The bed squeaked, like someone turning over; then he heard his mother's voice: “Who is it?” She sounded sleepy.
“It's Wally,” he said, and opened the door a crack. “Can I come in?”
“What's the matter, Wally?” she asked.
Wally came over to the bed. “The Malloy girls are downstairs,” he said. “Caroline saw something. We all did.”
Mrs. Hatford rose up on one elbow. “What do you mean, Caroline saw something? You know the imagination that girl has! Wally, it's almost two in the morning!”
“We saw some men go in the school.”
Mr. Hatford gave a loud grumbling snort. “Whuzzat?” he said.
“It's Wally, dear,” said his wife. “All the kids are downstairs, and they think they saw something.” She turned back to Wally. “So how do you know they weren't teachers?”
“I don't. But they sneaked up on the roof after Officer Clay left and took the keys from the principal's pants. We watched them. Then they took the keys and went inside the school.”
Mr. Hatford threw off the covers and swung his feet over the side of the bed.
“Where are they now?”
“They're still in the school, I think.”
Wally's father reached for his robe and, with Wally and Mrs. Hatford behind him, hurried down the stairs to the kitchen, where the other kids were sitting. He bellowed like a bull when none of the six could give him a good description of the men but was pleased that Wally had noticed their white Nikes.
Everyone listened as they sat around the kitchen table with Mr. Hatford as he made a call on his police radio.
“Bogdan?” he said. “My kids say two men stole the principal's keys and are over in the school right now. Do you read me?”
The police radio crackled. “Roger,” said Sergeant Bogdan. “Officer Clay is only two blocks away from the school right now. I'll send him over.”
“You may need a backup,” said Mr. Hatford. “My guess is they're after the computers. I can be there in three minutes.”
“Won't be necessary. I've got Frank only a mile away. We've got it covered. Stay right there, Tom. We may want more information from those kids.”
Mrs. Hatford made cocoa for everyone while Jake and the others described everything they had seen. Minutes went by.
Then the radio crackled again.
“Can the kids give us a good description of the men?” asked Sergeant Bogdan.
“Fat, thin, tall, short, dark hair, cap … you name it,” said Mr. Hatford. “No two of them can agree. But both men were wearing white Nikes.”
There were the sounds of several voices now. Officer Clay's radio was transmitting as well. There were shouts. More noise. More shouts. And finally Officer Clay announced that he and Frank Miller had cornered two men in the computer room in the school library and had them under arrest.
“So what have you got?” Mr. Hatford asked.
This time Frank Miller answered. “Well, there are two middle-aged men, medium height, pudgy, white—”
“What about hair?” asked Wally's father.
“Both of 'em bald as a cue ball,” came the answer. Mr. Hatford laughed. “So much for the star witnesses.”
“But one had on a cap,” said Officer Clay.
“I said he was wearing a cap!” said Eddie.
Now it was Sergeant Bogdan again. “You said Caroline Malloy saw him first. Is she still there, by chance?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Hatford.
“Put her on, would you?”
Mr. Hatford showed Caroline how to use the police radio.
“Hello?” she said.
“Good job, Caroline,” said Sergeant Bogdan. “You've got a sharp eye to catch what you saw in the dark, and saved the school a heap of money. They had four computers all stacked up, ready to go.”
“Thank you!” said Caroline airily, in as queenlike a fashion as she could manage. But then she surprised everyone when she said, “It was the boys who knew what to do, though. It was Jake who said we should go get his dad.”
“Well, all of you get the credit, then. I can almost forgive what you did to my police station,” Sergeant Bogdan said, laughing. “You kids get some sleep now. It'll all be in the news tomorrow.”
“But … but … shouldn't we stay up and wait for the photographer?” Caroline asked in dismay.
Sergeant Bogdan laughed again. “I'm not waking up any photographer over these two losers,” he said. “I'll call in a report myself, but you'll get your name in the paper along with the others, don't you worry.”
The next day it was indeed in the news. And when the Hatford boys and the Malloy girls got to school, there was the principal sitting on the roof in his pajamas, eating his Wheaties. He was reading the morning paper, which contained the story of all that had happened while he was asleep. Again and again that day Caroline and her sisters and Wally and his brothers had to tell about the excitement of the night before, and even Mr. Bailey asked questions about it at baseball practice.
After dinner that evening, as the Hatford boys were doing their homework around the dining room table, the Malloy girls rang the bell. Wally answered.
“We've got news!” Caroline said as the girls trooped in.
“Yeah?” Wally said. “What's up?” His brothers came into the living room, glad of a little break. But Wally didn't like the look in Beth's eyes.
“Guess what?” Beth said, hardly able to contain herself. “You know what day this is? The last day of April! And I just got a phone call from a man up near Philippi who said he found my bottle! So I'm Queen for a Day! Beginning tomorrow!”
The boys groaned.
“Yeah?” said Jake. “How do we know you're telling the truth? How do we know the bottle wasn't found right here in Buckman?”
“Because I got his phone number, and you can check with him yourself,” Beth said.
“Okay,” said Jake, “but how do we know that was one of the bottles we all started with? What did he say was in it?”
Beth's eyes narrowed with delight. “A matchbox cover! Right?”
Jake groaned again. “Right.”
There was no getting around the fact that a deal was a deal and that Beth was now queen. The girls seated themselves on the couch, but the Hatford boys flopped down on the living room rug and prepared for the worst.
“Okay,” said Jake, resigned. “What do we have to do?”
“I've made a list,” said Beth, and pulled it out of her pocket. “If you think you worked us hard at the police station, Jake, wait till you see what I'm going to make you do!”
Jake looked helplessly around at his brothers while Beth began reading her list aloud: “Wash all my sneakers, type my book report, check my math homework, polish my toenails, mend my jeans, paint my bookcase, transplant my ivy, clean out my goldfish bowl, give me a perm, build me a—”
She was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone, and Wally reached behind him and picked it up.
“Could I speak with Peter?” a girl asked.
“Peter! For yoooouuuu! A giiirrrlll!” Wally teased, holding the phone out in front of him.
With a quizzical look, Peter got up from the floor and took the phone.
“Ohhhh, Peter!” Jake cooed.
“Hello?” Peter said.
Everyone was quiet while he listened. Beth took the opportunity to scribble another chore on her list.
“Yeah?” said Peter into the phone. Then, “What?” Then, “Yeah?” again.
He stopped and looked at the others. “It's a girl,” he said. “She just found my bottle. She was walking her dog.”
“Where?” everyone asked at once.
Peter put the phone to his ear again.
“Where?” he asked. He listened, then said to the others, “Up near Tygart Lake.”
“Tygart Lake!” cried Josh. “Way up there?”
“Peter, your bottle went farthest of all!” said Jake. “You're King for a Day.”
Peter put the
phone down on the table, a grin spreading slowly across his face.
“Hello?” came a voice from the phone.
Caroline grabbed it. “Hello,” she said. “Can you tell me what else was in the bottle?” She waited. “Oh …. Yes, it's a button, all right. A Girl Scout button. Thanks.” And she hung up.
Beth looked around the room in dismay. “But I had it all figured out. I knew exactly what I wanted each of you to do.”
“That's the way the ball bounces,” said Jake.
“That's the way the cookie crumbles,” said Josh.
“Oh, well,” said Eddie. “We have the baseball games to look forward to next month.”
“And there will always be another time to be queen, Beth, though I don't know just when it will be,” said Caroline.
“So, Peter, what do you want us to do?” said Jake. “We're your servants! Your slaves!” He knelt dramatically and touched his head to the floor.
Peter giggled. “Ride me around on your shoulders and I'll tell you,” he said.
Jake waited while Peter climbed on, and, once up in the air, Peter took the yardstick Josh handed him to use as his scepter.
As Jake moved slowly about the room with Peter on his shoulders, Peter touched each person on the head with the yardstick and gave a command.
To Eddie he said, “Bake me a double batch of chocolate brownies.”
To Beth he said, “Bake me a great big giant batch of chocolate chip cookies.”
“Peter, you're going to get sick,” Wally warned, but Peter ignored him. He touched Caroline on the forehead with the yardstick and said, “Make me a great big pan of chocolate marshmallow fudge.”
“What about us?” said Jake. “What do we have to do?”
Peter thought about it.
“For a whole day,” he said, “you have to take me everywhere you go and let me do whatever you do.”
“Easy,” said Jake, grinning.
“You have to let me read all your comic books and play all your computer games.”
“It's a deal,” said Wally, thinking how easy they were getting off.
“I get to borrow your skateboards and your felt-tip pens and your baseball cards and your binoculars.”
“Is that all?” said Wally.
“I get all your leftover Halloween candy,” said Peter.
“Sold!” said Jake.
“And one more thing,” said Peter, holding tightly to Jake's forehead so that he couldn't be dropped. “You've got to clean out my closet.”
“No!” cried Jake and Josh and Wally together.
“A deal's a deal!” said Eddie. “Peter is King for a Day.”
“That's the way the ball bounces,” said Beth.
“That's the way the cookie crumbles,” said Caroline.
The Boys Start the War
Just when the Hatford brothers are expecting three boys to move into the huse across the river where their best friends used to live, the Malloy girls arrive instead. Wally and his brothers decide to make Caroline and her sisters so miserable that they'll want to go back to Ohio, but they haven't counted on the ingenuity of the girls. From dead fish to dead bodies, floating cakes to floating heads, the pranks continue—first by the boys, then by the girls—until someone is taken prisoner!
The Girls Get Even
Still smarting from the boys' latest trick, the girls are determined to get even. Caroline is thrilled to play the part of Goblin Queen in the school play, especially since Wally Hatford has to be her footman. The boys, however, have a creepy plan for Halloween night. They're certain the girls will walk right into their trap. Little do the boys know what the Malloy sisters have in store.
Boys Against Girls
Abaguchie mania! Caroline Malloy shivers happily when her on-again, off-again enemy Wally Hatford tells her that the remains of a strange animal known as the abaguchie have been spotted in their area. Wally swears Caroline to secrecy and warns her not to search by herself. But Caroline will do anything to find the secret of the bones.
The Girls' Revenge
Christmas is coming, but Caroline Malloy and Wally Hatford aren't singing carols around the tree. Instead, these sworn enemies must interview each other for the dreaded December class project. Caroline, as usual, has a trick up her sleeve that's sure to shock Wally. In the meantime, Wally and his brothers find a way to spy on the Malloy girls at home. The girls vow to get revenge on those sneaky Hatfords with a trap the boys won't soon forget.
A Traitor Among the Boys
The Hatford boys make a New Year's resolution to treat the Malloy girls like sisters. But who says you can't play tricks on sisters? The girls will need to stay one step ahead of the boys and are willing to pay big-time for advance information. Homemade cookies should be all it takes to make a traitor spill the beans. In the meantime, Caroline is delighted with her role in the town play. Don't ask how Beth, Josh, and Wally get roped into it—just wait until showtime, when Caroline pulls her wildest stunt yet!
A Spy Among the Girls
Valentine's Day is coming up, and love is in the air for Beth Malloy and Josh Hatford. When they're spotted holding hands, Josh tells his teasing brothers that he's simply spying on the girls to see what they're plotting next. At the same time, Caroline Malloy, the family actress, decides she must know what it's like to fall in love. Poor Wally Hatford is in for it when she chooses him as the object of her affection!
The Boys Return
It's spring break, and the only assignment Wally Hatford and Caroline Malloy have is to do something they've never done before. Wally's sure that will be a cinch, because the mighty Benson brothers are coming. It will be nonstop action all the way. For starters, the nine Benson and Hatford boys plan to scare the three Malloy sisters silly by convincing them that their house is haunted. Meanwhile, everyone in town has heard that there's a hungry cougar on the prowl. When the kids decide to take a break from their tricks and join forces to catch the cougar, guess who gets stuck with the scariest job?
The Girls Take Over
The Hatford boys and the Malloy girls are ready to outdo each other again. Eddie is the first girl ever to try out for the school baseball team. Now she and Jake are vying for the same position, while Caroline and Wally compete to become class spelling champ. As if that's not enough, the kids decide to race bottles down the rising Buckman River to see whose will travel farthest by the end of the month. Of course, neither team trusts the other, and when the girls go down to the river to capture the boys' bottles, well … it looks as if those Malloy girls may be in over their heads this time!
Boys in Control
Wally Hatford always seems to get a raw deal. The rest of the family goes to the ball game, and he has to stay home to watch over a yard sale. Caroline Malloy writes a silly play for a school project, and he gets roped into costarring in it with her! Things are looking down, especially when the Malloy girls stumble across an embarrassing item from the boys' past. But Wally finally gets his chance to turn the table on the girls' scheme and prove who's really in control. Boys rule!
Girls Rule!
The rivalry between the Malloy sisters and the Hatford boys is heating up! The kids have two weeks to earn money for a fundraising contest. All those who collect twenty dollars or more for the new children's wing at the hospital can be in the annual Strawberry Festival Parade or get lots of strawberry treats. The only place Caroline wants to be is on the Strawberry Queen's float. How will she earn the money in time? Do the Hatfords have moneymaking secrets they're not telling the girls?
Boys Rock!
Wally Hatford dreams of long lazy days far away from school and Caroline Malloy. But Wally, the best speller among the Hatford brothers, gets roped into helping them with a summer newspaper project that will earn the twins school credit. What does that get Wally? When he hears scratching noises coming from Oldakers' bookstore cellar, Mr. Oldaker trusts him to keep a secret that could turn into a scoop for their newspaper. Wally worries that the secret may be too
scary to keep to himself. What's worse, the Malloy girls have horned in on the newspaper. If there's one person Wally won't spill his secret to, it's nutty Caroline Malloy. No matter what it is!
Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc., New York
Copyright © 2002 by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Song lyrics on page 83 adapted from “Nobody's Darling”
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eISBN: 978-0-307-52858-2
March 2004
v3.0
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, The Girls Take Over
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