while Frank told Judy the problem.
“My parrot hates my sister,” said
Frank. “Every time my sister gets too
close, Cookie bites her.”
“Let me ask Mouse the Mind
Reader,” said Judy.
“I think your mind reader
is sleeping,” said Frank.
:
in
“She’s not sleeping. She’s thinking,”
said Judy, putting her ear up to
Mouse.
“Mouse the Magnificent says it’s all
about the treats. Do a fun trick with
Cookie, but let your sister give her a
treat.”
“Mouse told you all that?” said
Frank. “Wow!” He dropped a quarter
in the jar.
.
Next in line were Amy Namey and
Jessica Finch. “I don’t have a pet,”
said Amy.
Mouse curled her tail into a
question mark. Judy said, “Mouse the
Magnificent says, How about a pocket
pet? Sugar gliders are cute. They fit
in your pocket. Or a goldfish. Not
the cracker kind. Twenty-five cents,
please.”
“But I’m not here about a pet for
me,” said Amy. “I’m here about
PeeGee.” She pointed to Jessica
Finch’s potbellied pig on a leash.
.
34
“PeeGee is freaking out,” Jessica told
Judy. “Every time he comes into my
room, he knocks over my chair and
chews my shoes and squeals like a —”
“Pig?” asked Judy.
Jessica nodded.
“Got that, Mouse?” Judy said. Mouse
purred. Mouse purred some more.
“Mouse is thinking,” said Judy.
“How do you know what she’s
thinking?” asked Jessica.
“Mouse and I are of one mind.
It sounds to me — I mean to
Mouse — like somebody needs to learn
a few rules at obedience school.”
“I love rules!” said Jessica. “And
obedience. Maybe I can teach
PeeGee myself.”
.
36
Clink. Clink. Clink-clink-clink. The
quarters kept on coming.
a fish with ick,
a.k.a. measles
(Hello! Get fish
medicine from
the pet store),
Mouse helped a
parakeet with no
tweet (Hello! Turn
on the light),
37
and a pet rock that lost one googly
eye (Hello, glue!).
Mouse was a regular Dr. Dolittle,
an animal whisperer of the third
kind, a pet psychic with a sixth sense.
.
38
Judy jingled and jangled the
quarters in her jar for Stink to hear.
“Hey!” said Stink. “You’re stealing
all my customers. Everybody wants
to see Mouse the Mystic. Nobody’s
thirsty anymore.”
Judy held up Mouse’s water bowl
for everyone to see. “Mouse the Mystic
will now gaze into the Eternal Water
Bowl of Serenity.”
.
Mouse twitched her whiskers.
Mouse licked her lips. “Mouse feels a
great thirst coming on,” said Judy.
Mouse stuck out her tongue and
lapped up water like crazy.
A hush fell over the crowd.
Everyone gazed at Mouse the Mind
Reader.
“Come to think of it,” said Frank, “I
feel thirsty, too.”
“Me, too,” said Rocky and Amy at
the same time.
“Me, three,” said Jessica Finch.
“PeeGee’s thirsty, too.”
.
Now everybody rushed to get in
line at Stink’s table. In two minutes
flat, Stink ran out of lemonade. He
ran into the house and came back
carrying a pitcher of water.
43
“Ice-cold water!” Stink yelled.
“From the Eternal Fountain of Thirst
Quenching. Hand-stirred! Only
twenty-five cents a cup!”
.
45
Toady and the Vampire
CHA
CHA
p
p
TER
TER
3
3
Zing! Toady zinged off Judy’s bottom
bunk bed. Boing! He boinged off her
finger-knitting yarn. Stink’s pet toad,
Toady, was going nutso, zinging and
boinging all over the place.
Judy scooped him up, then
squished into her window seat
between Mouse and the bog buddies,
Jaws and Petunia.
.
46
EEW! All of a sudden, Judy felt
something warm and wet in her hand.
Gross-o-rama! She set the toad down.
Toady made
a puddle on her
mood pillow.
“Bad Toady!”
Judy said.
Then he made a
puddle on top of her
gumball machine.
“Bad, bad Toady!”
Judy said.
“That does it!” said Judy. “You and
I are going on a field trip.”
He made a puddle in the middle of
her squiggle rug.
.
Judy rode Toady to Jessica Finch’s
house on her bike. A sign in the yard
said JESSICA
FINCH
’S
DOGGY DAY
CARE AND
OBEDIENCE SCHOOL
.
J
J
J
J
J
J
J
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
S
S
S
S
I
I
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
F
F
F
F
F
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
C
C
C
C
H
H
H
H
’
’
’
S
S
D
D
D
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
G
G
G
G
G
G
Y
Y
Y
D
D
D
A
A
A
A
Y
Y
Y
Y
C
C
C
C
A
A
A
R
R
R
E
E
E
E
E
A
A
A
A
N
N
N
N
N
D
D
D
D
D
O
O
O
O
B
B
B
B
B
E
E
E
E
E
D
D
D
D
D
I
I
I
I
IE
E
E
E
E
N
N
N
N
N
C
C
C
C
C
E
E
E
E
E
S
S
S
S
S
S
C
C
C
C
C
C
H
H
H
H
H
H
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
OL
L
L
L
L
L
L
Judy did not see a single dog. She
did see Houdini, Rocky’s iguana;
Cookie, Frank’s parrot; and PeeGee
WeeGee, Jessica’s pig, running around
like crazy. Jessica was shouting, “Sit,”
“Stay,” and “Heel,” but none of them
listened. None of them behaved.
This looked more like DIS-
obedience school!
.
50
Jessica Finch and Amy Namey ran
over to Judy. A stripe-faced fur ball
with dark eyes and a pink nose stuck
its head out of Amy’s pocket. “Meet
Boo,” said Amy. “It’s short for Peek-a-
Boo.”
“You got a sugar glider?” asked
Judy. “You lucky dog!”
“How come you’re here?” Jessica
asked Judy.
“Toady’s being a bad toad today.”
Judy told them about the toad pee on
everything. “Will you take one more
student?”
Jessica frowned. Jessica hemmed
and hawed.
“Don’t be a toadstool,” said Judy.
“Okay. He can stay.”
.
“Sit!” Jessica said to the animals.
Houdini crawled away.
“Sit!” Jessica said again. Cookie
hopped up and down and clacked her
beak.
“Sit!” PeeGee just chased his tail.
“Sit!” Boo jumped out of Amy’s
pocket and knocked over his barrel of
toy monkeys.
“Sit!” said Jessica. Toady sat.
Judy clapped her hands. “Toady!
You did it!”
.
“Stay!” said Jessica. Houdini
crawled under a pile of leaves.
“Stay!” Jessica called again. Cookie
flapped her wings and flew onto
Judy’s head.
“Stay!” PeeGee chased his tail some
more.
“Stay!” Boo glided through the air
and landed on PeeGee.
“Stay!” Jessica told Toady. Toady
stayed.
“Good Toady!” Judy yelled.
.
Jessica held up a Hula-Hoop.
“Jump!” she said. PeeGee
chased after a ball. “Bad pig!”
yelled Jessica. Boo chased
after PeeGee. Cookie chased
after Boo.
Jessica tried again. “Jump!”
Toady jumped . . . right
through the Hula-Hoop!
57
“You’re good at getting Toady to
obey,” said Judy.
“Gold star for you, Toady.” Jessica
held him in her hand. “I still want to
be in your Toad Pee Club,” she said to
the toad, “but you won’t even pee on
me.”
“Toady gets an A-plus for Toad
School,” said Judy.
“That’ll be one dollar,” said Jessica
Finch.
“Will you ta
ke four quarters?” Judy
asked.
.
58
The next day, Judy teased Toady
about obedience school. “You are
toadally teacher’s pet!” she said. All
of a sudden, she felt something warm
and wet on her hand. Eew! That
naughty toad sprang out of her hand
and hopped under the bed.
Judy heard a voice. “Hey, Judy!
Want to go monster hunting?” It was
Amy Namey.
“I am monster hunting,” said Judy.
She rescued Toady and dusted him
off. “This monster. Toady acted perfect
at obedience school. But the second I
got him home, he turned into a little
monster again. I don’t get it.”
Amy wasn’t listening. Amy was
staring. Amy was pointing at Judy’s
.
60
new plant on the window seat. “You
have a pitcher plant? I saw one in
Borneo. It had one of those long
scary names like Carnivoria vampira or
something.”
“This isn’t a vampire,” said Judy.
“This is a new friend for Jaws. Her
name is Petunia.”
“Uh-oh,” said Amy.
“What-oh?” asked Judy. She set
Toady down on her top bunk.
“Um, I hate to tell you this, but . . .
some giant pitcher plants can eat
a frog.”
Judy sprang up. A frog-eating pitcher
plant? Gulp!
“Or a mouse or a rat,” said Amy,
“or a . . . toad!”
“No wonder Toady’s been acting
psycho,” said Judy. “He’s scared of
Petunia, the vampire pitcher plant!”
.
Judy turned to look at Toady —