Katy Kelly_Lucy Rose 01
she gave me and Jonique stickers that say KISS ME, I'M IRISH! And then she did.
    I told her that actually I really am half Irish because my dad is and that's why he has red hair and so do I. So Mrs. McBee said, “Then I'd better kiss you again for luck!” And she did, again, right on the top of my head.
    And I said to her, “You are the queen of all the McBees!”

March 27
    My mom and I went to the pet store and my mom bought a bag of guinea pig food and with my own money I bought a blue plastic ball with a bell inside for Jake to play with and when we got home I got out my painting kit and painted a big sign that has palm trees and hearts and smilefaces on it and says WELCOME JAKE so that when he gets here he will know he is in guinea pig paradise.

APRIL

April 1
    I am waiting so hard for my turn with Jake that I can hardly keep my brain on anything else even April Fools' Day which is one of my favorite holidays. But I still did a trick on my mom this morning by turning the clock radio to 9:13 to make her think we were late for school. I waited until she was all the way dressed and giving me a Luna bar for an emergency fast breakfast and had us out the door on the porch and then I screamed, “April Fools'!” at the top of my lungs and laughed so hard I almost fell over.
    At lunchtime Jonique took a bite out of her bologna sandwich and there was a big black plastic spider inside. I think Mrs. McBee saved it from Halloween. When I say she is a genius, it is no joke. All day long Melonhead kept saying, “Hi, Lucy Rose,” and giving me pats on the back. Only it was not to be friendly. It was to put Post-it notes on my sweater that said, “Please pinch me!”
    Luckily, Jonique told me and we got the big ideaof putting one of those notes upside down on Melonhead's chair and he sat on it so he had “Please pinch me!” on his butt for a lot of the afternoon which made Jonique and me laugh our heads off but the bad thing is no one pinched him.
    Then when I got home from school Pop pretended he had a bean stuck in his nose. I fell for it and so did Madam and while Pop was jumping around holding his nostril she kept saying, “How does a sixty-two-year-old man get a bean stuck in his nose?”
    Then Pop got a Kleenex and blew his nose and then he said, “Why, that's not a bean, it's a clementine.” And it was. He is the best joker in the family.

April 8
    Here is a good thing: Since today was teacher planning day we did not have school. And since it was a workday for my mom and Madam and Pop had to go be volunteers at the Friendship House day care nursery, I got to stay at Jonique's house for almost the whole day which was excellent because they have Cartoon Network which my motherthinks is not worth the money. And we had Bagel Bites for lunch and Sprite, if you can believe it. And Mr. McBee came home from work at 5:30 and had us laughing with his jokes which are all about elephants. But even with all of those many good things the only thing on my brain is how many days until Jake will be at my house. 9 days, that's how many.

April 12
    Finally it is the day we get out of school for Easter and Passover break and at 3:00 Mr. Welsh told me and Melonhead to stay after. Then he showed us how to load up the water bottle which I already knew. And then he said, “Fresh H20 every day.”
    I happen to know that H 2 0 means water. “Right-O, H 2 0,” I said.“Of course,” Adam Melon said.
    And then Mr. Welsh said, “Only one handful of food at a time.”
    And we both said “Okay” to that.“Can you clean the cage every day?” he asked us.“I can,” I said.
    I wanted to say, “But I would not be counting on Melonhead.” But I didn't on account of having maturity.
    At 4:00 Melonhead's dad came to school and loaded Jake and his enormous cage into the back of the Melons' minivan and told me that they would bring him to my grandparents' house in five days.

April 14, Easter Sunday
    Waiting for Jake feels long but the days

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