Read Online Penelope Crumb Never Forgets by Shawn Stout - Free Book Online
Authors: Shawn Stout
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alien diaries. I pull one out and open it. NASA might like to know how an alien thinks. But instead of any “Dear Diary, Today I found two kittens in the sewer and ate them for breakfast” (because that’s what aliens do), there’s a beautiful drawing of a building. It’s got more than twenty levels, and windows in the shape of triangles.
At first I think this might be a building from Terrible’s home planet, but then at the bottom of the building, he drew cars and a stoplight. And everybody knows that aliens don’t drive, so . . . On the next page, another building. This one is a house with a big garden in the back and a front yard with flowers and green grass. He even drew what each room in the house looks like and labeled them. The regular stuff like a kitchen and bathrooms and bedrooms. But he also drew a proper office for Mom, with a real desk, a big room marked “Terrence” that has its own bathroom, and then . . .
“Oh me, oh my,” I say. There’s a room with my name on it that says “Penelope’s Art Room.” Oh, wouldn’t I love to live in a place like this with my own artist’s room! Imagine the size of a museum that I could fit in there! I tuck the notebook under my arm, because this is the Terrible I’d like to remember.
I make a card for my museum that says
Drawings by Terrible Crumb, pain-in-the-neck space alien, secret artist, and sometimes pretty nice brother to Penelope Crumb.
I can practically hear Leonardo say, “An artistic mind brings a brother and sister closer than they think.”
“He’s still an alien,” I say back. “And I still need a string for Patsy’s necklace.” I gently roll the tooth-wrapped hair between my thumb and pointer until I come up with the best idea ever: dental floss, peppermint-flavored and waxed. Which I think will work out fine, because when Patsy wears this necklace, she will also be able to get raisins out of her teeth.
While I’m stringing up Patsy’s necklace with floss, there’s a racket coming from the laundry room, loud enough that I can hear it in my closet. The shuffling of papers and smacking of books. Then Mom’s voice. “Where in the world did I put that?”
I keep on stringing. “Patsy Cline won’t soon forget about me once I give her this necklace,” I whisper to Leonardo. “Indeed, you are an original forget-me-notter,” he would surely say. Which makes me smile.
“Has anybody seen my blue sketch pad?” Mom’s voice again.
I freeze and stare at the blue sketch pad in front of me. Then, real quick, I close the door to my closet and hide.
16.
I wait for Patsy Cline by the coatrack outside of Miss Stunkel’s classroom, holding on tight to her necklace. The smell of the peppermint makes me want to floss something, so I hope Patsy gets here soon.
My heart jumps in my throat when I see Patsy, and then stops beating when I see that Vera Bogg beside her. As they get closer, I can tell that they’ve switched outfits again—Patsy is in a pink shirt with ruffles down the front. And that’s when I know that Patsy, this new Patsy in her pink Vera Bogg ruffles and big smile, would never wear the necklace I made for her. This Patsy Cline would only wear store-bought.
I shove the necklace under my arm so they won’t see. Then I try one last thing.
“I found it,” I say. “I found your necklace.”
“You did?” says Patsy, giving me a big smile—a smile like she was just given a pony made out of marshmallows. “Honest to goodness?”
“True blue,” I say.
“Where?” asks Vera Bogg.
“Right here by the coatrack.”
“No, I mean where is it?”
“Oh,” I say. “It’s at home.” Then I tell a partly true story about how I found the necklace (which is true) yesterday (which is not) after everybody left, and took it home to keep it safe (sort of true) but forgot to bring it with me today (not). “I’ll bring it Monday.”
Patsy Cline hugs me just then and whispers “Thank you” in my ear. I hug
At first I think this might be a building from Terrible’s home planet, but then at the bottom of the building, he drew cars and a stoplight. And everybody knows that aliens don’t drive, so . . . On the next page, another building. This one is a house with a big garden in the back and a front yard with flowers and green grass. He even drew what each room in the house looks like and labeled them. The regular stuff like a kitchen and bathrooms and bedrooms. But he also drew a proper office for Mom, with a real desk, a big room marked “Terrence” that has its own bathroom, and then . . .
“Oh me, oh my,” I say. There’s a room with my name on it that says “Penelope’s Art Room.” Oh, wouldn’t I love to live in a place like this with my own artist’s room! Imagine the size of a museum that I could fit in there! I tuck the notebook under my arm, because this is the Terrible I’d like to remember.
I make a card for my museum that says
Drawings by Terrible Crumb, pain-in-the-neck space alien, secret artist, and sometimes pretty nice brother to Penelope Crumb.
I can practically hear Leonardo say, “An artistic mind brings a brother and sister closer than they think.”
“He’s still an alien,” I say back. “And I still need a string for Patsy’s necklace.” I gently roll the tooth-wrapped hair between my thumb and pointer until I come up with the best idea ever: dental floss, peppermint-flavored and waxed. Which I think will work out fine, because when Patsy wears this necklace, she will also be able to get raisins out of her teeth.
While I’m stringing up Patsy’s necklace with floss, there’s a racket coming from the laundry room, loud enough that I can hear it in my closet. The shuffling of papers and smacking of books. Then Mom’s voice. “Where in the world did I put that?”
I keep on stringing. “Patsy Cline won’t soon forget about me once I give her this necklace,” I whisper to Leonardo. “Indeed, you are an original forget-me-notter,” he would surely say. Which makes me smile.
“Has anybody seen my blue sketch pad?” Mom’s voice again.
I freeze and stare at the blue sketch pad in front of me. Then, real quick, I close the door to my closet and hide.
16.
I wait for Patsy Cline by the coatrack outside of Miss Stunkel’s classroom, holding on tight to her necklace. The smell of the peppermint makes me want to floss something, so I hope Patsy gets here soon.
My heart jumps in my throat when I see Patsy, and then stops beating when I see that Vera Bogg beside her. As they get closer, I can tell that they’ve switched outfits again—Patsy is in a pink shirt with ruffles down the front. And that’s when I know that Patsy, this new Patsy in her pink Vera Bogg ruffles and big smile, would never wear the necklace I made for her. This Patsy Cline would only wear store-bought.
I shove the necklace under my arm so they won’t see. Then I try one last thing.
“I found it,” I say. “I found your necklace.”
“You did?” says Patsy, giving me a big smile—a smile like she was just given a pony made out of marshmallows. “Honest to goodness?”
“True blue,” I say.
“Where?” asks Vera Bogg.
“Right here by the coatrack.”
“No, I mean where is it?”
“Oh,” I say. “It’s at home.” Then I tell a partly true story about how I found the necklace (which is true) yesterday (which is not) after everybody left, and took it home to keep it safe (sort of true) but forgot to bring it with me today (not). “I’ll bring it Monday.”
Patsy Cline hugs me just then and whispers “Thank you” in my ear. I hug
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