Any Way You Slice It (3 page)

Authors: Nancy Krulik

BOOK: Any Way You Slice It

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Suzanne plopped down in a chair near Zoe. But Katie didn’t move. She didn’t want to eat at a restaurant that was giving Louie so much trouble.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I’ve got to get back to my mom’s store.”

“Oh, you can stay for a little while,” Manny said. “We just ordered some fries. You can share.”

“Yeah,” George said. “We’re getting tons of food. My mom gave me money and told me to stay here until she gets back from returning things at the jeans store.”

“Come on, Katie, sit down,” Suzanne urged. “Your mom isn’t going home for at least an hour. And, besides, they have chocolate milk shakes on the menu.”

Katie loved chocolate milk shakes.

“Do you know how they get milk shakes?” George asked.

“How?” Katie asked him.

“From nervous cows!” George laughed at his own joke.

Katie laughed, too. “Okay, I’ll stay,” she said finally. “But only for a minute. And I’m not going to eat anything.”

Suzanne shrugged. “Okay, but I’m ordering a shake.”

Katie sat down and looked around the restaurant. On the wall, there were huge paintings of Italian olive groves. All of the waiters and waitresses were dressed in red, white, and green uniforms, which matched the colors on the big Italian flag that hung over the door. And, of course, there were plenty of olives and oregano on all the tables.

Katie sighed. Compared to Olives and Oregano, Louie’s Pizza Shop didn’t look like much. But Louie’s pizza was the best. Katie was sure of that.

“Aachoo!” Suddenly, George put his hand to his nose as he sneezed. As he pulled his hand away, there was a big, green glob in his fingers.

“Eeew!” Suzanne exclaimed.

Katie was pretty grossed out, too—until she realized that the green glob was actually an olive.

“Gotcha!” George laughed.

Katie began to relax. She loved being with her friends, especially on the weekends. She reached into the olive bowl and pulled out a thick, salty black olive. Yum.

But as she popped the olive in her mouth, Katie got a sick feeling in her stomach. At that very moment, Louie passed by the window of Olives and Oregano.

Louie didn’t wave or smile. He just kept on walking with a sad look on his face.

Katie was sure Louie had seen her and her friends sitting at the table. She knew his feelings must be really hurt.

“I’m a terrible friend,” she muttered sadly to herself.

Chapter 6

Katie didn’t go to the mall for a whole week after Louie spotted her in Olives and Oregano. She was too embarrassed. But when Saturday came around, her mother told her she had to go.

“I have to work all day, and your dad is out of town on a business trip,” Mrs. Carew explained. “I need you to spend the day at the mall. There’s nowhere else you can go today.”

Katie was not about to face Louie alone. She made sure that all of her friends would be there with her. At 12:00, Katie, Suzanne, George, Jeremy, Kevin, Becky, Miriam, Mandy, Zoe, and Manny all met outside Louie’s Pizza Shop.

There was a new sign in the window. It said:

GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

Katie couldn’t believe her eyes. It just wasn’t possible. Louie’s Pizza Shop had been in the Cherrydale Mall ever since Katie could remember. Suddenly, she forgot all about being embarrassed. She had to talk to Louie!

“Louie, you aren’t really going out of business, are you?” Katie asked as she raced into the pizza shop.

Louie nodded. “I am,” he told her.

“But why?” Katie asked.

“I’m losing all my customers to Olives and Oregano,” Louie explained. “They advertise on TV and in newspapers. I can’t afford to do that. And if I can’t advertise, I can’t get people to eat here instead of there.”

The kids all looked at each other. They felt bad about eating at Olives and Oregano.

“Don’t be sad,” Louie said. “It’s okay. I’m going to move to Florida. My sister has a place there, and she says retirement is really very nice.” Louie tried to smile, but Katie could tell he was sad about leaving.

POP!

Suddenly, a loud noise came from where Suzanne was standing. Her face was covered with a huge wad of pink bubble gum.

“Sorry,” Suzanne apologized. “I’m trying to break the biggest bubble-gum bubble record.” She struggled to pull globs of bubble gum from her chin, cheeks, and nose. “What are you all laughing at?” she demanded as her friends giggled.

“Too bad you can’t break a record, Louie,” Jeremy said, turning his attention away from Suzanne.

“What kind of record?” Louie asked.

“I don’t know,” Jeremy said, “the most customers in a pizza shop or something.”

“That would be nice,” Louie agreed.

Suddenly, a big grin came over Katie’s face. “Jeremy! You’re a genius!” she exclaimed.

“Of course he is,” Becky said, with a smile. “Everyone knows that.”

Jeremy blushed and moved away from Becky. “What are you talking about?” he asked Katie.“Louie, I know how you can get free advertising in newspapers and on TV,” Katie told him.

Louie looked at her curiously. “How?”

“All you have to do is get newspaper reporters to write articles about your restaurant,” Katie said.

“They wouldn’t want to do that.”

“They would if you were going to have a big pizza-eating contest,” Katie explained. “Who can eat the most pizza in Cherrydale. That would be big news.”

Louie looked at Katie. “You sure have big ideas for such a little girl.” He laughed, as he pulled out a pencil and paper. “Any thoughts on how we can let people know about the contest?”

“Well, I could put an article about it in the
Class 3A Times
,” Jeremy suggested. Jeremy was editor of the class newspaper.

“And my daddy could post a sign about it on the bulletin board at his office,” Becky added.

“I’ll bet my mom would put a sign in the window at the BookNook,” Katie volunteered.

“And we could hand out flyers for you here in the mall,” Suzanne suggested, as she chomped on a new wad of gum.

“I guess that takes care of everything,” Louie said.

“Then you’ll do it?” Katie asked hopefully.

Louie scribbled some numbers on his pad of paper. “Well, if I charge ten dollars a person to enter the contest, and five dollars a person to watch the contest, I might be able to afford it.”

“Great!” Katie said. “Then you won’t have to move to Florida.”

Louie sighed. “Well . . . ” he said slowly, “let’s just wait and see.”

Chapter 7

“Hey, Katie Kazoo! My mom said I could enter Louie’s pizza-eating contest!” George announced in the school yard early Monday morning.

Katie smiled. “I knew you’d be the first to sign up. No one likes to eat as much as you do, George.”

Just then, Kevin strolled onto the playground. “Guess what?” he asked the others. “I’m entering the pizza-eating contest. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into Louie’s yummy tomato sauce!” Kevin was wild about tomatoes.

George stared at Kevin. “What do you mean,
you’re
entering the contest?
I’m
entering the contest.”

“So?” Kevin said. “We can both enter . . . of course
I
will win.”

“Don’t be so sure, Kev,” Jeremy said. “You know what a big eater George is.”

“Oh, please,” Suzanne butted in, suddenly. “Kevin is already the tomato-eating champ of Cherrydale Elementary. He’ll definitely win.”

Suzanne would say anything just to disagree with Jeremy.

“I don’t think so,” Jeremy remarked.

And Jeremy would say anything just to disagree with Suzanne.

“Kevin, I know you’ll win,” Suzanne said firmly.

“Especially because I’m going to help you! I’m going to be your coach.”