared her. The Pee Wees were about getting along. Strikes and quitting felt like fighting. Not Scout-like at all.

  Besides, the Pee Wees were like a family. Quitting would be like getting a divorce. Or having an argument. And Molly hated arguments and fighting and divorce. No, they had to all hang in there together.

  “Mrs. Peters is bound to come back soon,” said Molly. “Maybe we should make the best of it and pretend this paper stuff is fun.”

  A few Pee Wees groaned.

  “I suppose you’re right,” said Patty.

  “Besides, what would we do on Tuesdays?” said Molly.

  Before long, Brandi and Roger were back. The Pee Wees could hear Roger sliding down the hall and shouting. And they heard Brandi’s giggle. They came in carrying flour and pails and lots of old newspapers. Roger had some of the flour in his hair. Molly wondered how he had managed that, when the bag was sealed shut.

  “We had to go to my house to get our old newspapers,” said Roger.

  Brandi didn’t waste any time now that they had decided what to do. She sent a few Pee Wees to the rest room to fill the pails with water. Then she dumped in some flour and stirred the gooey mixture with a long spoon.

  “I forget if you put anything else in,” she said, frowning. “I guess just the newspapers.”

  Roger and Tim and Sonny tore up paper and tossed it into the pails. Some splashed out and got on the table. And on the floor. And on the boys.

  “Yuck!” said Rachel. “My mom isn’t going to like me ruining my new jeans. We really need aprons.”

  “We can be careful,” said Brandi, stirring and splashing. She looked as if she was having a better time than the Pee Wees.

  “Now!” she said. “Dig in!”

  The Pee Wees dug in.

  “Is it supposed to be this wet?” asked Ashley. “We can’t make stuff out of this!” The water ran down her arms, and the wet newspaper clung to them. Drip, drip, drip went the mess onto the floor.

  Brandi frowned. “It just needs more flour,” she said, adding some.

  The mixture was still thin and wet, but now it had white lumps in it. Big white lumps on the paper.

  Jody was trying to make a dog, but the legs fell off in a mushy puddle.

  Sonny’s grubworm stayed together because it did not have any extra parts.

  Soon there was so much flour and water and paper on the floor that the Pee Wees began to slip and slide and fall down.

  “Hey, a skating rink! We’ve got a skating rink here!” shouted Roger.

  “I have a feeling we’re going to be in trouble,” said Mary Beth, who had dried flour on her shirt and face. When the flour dried, it made things stiff.

  “A Scout leader is supposed to avoid things like this,” said Rachel.

  But when they looked at Brandi, she was helping Roger make a spaceship. She didn’t seem to notice the mess in the room. Molly wondered what Brandi’s room at home looked like. Did she live in a pigpen?

  “This stuff is like really slimy, wet Play-Doh!” said Tracy. “The stuff my little four-year-old brother plays with!”

  As Sonny was trying to shape his dinosaur, it slipped from his hands and shot across the table, hitting Roger on the neck.

  “Hey!” shouted Roger, turning around. “Quit that!” Then he threw a ball of the slimy dough back at Sonny.

  “Hey, a food fight, a food fight!” shouted Tim, joining in. Before long, slimy dough was flying through the air. Now even Brandi wasn’t laughing at Roger. She tried to clap her hands, but they were so wet and slimy they just slid apart without a sound.

  And then the door opened, and the mayor walked in. Behind him was Mrs. Stone, Sonny’s mother, the assistant Pee Wee Scout leader.

  CHAPTER

  6

  Cleanup Time

  Their timing was very bad. Just as they entered the room, Roger threw a ball of slimy dough that missed Sonny and hit the mayor right on the ear. From there it bounced onto Mrs. Stone’s pink blouse, leaving a dirty wet ring. The blouse was slippery, and the ball of slime kept sliding down the front of Mrs. Stone until it landed with a plop on one of her suede shoes.

  Molly felt as if she were in school
and the principal had come in. But this was even worse than the principal. This was the mayor of the whole town! He probably had the power to lock them all up in the city jail!

  Mrs. Stone gave the Pee Wees a hard stare. It was a Mrs. Peters stare. It meant trouble.

  “Let’s clean up this mess at once,” she said. The Pee Wees did. When they were all busy cleaning up and wringing out and wiping off, Mrs. Stone and the mayor asked Brandi to step out into the hall with them. When they returned, Brandi was not with them.

  “This room is cleaner now than it was to begin with,” said Rachel, wiping up the last of the water on the floor.

  “That’s because we’re all worn out from work,” grumbled Roger. “Look at my hands; they’re all rough and red.”

  “Poor Roger,” laughed Mary Beth. “He has dishpan hands!”

  When every bit of slimy paper was gone and the room shone, the mayor left. Mrs. Stone explained that it was not the Pee Wees’ fault this disaster had occurred.

  “I guess we all miss Mrs. Peters,” she said.

  “Let’s write her a letter,” said Kevin, “and tell her to come home.”

  “I’m sure she’ll come home as soon as she can,” said Mrs. Stone. “But I think she’d love a letter from the Pee Wees.”

  Sonny’s mother passed out paper with lines on it and told them how to spell some words that might give them trouble.

  At the top of her paper, Molly wrote in big letters, “PEE WEES FOREVER.” Then she wrote, “Come home, Mrs. Peters. We need you a lot.”

  Molly noticed that Roger was writing about the slimeball meeting. “We couldn’t make anything because the paper got all wet and ishy,” Molly read.

  “I’m going to tell her she’s the best Pee Wee leader in the country,” said Jody.

  “In the world!” said Patty.

  “We won’t cause any trouble at our meetings if you come back,” wrote Molly. “We won’t run around or yell or fight and we’ll make Roger behave too.”

  When everyone was finished, Mrs. Stone collected the letters. Sonny’s had holes in the paper from erasing. Mrs. Stone put them all into a brown envelope and wrote an address on a label.