“Now can I have my ring back?” she asked.
Judy and Stink came in out of the rain. They ate Fig Newtons and sipped hot chocolate with fancy straws.
“You really are psychic,” said Stink.
“Told you,” said Judy. She chomped on her cookie.
“I thought it was just another one of your tricks,” said Stink.
“Uh-huh.” Chomp, chomp.
“Toady came back. And you knew. You predicted it.”
“Uh-huh.”
“At first I didn’t believe you,” said Stink. “But then I saw the little black stripe.”
Judy’s Fig almost fell out of her Newton. “What little black stripe?”
“The little black stripe over Toady’s right eye. No other toads have it. Just Toady. That’s how I knew it was him.”
“Let me see that toad,” said Judy.
Stink took Toady out of the yogurt container. Dr. Judy Moody examined the toad like she was giving a checkup. Stink was right. He did have a little black stripe, just like Toady. Could it be?
She, Judy Moody, predicted that Toady came back, and . . . he did?
“You can have your mood ring back,” said Stink.
“Huh?”
“Your mood ring?” said Stink. “You were right. It really does belong to a person with superduper special powers. Here. Take it.” Stink wiggled the ring, but it was stuck.
“S is for Stuck!” said Stink. He held out his hand. “I can’t get it off! Ack!! My finger! It’s green!”
“Stink, it’s okay.”
“But you predicted my finger would turn green and fall off. Look! Now it is green! Hurry up. Before my finger falls off.”
“S is for Soap,” said Judy.
Judy took Stink over to the sink and soaped up his finger. She twirled the ring. She twisted the ring. She pulled the ring. She yanked the ring. POP!
“Mine at last,” said Madame M-for-Moody Judy.
On Monday morning, Judy Moody woke up early. What might have been a blucky old math-test Monday did not seem blucky one bit.
She did not put on her tiger-striped pajamas for school. She did not put on her I ATE A SHARK T-shirt. She put on her best-mood-ever clothes — purple striped pants, a not-itchy fuzzy green sweater with a star, and Screamin’ Mimi’s ice-cream-cone socks. And her mood ring.
Light blue! Light blue was the next best thing to purple. Light blue meant Happy, Glad. She was glad to have her ring back. She was happy with the world.
“Purr-fect!” she said to Mouse. Mouse rubbed up against her leg.
On the bus, she told good-mood jokes. “Why did the third grader eat so many corn flakes?” Judy asked her friend Rocky.
“I don’t know. Because all the snowflakes were melted?” asked Rocky.
“No!” said Judy. “To get a mood ring!” Judy cracked herself up.
She told jokes all the way to school. Stink plugged his ears. Rocky just shuffled his deck of magic cards.
“You’re not laughing at my jokes,” Judy complained.
“Um, I’m worried about Mr. Todd’s math test,” said Rocky. “Fractions!”
Normally Judy would have worried too. Not today. Her mood ring had just turned blue-green for Relaxed, Calm.
“Okay, class,” said Mr. Todd. “A new week. I know we have a few tests this week. Math test today. Spelling test on Wednesday. But don’t forget, we have a special visitor next week. Monday. One week from today. A real live author! She’s also an artist. She wrote and illustrated a book about crayons.”
“A baby book?” asked Rocky.
“I think you’ll find it interesting,” said Mr. Todd. “There’s so much to know about crayons.” Mr. Todd grinned. Since when did crayons make her teacher so happy?
In Reading, Mr. Todd read The Case of the Red-Eyed Mummy. Judy solved it before anyone else did.
When it came time to write a mystery in her journal, Judy wrote The Mystery of the Missing Mood Ring, in which she, Judy Moody, solved the case.
All morning, Judy raised her mood-ring hand, even when she didn’t know the answer.
Even Mr. Todd noticed the ring. “What’s that you’ve got there?” he asked Judy.
“A mood ring,” Judy said. “It predicts stuff. Like what mood you’re in.”
“Very nice,” said Mr. Todd. “Let’s hope everybody’s in the mood for the math test. Class 3T, put all books away, please.”
Judy leaned over and asked her friend Frank Pearl if he had studied his fractions.
“Yep,” said Frank. “But I’ll be half happy and half glad when it’s over.”
Judy looked over her shoulder at Jessica Finch. She looked Relaxed, Calm. Jessica Finch probably ate fractions for breakfast: 1/4 glass of orange juice, 1/2 piece of toast, 3/4 jar of strawberry jelly!
Judy took her time on the test. She did not bite off her Grouchy pencil eraser. She did not make grouchy faces at the math test. She was even Relaxed, Calm about making up a word problem.
At recess, everybody crowded around Judy. “Where’d you get that mood ring?”
“Ooh, let me try!”
Time to daze and amaze her friends.
“Who wants to go first?” asked Judy.
“Me me me me me!” Everybody pushed and shoved and begged.
“Wait,” said Judy. “Before anyone puts the ring on, I’m going to make a prediction.”
Judy looked at the chart that came with the mood ring. Amber meant Nervous, Tense. Rocky was nervous about the math test.
“Madame M predicts the ring will turn amber on Rocky,” said Judy. Rocky slid the ring onto his finger. It turned black.
“Madame M is W-R-O-N-G!” said Rocky.
“Just wait!” Judy said. “The mood ring doesn’t lie.” Everybody crowded around Rocky to watch. Slowly, it did turn amber, just like Judy said!
“How did you know?” asked Rocky.
“Madame M knows all,” said Judy. “I predict it will be light blue on Frank. I can feel it,” said Judy.
“Is blue sad?” asked Frank. “Because I don’t feel sad. And I don’t want to think of sad things. Like the time I didn’t have a club for my Me Collage and the time I was a human centipede and somebody broke my finger.”
“Boo-hoo. Dark blue is Unhappy, Sad. C’mon, just try the ring on!”
Frank slipped the ring onto his finger.
Judy crossed her fingers and whispered to herself, “Light blue, light blue, light blue.” Not a minute later the ring turned light blue.
“Same-same!” said Judy. “Light blue is Happy, Glad. That’s the color it turned on me, too.”
“Ooh-ooh! Frank got the same color as Judy!”
“Frank Pearl and Judy are in love!” everybody teased.
“Frank Pearl’s getting married. To Judy Moody! And he already has the ring!” Frank turned bright red. He practically threw the ring at Jessica Finch.
“I hope it’s pink on me,” said Jessica.
“There is no pink,” said Judy. “But there’s GREEN,” she said loudly to the ring.
Before Jessica could try the ring on, the bell rang and recess was over.
In Science, Mr. Todd was talking about weather and the world’s temperature rising. Judy sharpened her pencil with her mood-ring hand. She threw trash in the trash can with her mood-ring hand. She passed a note to Frank with her mood-ring hand.
Judy did not see Mr. Todd’s temperature rising!
“I wish I had a mood ring,” whispered Jessica Finch.
“You have to eat a lot of cereal,” Judy whispered back, a little too loudly.
“Judy, is there a problem?” asked Mr. Todd.
“No,” said Judy, sitting on her hands.
As soon as Mr. Todd turned back to the board, Judy played with her ring to make Jessica jealous. She twisted the ring. She twirled the ring. She spun the ring on her finger. It flew off, hit Mr. Todd’s desk, and landed at Mr. Todd’s feet.
Mr. Todd bent over and picked it up. “Judy,” he sa
id, “I’m afraid I’ll have to keep the ring for you until the end of the day.”
Judy turned one, two, three shades of red. Even Madame M had not predicted the mood ring would get her into trouble.
Mr. Todd slipped the ring onto the top of his index finger. He opened his desk drawer. As he put it away, Judy thought she caught a glimpse of color.
Could it be? No. Wait. Maybe. It was! YES! Judy was 3/4 sure. She was 9/10 sure. Mr. Todd might have the ring, but she, Judy Moody, had seen red. Red as in Red Hots. Red as in ruby slippers.
RARE squared!
That night, Judy met Frank at the library to study for the spelling test.
“Hey! You got your mood ring back from Mr. Todd,” said Frank when Judy arrived.
“Yes!” said Judy, holding up her hand to admire it. She would never, ever, not ever take her mood ring off again until it turned positively purple. Except at school, of course. Mr. Todd said no more mood rings at school. While she was at school, she would be sure to keep it safe. Hidden in her extra-special baby-tooth box.
“Speaking of Mr. Todd, have you seen the spelling words?” asked Frank. “They are hard, as in D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T!”
Judy looked at the list. “Woodbine! What in the world’s a woodbine?”
“Who knows?” asked Frank.
Frank went to get the big dictionary. He came back carrying it like it weighed a hundred pounds. They opened it on the table.
“‘Wood-bine,’ Judy read out loud. “‘A vine that wraps around trees.’”
“‘Also called Virginia creeper,’” read Frank.
“RARE!” said Judy.
“Creepy!” said Frank.
“I’m tired of studying,” said Judy.
“Tired?! We only learned one word!” said Frank.
“Let’s look at books,” said Judy.
Frank followed Judy down a long row of high shelves. “Ooh. What books are these? It’s all dark and dusty.”
“I hope there aren’t any Virginia-creepy vines around here,” said Judy in a spooky voice.
Frank found a book with pictures of bones and the creepy insides of stuff. “Body parts!” he said.
Judy went to find the librarian.
“What did you get?” Frank asked when she came back.
“Predict Your Head Off!” said Judy. “It’s all about people who predicted stuff about the future. Lynn helped me find it. She’s the cool librarian with the fork-and-pie earrings. Not the mad-face librarian.”
“Hey! It’s a Big Head book. I love those. How come they draw the people with such big heads, anyway?” Frank asked.
“Maybe it’s to hold all those big ideas about the future. Look, see?” said Judy, pointing to her book. “These people predicted earthquakes and fires and babies being born.”
“Nobody can predict the future,” said Frank. “Can they?”
“Ya-huh!” said Judy. “It says right here. Books don’t lie.”
“Let me see,” said Frank.
“See? Jeane Dixon, Famous American Fortuneteller. She was some lady in Washington, D.C., who stared into her eggs one morning and predicted that President Kennedy would be shot. And she predicted an earthquake in Alaska.”
“It also says she predicted that Martians would come to Earth and take away teenagers. I wish that would happen to my big sister.”
“If only Stink were a teenager,” said Judy.
“Look! It says here that that Jeane Dixon lady saw stuff in whipped cream!” said Frank.
“I’ve seen stuff in whipped cream, too,” said Judy. “Lots of times.”
“Like what?”
“Like chocolate sprinkles,” Judy said, and they both cracked up.
“Hey, look at this,” said Judy. “This book can help us with our spelling test. For real.”
“No way.”
“Way! See this guy?”
“The bald guy with the bow tie?”
“Yep. It says that he lived right here in Virginia. They called him the Sleeping Prophet. When he was our age, like a hundred years ago, he got into trouble in school for being a bad speller. One night he fell asleep with his spelling book under his head. When he woke up, he knew every word in the book. RARE!”
“I’m still going to study,” said Frank.
“Not me!” said Judy, wiggling into her coat.
“What are you going to do?” asked Frank.
“I’m going to go home and sleep,” said Judy.
When Judy got home, Stink was at the door.
“I don’t have to study for my spelling test,” she said, and gave him a big fat hug.
“What’s that for?” asked Stink.
“That’s for just because.”
“Just because why?”
“Just because tomorrow I am going to know tons and tons of words, like woodbine.”
“Wood what?”
“It’s a creepy vine. It wraps around trees.”
“So go find a tree to hug,” said Stink.
Instead, Judy went to find the dictionary. The fattest dictionary in the Moody house. She took it from her mom’s office and lugged it up to her room. She did not open it up. She did not look inside. She put the big red dictionary under her pillow. Then she got into her cozy bowling-ball pajamas. She pretended the bowling balls were crystal balls. When she brushed her teeth, she thought she saw a letter in her toothpaste spit. D for Dictionary.
Judy climbed under the covers and leaned back on her pillow. Youch! Too hard. She got two more pillows. At last, she was ready to dream.
Even before she fell asleep, she dreamed of being Queen of the Spelling Bee, just like Jessica Finch was one time for the whole state of Virginia. She dreamed of Mr. Todd’s smiling face when he passed back the tests. Most of all, she dreamed of getting 110% — zero-wrong-plus-extra-credit — on her spelling test.
She could hardly wait for school tomorrow. For once, she, Judy Moody, not Jessica (Flunk) Finch, would get a Thomas Jefferson tricorn-hat sticker for Great Job, Good Thinking.
ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz . . .
When Judy woke up the next morning, her neck was so stiff she felt like a crookneck squash. But her head did not feel the least bit bigger. It did not even feel heavy from carrying around so many new words. She looked in the mirror. Same Judy-head as always.
At breakfast, Judy stared into her eggs, just like Jeane Dixon, Famous American Fortuneteller. She thought she felt an earthquake! The earthquake was Stink, shaking the ketchup bottle onto his eggs.
“Stink, that’s preposterous!” said Judy.
“What’s that mean?” asked Stink.
“It means ridiculous,” said Judy.
“Like funny or silly,” said Mom.
“Think hippopotamus,” said Judy.
RARE! The dictionary-under-the-pillow thing really worked! Big words were flying out of her mouth faster than spit.
Judy was in a positively purple, On-Top-of-Spaghetti-and-the-World mood. She wished she could take her mood ring to school. If only.
On the bus, Judy told Rocky that his new magic trick was bewildering.
At school, Frank gave Judy a miniature hotel soap from his collection. “I already have this one,” he said. Judy told him his treat was very unexpected.
Then she asked Jessica (Flunk) Finch if she looked forward to the spelling test with anticipation.
“Why are you talking funny?” asked Jessica.
Mr. Todd passed out lined paper for the test. He told the class, “Only three more school days until our special visitor comes to class.”
Something was not the same. Something was different. Something was peculiar, unusual. Mr. Todd had new glasses! And he was wearing a tie. A crayon tie! Mr. Todd had never dressed up for a spelling test before.
“Your new glasses are very noticeable,” said Judy.
“Thank you, Judy,” said Mr. Todd with a goofy grin.
During the test, Judy Moody’s Grouchy pencil flew across the page like never before. She spelled alfalfa and ap
plesauce. She spelled cobweb and crystal. She hardly even had to erase, except on zucchini.
And she used the extra-credit word in a sentence! Crayon. What kind of a bonus word was crayon? Mr. Todd had crayons on the brain. For sure and absolute positive.
Madame M predicts that the Crayon Lady will soon come to Class 3T to see Mr. Todd’s crayon tie.
Judy’s extra-credit word sentence was practically a paragraph! And she used the bonus word twice! Double R-A-R-E!
Judy was the first one to finish, even before the Queen Bee Speller Jessica Finch. Jessica wasn’t even using her lucky pencil! What was that girl thinking?
At the lunch table, she, Judy Moody, was in a predict-the-future mood.
“Don’t open your lunches yet,” Judy said to everybody. “Madame M will predict what’s inside.”
“Hurry up,” said Rocky. “I’m hungry.”
Judy shut her eyes. This was so easy. “I see baloney. Baloney sandwiches.” Rocky, Frank, and Jessica each held up a baloney sandwich.
Everyone was amazed.
Now the moment she’d been waiting for. “I have another prediction,” said Judy in a loud voice. “One about tomorrow. Something big. Something that’s never happened in Class 3T before.”
“Really? Tell us! What?”
“I, Judy Moody, will get zero-wrong-plus-extra-credit on the spelling test! 110%! Pass it on.”
“That’s as preposterous as a H-I-P-P-O-P-O-T-A-M-U-S,” Jessica said.
“You didn’t even study,” Frank said.
“You never even got 100% in Spelling,” said Rocky.
“Thanks a lot,” said Judy. What a bunch of baloney eaters. “That was before I became the Sleeping Speller, before I learned about sleeping with the dictionary under my pillow.”
“But Mr. Todd didn’t pass our tests back yet,” said Frank. “You don’t even know if it really worked.”
Judy rolled her eyeballs around. She made thinking noises. “Humm, baba, humm. Mr. Todd is correcting the papers right now. I see a Thomas Jefferson sticker. A tricorn hat. For Great Job, Good Thinking.”