Greedy Groundhogs Read online

  “This isn’t exactly groundhog food,” said Kevin.

  “It’s better than groundhog food,” said Tim. “It’s people food. Any animal likes people food.”

  Tim was right, thought Molly. Lucky, Mrs. Peters’s mascot dog, loved it when he could share a Pee Wee cupcake. What groundhog could turn down pepperoni pizza?

  The Pee Wees put the food out on paper plates that Patty had brought. Then they hid in the garage for ten minutes. When they came out, the food was still there.

  “Rat’s knees!” said Molly. “We will have to leave it overnight. We can look tomorrow and I’ll bet we’ll see him eating breakfast.”

  The Pee Wees sighed and started home. They were all bone tired. This badge was definitely not easy. And it was definitely not fast.

  But nothing hard had ever stopped the Pee Wee Scouts.

  CHAPTER 5

  Bigger than a Basement

  “You look all tuckered out!” said Molly’s mother when Molly got home.

  “And you look like you have been digging to China!” said her dad.

  Molly wondered if her dad knew how close to the truth he came.

  Molly took her bath before dinner. After dinner she was going to think about groundhogs. And the unbadge. And what to do about both of them. Instead, she fell asleep.

  No one was up in time to check Tim’s backyard before school. But after school all the Pee Wees were there.

  “Some of the food is gone!” said Tim.

  “But we didn’t see who ate it,” said Rachel. “It could have been a squirrel or a rabbit.”

  “All our digging was wasted,” sighed Mary Beth.

  “All that work for nothing,” agreed Molly.

  “Tim could plant a garden,” said Rachel.

  “That won’t get me the dumb groundhog badge,” Tim said.

  That night it rained hard.

  Molly could hear the drops beat against her windows.

  In the morning Molly wore her raincoat over a sweater to school. Tim was on the playground waiting for her. He was smiling.

  “I’ve got the best unbadge house thing of all,” he told her. “Better than Sonny’s dumb pole and better than Rachel’s garden or Kevin’s sewing box.”

  “What is it?” asked Molly.

  “I’m not telling. It’s a surprise.”

  “Are you bringing it to our scout meeting on Tuesday?” asked Molly.

  “I can’t. It’s too big. It’s bigger than anyone’s. It’s bigger than my basement!”

  “Rat’s knees, tell me!” demanded Molly.

  “Come over after school and bring all the Pee Wees,” he said.

  After school the Pee Wees scrambled to get to the Noons’ house first.

  “What do you think it is?” asked Mary Beth.

  “I don’t know, but I hope it’s something his family can use,” said Molly.

  When they got there Tim was waiting. He led them back to the place where they had dug for groundhogs.

  “Look!” he said, pointing.

  The Pee Wees looked.

  “There’s water in the hole we dug,” said Roger. “So what?”

  Tim stamped his foot. “That’s not just water,” he said. “That’s my swimming pool! I’ll bet no one else made a swimming pool for their house!”

  The Pee Wees had to admit, no one had.

  After a little while Rachel said, “I think swimming pools have cement in the bottom.”

  “Don’t need it,” said Tim.

  “My uncle’s pool has a deck around it, with lawn chairs and umbrellas,” said Mary Beth.

  “I’ve got umbrellas,” said Tim. “I’ll put chairs and umbrellas next to it when I’m ready. I told you mine was bigger than a basement!”

  Molly felt like laughing, but at least Tim had something for his house, she thought. She had nothing!

  “Come over tomorrow and bring your swimsuits,” said Tim.

  “Ha, Noon, I’m not diving in that mud,” said Roger. “Besides, it’s too cold. We’ll get pneumonia!”

  Tim looked like he would cry.

  “I’ll come!” said Molly. She hated to hurt Tim’s feelings. She didn’t think her mother would approve, but she could put her swim-suit on under her clothes. If it was too cold she could swim with her jacket on!

  “So will I,” said Mary Beth, feeling sorry for Tim.

  The rest of the Pee Wees finally agreed that they would come.

  The next day the sun was out and it was warmer. But not warm enough to swim, Roger said.

  “This is really dumb,” said Rachel on the way to Tim’s.

  “It’s not dumb if it makes Tim feel good,” said Molly.

  The Pee Wees ran to Tim’s backyard and took off their jackets and clothes. They were shivering in their swimsuits as they lined up along the edge of his pool. But when they were ready to jump in and swim, they noticed something. The water was gone! There was no pool. There was just a hole in the ground.

  Tim was sitting in an old lawn chair under an umbrella that had blown inside out. He was crying.

  “It’s gone,” he cried. “My pool is gone.”

  “Water soaks into the ground,” said Rachel. “You need concrete.”

  “The sun came out and dried it up,” said Kevin.

  Tim threw himself on the ground and moaned. The Pee Wees tried to cheer him up, but he got up and ran inside his house and slammed the door. The Pee Wees took their beach towels and started for home.

  Molly felt terrible. Tim had no project, and neither did she.

  “What’s a three-letter word that means Santa’s helper?” asked Tracy on the way home.

  Molly was in no mood to think of crosswords for Tracy. She had other things on her mind. Important things.

  “I wish she’d finish that book her aunt gave her,” grumbled Mary Beth.

  “It will take years,” said Molly. “It’s really thick and she hasn’t done very many.”

  “What’s a Santa’s helper?” Tracy repeated.

  “Elf,” said Molly. “That’s simple.”

  Tracy wrote it in.

  All of a sudden Molly stopped and stood as still as a statue.

  “Look!” she whispered, pointing. “Look what is under that tree in the park!”

  CHAPTER 6

  Close Enough

  The Pee Wees did not move. They saw an animal standing next to a tree.

  He was a brownish color.

  He had a bushy tail.

  He had small ears and whiskers.

  “It’s him!” shouted Sonny. “It’s my groundhog!”

  “Shh,” whispered Molly. “You’ll scare him away.”

  “There’s no shadow!” whispered Mary Beth.

  There was no spot on the ground beside the groundhog. “He is standing there! It must be spring!” Lisa said excitedly.

  “It might not be a groundhog,” said Kevin reasonably.

  “It might be a squirrel,” said Roger. “I’ve seen a brown squirrel before.”

  “It’s a groundhog,” said Mary Beth firmly. “It’s the same shape as in the picture in the encyclopedia.”

  Some of the Pee Wees wrote in their notebooks. Molly wrote down the day and the time and the place and what he looked like. Then she drew a little picture.

  She finished her notes just in time. Kenny stepped on a twig and it made a snapping noise. The groundhog ran down into his hole.

  “Rat’s knees!” shouted Molly. “We did it! We saw the groundhog. Everyone but Tim saw it.”

  “It may not have been a groundhog,” said Roger. “We didn’t get close enough to tell.”

  The other Pee Wees all sprang on him.

  “Of course it was!” said Tracy.

  “It was brown and had a bushy tail,” said Rachel.

  “It was eating corn,” said Molly.

  Roger walked over to the tree. He picked something up.

  “This is an old cookie,” he said. “It doesn’t say in the book that groundhogs eat cookies.”r />
  Molly stamped her foot. “No book lists every kind of food that a groundhog will eat,” she said. “If you show a groundhog a cookie he’ll eat it.”

  But some of the Pee Wees were doubtful.

  “We can never be positively sure,” said Molly, frowning at Roger.

  “No groundhog is going to wear a little sign around his neck, saying I AM A GROUNDHOG,” said Rachel.

  “You can’t prove it’s a real one,” said Roger.

  “You can’t prove it isn’t!” said Lisa back.

  “I say it’s a groundhog,” said Mary Beth.

  “And I say if it isn’t, it’s close enough,” said Molly.

  Right now Molly was tired of looking and a “make do” groundhog was all right with her. But she knew this one was real. And if it wasn’t, it was close enough.

  The Pee Wees all started for home. Molly and Mary Beth walked together.

  “Too bad Tim didn’t see it,” said Molly.

  “You know, it could have been a squirrel,” said Mary Beth.

  “It was a groundhog,” said Molly loudly. “And that’s that.”

  Molly ran to her house. She was glad to have the groundhog behind her. She could get the badge with the others. Now if only she had her unbadge!

  As she ran up her front steps her mother was coming out to shake the rugs.

  “It’s spring!” said Molly to her mother. “We saw a groundhog outside!”

  Her mother smiled. “Good,” she said. “It feels like spring. If we had a barbecue grill I’d make our supper on it tonight!”

  Her mother’s words gave Molly an idea. A grill was something for the house. It was something her family could use. Where could she get one?

  Molly ran into the house and called Rachel. Rachel knew about a lot of things. She told Rachel her problem.

  “I have an idea,” Rachel said. “I’ll be right over.”

  When she got there she said, “You know, a barbecue grill is just a big pan with something on top to put the hot dogs on.”

  The girls ran to the garage. There were loose boards and rakes and scraps of metal.

  “What’s this?” demanded Rachel. She picked up an old trash-can cover. “It would be a good barbecue! And I know what to put on top. Follow me.”

  The girls went over to Rachel’s house. They ran down into her basement.

  “Here!” she said. Rachel held up an old oven rack. “It’s from our old stove,” she said. “I’ll ask my mom if we can take it.”

  “Yes,” said Mrs. Meyers. “We don’t have that stove anymore.”

  The girls dashed back to Molly’s, and Rachel set the rack on top of the trash-can cover. “You put the charcoal right under here,” said Rachel.

  “It’s perfect,” said Molly. She threw her arms around her friend and thanked her.

  “I wish I had thought of that,” said Rachel. “But we have a gas barbecue in the backyard. I guess we don’t need a charcoal one too.”

  After Rachel left, Molly took the rack and cover down to the basement and washed them. When her dad came home from work she ran and showed her parents.

  “Do you need this cover for anything?” asked Molly.

  “I think we need it for our supper!” said her dad, smiling. “I’ll get some charcoal and try it out!”

  “What an imagination you have,” said her mother. “We just talked about the grill and here it is ready to use tonight!”

  Mr. Duff came home from the store with charcoal and hot dogs. He set the grill on some piled-up rocks in the backyard. He made a fire and the family roasted their hot dogs on Molly’s grill. Molly roasted her hot dog on a long stick over the grill so she could pretend she was at a campfire.

  “Yum,” said Molly. “These taste like a picnic.”

  “The first one of the year, thanks to Molly!” said her dad.

  Molly was tired out from the long day’s work. She fell asleep as soon as she got into bed. She had no more badges or unbadges to worry about for now. She only wished that Tim had been with them when they had seen the groundhog. And that he had something for his house instead of the pool without water.

  CHAPTER 7

  Seven Letters Meaning Fun

  At the meeting on Tuesday there was a lot of bumping and banging. And clinging and clanging. Some of the noise was Molly’s grill bumping around in a big plastic bag.

  But first of all Mrs. Peters wanted to hear groundhog news. And everyone could give it.

  “It was brown and had a bushy tail,” shouted Lisa.

  “It had small ears and whiskers and it didn’t see its own shadow,” said Patty.

  “It could have been a squirrel,” said Roger.

  The Pee Wees all made a dive for Roger. Arms and legs flew. There was some scrambling on the floor.

  Mrs. Peters held her hand up.

  She waited until they all sat down again.

  “I’m sure it was a groundhog,” she said. “It sounds just like one.”

  “And if it wasn’t, it was close enough,” said Rachel.

  “Too bad Tim didn’t see him,” whispered Mary Beth.

  But Tim was waving something in the air.

  “Mrs. Peters!” he shouted. “I took a picture of my groundhog. He was in my swimming pool.”

  So Tim had seen the groundhog without them!

  Tim passed the picture around. It was blurry, as if the camera had moved, thought Molly. And the groundhog was very far away.

  “I can’t tell what this thing is,” said Roger.

  “It looks like it has long ears,” said Rachel.

  “Hey, I’ll bet Tim’s groundhog is a rabbit!” shouted Sonny.

  Molly looked at the picture. “It looks like a groundhog to me,” she said. She wanted groundhogs to be over and done with. She wanted Tim to get the badge too. He did not need to know that his groundhog was a rabbit. His feeling good was more important than the truth.

  When all the groundhog talk was over, Molly showed her barbecue grill to the group. “And we used it already,” she said. “It really works. Rachel helped me make it.”

  “You have to be careful with fire,” said Mrs. Peters. “Grills can be dangerous things. Be sure your parents are there before you light it.”

  Molly nodded. Everyone knew fire was dangerous. She wished their leader hadn’t brought that up now. It seemed to take a little of the excitement away from her project, which was perfectly safe.

  “That was very inventive, Molly,” said Mrs. Peters.

  Molly felt better. Her feelings were more easily hurt than the others’, she thought. She would have to try to be less sensitive.

  Tim was waving his hand. “Guess what? I’ve got something better than a pool at my house! My mom said the swimming pool would make a real good garden. I shoveled the dirt back and I’m going to plant seeds there when it gets warm.”

  Molly wanted to give Tim a big hug. He had done it himself. He had found a way to make the pool work. But she couldn’t give Tim a hug, because the others would tease her. And Tim would hate it. And Roger would call her Tim’s girlfriend.

  Lisa showed the Pee Wees her toothbrush holder, and Tracy showed off a painted wooden fish that could hold keys.

  “What creative people are in Troop 23!” said Mrs. Peters. “And now I think it is time to give out our groundhog badges that all of you worked so hard for.”

  Their leader was right. The Pee Wees had worked hard. Very hard.

  “Worked hard!” repeated Baby Nick from his playpen.

  Mrs. Stone came downstairs with the furry little groundhog badges in her hand. The Pee Wees jumped up and down, waiting. The more badges Molly got, the more excited she was.

  Mrs. Stone called out the names one by one and Mrs. Peters pinned the badges on the Pee Wees’ shirts as they came up.

  “This is my favorite badge,” said Molly, petting the furry little groundhog. The latest badge she’d gotten was usually her favorite. Especially if there was an animal on it.

  The Pee Wees
did not have any good deeds to report.

  “We were too busy with our badge and our unbadge,” said Tracy.

  “Next time,” said their leader. “And now we’ll have our treats.”

  There was a special treat today. It was a big, big cake with a badge on it. But this badge was not real. It was made of frosting. A fat and round groundhog with long whiskers was on the badge.

  “Hey, I’ve got an eye!” shouted Roger, gobbling it down.

  “I’ve got his leg,” said Lisa.

  “Here goes his tail,” said Sonny, popping it into his mouth.

  Molly was just glad the groundhog they were eating was frosting and not the real thing. She remembered Mrs. Peters telling them that groundhog was tasty meat—meat someone could put on a barbecue like hers!

  Each scout had a big piece of cake. Nick did too. Afterward they helped clean up. Then they joined hands and sang the Pee Wee Scout song and said the Pee Wee Scout pledge.

  Right in the middle of the pledge Tracy frowned and said, “What is a seven-letter word for fun?”

  Everyone broke into laughter.

  Roger groaned. “When is she going to finish that puzzle book?” he asked.

  “This is a brand-new one,” said Tracy. “My aunt just gave it to me last night.”

  Now all the Pee Wees moaned.

  “My word starts with a P and it means fun.”

  “I know what it is,” said Molly. “There’s only one word it can be. The best word for fun is ‘Pee Wees’!”

  “Pee Wees!” shouted Nick.

  Molly looked around the room at all of her friends and smiled.

  Pee Wees forever, thought Molly.

  Scouts are helpers, Scouts have fun

  Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!

  We sing and play when work is done,

  Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!

  With a good deed here,

  And an errand there,

  Here a hand, there a hand,

  Everywhere a good hand.

  Scouts are helpers, Scouts have fun,

  Pee Wee, Pee Wee Scouts!

  Pee Wee Scout Pledge

  We love our country

  And our home,