up our own,” said Molly mysteriously.
She got up and started down the street to Mrs. Peters’s house, and Mary Beth and the others followed. When they got there, they went down Mrs. Peters’s steps and into her basement. On top of the big table where they had their meetings was a big pink plastic rabbit. It was inflatable, and it had an orange carrot in its plastic paw.
“Well!” said their leader. “It’s a shame to be indoors on such a nice day. If the backyard wasn’t so muddy, we could have our meeting outside. But we’ll just open up the windows and let some of the spring come in.”
After she did this, she counted to be sure all eleven Pee Wees were present, and then she said, “There are two holidays coming up soon, and I thought we would talk about them and see if we can do something special to celebrate.”
“See,” whispered Mary Beth. “Mrs. Peters is going to tell us how to celebrate April Fools’ day!”
Everyone there wondered if Molly was right—maybe this
was
one of the holidays Mrs. Peters had in mind.
CHAPTER 2
The Big Plan
“T he first holiday that is coming up,” Mrs. Peters said, “is Easter. And I thought we might dye eggs and make baskets for shut-ins.
“The other one is Mother’s Day. And of course we want to do something nice for our mothers.”
Mrs. Peters had let Molly down! All the Pee Wees looked at Molly, as if to say “See, I told you so! April Fools’ Day isn’t a holiday!”
“Hey, Roger can’t celebrate Mother’s Day!” shouted Sonny. “He doesn’t have a mother. You have to have a mother to celebrate.”
Roger looked angry. He didn’t like to be told he was missing anything, especially anything as important as a mother. Molly felt a little sorry for him. A trick was one thing, but to hurt his feelings was another.
“Tim doesn’t have a dad either,” Roger shouted to Sonny. “What is
he
going to do on Father’s Day?”
Mrs. Peters held up her arms in alarm. “Often,” she said, “people have others who take the role of a parent. Like an aunt, or a friend, or an uncle. It doesn’t have to be an actual parent.”
“Mrs. Peters has opened up a can of worms now,” whispered Rachel to Molly. “This is one of those social issues peopledon’t want to face. My mom told me so,” she added wisely. “My mom’s going to school to get a degree in psychology. She’s going to be a psychologist.”
Rachel’s dad was a dentist. Sometimes Rachel liked to show off and brag about her family, but she could also be a very good friend. When Molly had shared her pen pal with Rachel, she had been very grateful. And when Molly’s dad had lost his job, Rachel’s mother had sent a nice dinner over to the Duffs to cheer them up.
“Now that her mom’s in school, she thinks she knows everything,” whispered Mary Beth to Molly.
“Well, she’s right, you know,” said Molly. “Mrs. Peters did open up a can of worms.”
Roger’s eyes were red now, and so were Tim’s. What would their leader do? Maybe Rachel would have to phone hermother and have her come to the meeting and bring her textbooks and help out!
“It wasn’t Mrs. Peters’s fault,” said Mary Beth. “It was Sonny’s. He had to go and yell at Roger about not having a mother.”
Mrs. Peters took the “can of worms” into the laundry room. She put her arms around Roger and Tim and talked to them privately. When they came back they were smiling. At least a little.
Mrs. Peters went on with the meeting as if there had been no can of worms.
“I think it’s time we start planning what we will do for these two holidays, Pee Wee–wise,” she said. “Besides celebrating, we want to do something to help others, and to earn a holiday badge. I thought we could combine the two days and get one badge, called a spring badge.”
The Pee Wees cheered. They loved badges, and badge talk, and earning badges. They loved to collect them and pin them on their blouses and shirts.
Molly got out
Andy Remic
Eve Langlais
Neal Shusterman
Russell Blake
JEFFREY COHEN
Jaclyn M. Hawkes
Terra Wolf, Holly Eastman
Susanna Jones
L. E. Chamberlin
Candace Knoebel