ruined!â
Mrs. Cooke reached down and picked up the snails that hadnât been squashed. She washed them off and put them in a skillet. âThat should solve the problem,â she said.
âI canât watch this,â Tina whispered to Katie Lynn.
âMe neither,â said Katie Lynn.
They dropped their cookie dough onto the cookie sheets and put them into the oven. They tried not to look at the skillet with the snails in it.
When the cookies were done, Katie Lynn and Tina took them out of the oven.
âI hope you girls checked your cookie dough carefully,â said Mrs. Cooke. âI think some of the snails are missing.â
Katie Lynn and Tina looked at each other in horror.
Frogsâ Legs for Dinner
The next morning, Katie Lynn was double-checking the last batch of cookies for snails when the telephone rang.
âKatie Lynn,
ma chérie!
Please answer that!â called Mrs. Cooke. âIâm watching the French Chef and I donât want to be disturbed!â
Katie Lynn grabbed the receiver. âHello!â she said.
It was Mr. Chesterfield.
âWe just ran out of cookies!â he said.
âDonât worry, Mr. Chesterfield. Grandmaâs on her way with the first half of the order,â Katie Lynn said. âWeâll deliver the rest of them as soon as possible.â
âGreat!â said Mr. Chesterfield. He paused. âHave you ever thought about baking other kinds of cookies?â he asked.
âNo, not really,â said Katie Lynn. âWhy?â
âIâm in charge of the Zoo Benefit this year,â said Mr. Chesterfield. âAnd I want to auction off some special cookies to raise money for a new Ape House.â
âA new Ape House!â Katie Lynn cried. âThatâs a great idea!â Katie Lynn thought the animals in the zoo sometimes looked a little sad. She wished they could do something like this for all of them.
âI think so, too, Katie Lynn,â said Mr.Chesterfield. âThey need a home that feels more like a jungle.â
âWell, Iâm sure we can figure out something that will work,â said Katie Lynn.
âGood. Letâs talk about it later,â said Mr. Chesterfield. âYour grandmother just arrived with the cookies.â
Mrs. Cooke came into the kitchen as Katie Lynn hung up the receiver. âWeâre having frogsâ legs tonight!â she announced. âThe French Chef showed me how to cook them.â
âFrogsâ legs?â
Katie Lynn said.
Mrs. Cooke nodded. âYes. The French Chef says their flavor leaps right out of the frying pan. Heâs a food genius!â
Katie Lynn pictured frogsâ legs leaping all over their kitchen floor. She tried to think about the new cookie. But all shecould think about was cookies with frogsâ legs sticking out of them.
She ran next door to Tinaâs house. Tina was sitting on her front porch, watching Gerald dig in the dirt.
Katie Lynn told her about Mr. Chesterfieldâs telephone call.
âWhat kind of cookies would be special?â Tina asked.
Katie Lynn shrugged. âThatâs what we have to figure out.â
âWell, letâs not add any chocolate chunks to them,â said Tina. âYou canât tell those from snails.â
âWe donât have to worry about snails anymore,â said Katie Lynn. âNow itâs frogsâ legs.â
âFrogsâ legs?â
Tina exclaimed.
Katie Lynn nodded. âThatâs Frenchcooking, too. Mom went to the market to buy some.â
âI thought frogs were pets,â said Tina. She looked next door to where Jonathan Wilbarger was sitting on his front porch. He looked upset. âHey, Jonathan!â she shouted. âDonât you have a pet frog?â
âI used to,â Jonathan said sadly. âBut Burt disappeared this morning.â He sniffled. âI really miss him.â
âKatie Lynnâs
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