Judy Moody Around the World in 8 1/2 Days (2 page)

Judy was helping Stink with his homework, quizzing him for a science test.

“Name the four seasons,” said Judy.

“Easy. Salt, pepper, ketchup, and mustard,” said Stink.

“Seasons of the YEAR, Stink,” said Judy. “Never mind. How about this one. What makes dew form?”

“When leaves sweat?” asked Stink.

“N-O!” said Judy. “Here’s one. You have to know this. What is a fibula?”

“Oh, I know. That’s like when you tell a lie, but not a really big one. A little one.”

“No, Stink. It’s a bone! In your leg! Between your knee and your ankle. I think you better study some more. Now, can I ask you a question?”

“I thought that’s what you were doing.”

“Not a science test question. What would you do if you thought there was just one Stink, then you found out there was somebody else out there just like you? Like another Stink?”

“I’d bug you TWICE as much.”

“Never mind. I’ll ask Mom and Dad.”

Judy asked her mom. Mom just hugged her and said, “You’re the one and only Judy Moody in my book.”

“Is this for science? Or social studies?” asked Dad.

“You don’t understand,” Judy told her dad. “There’s only ONE of you and ONE of Mom and ONE of Stink. But, well, I mean, what if you met somebody and they were just like you? And you didn’t feel special anymore?”

“At least I’d have a new best friend,” said Dad.

Hmmm. Judy thought about that one. Best friend? Or best enemy?

The next day, Best-Enemy Girl Reporter came up to Judy at recess. “Hi! Remember me?”

“Check,” said Judy, frowning.

“You do remember! Your name’s Judy. Right? What’s your last name? I want to put your chew-gum-in-school idea in my paper.”

Judy perked up. “Moody. Judy Moody.”

“Judy Moody? For real? Hey, you rhyme! Just like me!”

“Same-same,” said Judy excitedly.

“So, do kids always try to rhyme stuff around you? Like ‘Amy Namey, how’s Jamie? Want to play a game-y? You’re so lame-y.’ Stuff like that?”

“I’ve heard ‘Howdy Doody, Judy Moody’ and ‘Judy Moody has cooties’ about ten hundred million times!”

“Exactly! That’s so cool we both have the rhyming name thing. You could be in my club.”

“I’m already in a club. The Toad Pee Club. With my friends.”

“But this is a real club. It’s not just for anybody. It’s for people all over the world with names that rhyme. It’s called the My-Name-Is-a-Poem Club.”

“For real?” asked Judy.

“How real is this?” Amy reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. A way-official, real-and-true membership card.

“RARE!” said Judy. “You mean I could be a member? Of a club that has people in it from all over the whole world?”

“Sure! I can sign you up!”

“You mean I’d get a card like this? A real membership card with my name on it and everything?”

“Check!” said Amy.

“Wow,” said Judy. “How come I never knew about you before?”

“Oh, I’ve been around,” said Amy. “Around the world!” She cracked up.

“What stuff do you do in your club?” Judy asked.

“Mostly you just carry this card around. But you can write to anybody in the club. And sometimes they write back and send you a postcard. With a cool stamp from another country and everything.”

“Whoa!”

“I know! I get postcards from people around the world, like, let’s see . . . Nancy Clancy, Newton Hooton, and Sing Ling. Even Mark Clark van Ark from Newark! That’s in this country. In New Jersey.”

“No way!”

“Uh-huh. I even got one from somebody named Heebie Jeebie.”

“That gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

“I think that one was a joke, for sure. But my favorite is the one I got from Chip Dippe.”

“Like potato chips and dip?”

“Exactly.” Judy and Amy cracked up.

“I want to do it!” said Judy. “I want to be in the club!”

“Great!” said Amy. “Why don’t you come over to my house Saturday morning? I’ll get you a membership card and everything.”

“I’ll ask. Do I have to pay any money?” Judy asked.

“Nope. It’s a freebie,” said Amy.

“So I won’t have to get the heebie-jeebies,” said Judy.

“Nopey-dopey!” said Amy.

“Okey-dokey!” said Judy. They fell on the ground laughing.

Amy Namey sure was smart. And funny. And important-looking in her glasses, with two watches, and a pencil behind her ear.

AND her name rhymed. AND she was a member of a way-cool, around-the-world club. AND she knew a top-secret scoop from Mr. Todd.

Amy Namey had all the things that made a New Best Enemy into a New Best Friend.

The next day before going to school, Judy rummaged through her top drawer, looking for her old purple watch. It still worked! She wore it right next to her new red striped one.

She looked around for a clipboard, but she couldn’t find one. So she stuck a Grouchy pencil behind her ear and went to school.

“There’s a pencil in your hair,” said Rocky.

“I know,” Judy said. “Amy Namey says I can help her with her newspaper. A good reporter should have a pencil ready at all times.”

“How come you’re wearing two watches?” asked Frank.

“The better to tell time with,” said Judy in a Red-Riding-Hood-and-the-Wolf voice.

“No, really,” said Frank.

“Amy Namey has one watch that tells regular time, and one that tells France time. Just like Nellie Bly, Daredevil Reporter. Amy says Nellie Bly always kept one watch on the time it was at home in New York. The other watch she changed to the time of England or Italy or France — wherever she was.”

“Whatever,” said Rocky.

“How come Amy’s other watch is on France time?” asked Frank.

“I don’t know,” said Judy. “I’ll just have to get the scoop, won’t I?” She took the pencil from her ear and wrote herself a note. Just like a real reporter would do. “Maybe I’ll ask her when she comes to our class right after morning recess to tell us a top-secret scoop that only Mr. Todd knows.”

“Wait. She’s coming here? To Mr. Todd’s room?” asked Rocky.

“She’s not going to be in our class, is she?” asked Frank.

“No. She just has a big fat secret to tell us.”

“How do you know?” Rocky asked.

“I know,” said Judy. “Or . . . maybe I can ask her when I go over to her house to have a meeting of our new club.”

“What new club?” asked Rocky.

“What new club?” asked Frank.

“The My-Name-Is-a-Poem Club,” said Judy.

“Can we be in the club?” asked Frank.

“It’s for people all over the world who have names that rhyme. Like Judy Moody. Amy Namey. Hello! Frank does not rhyme with Pearl. Rocky does not rhyme with Zang.”

“No fair,” said Rocky. “We can’t help it that our names don’t rhyme.”

“I didn’t make the rules,” said Judy.

“What if I change my name to Earl? Earl the Pearl rhymes.” Judy and Rocky cracked up.

“Then we’d have to call you Earl,” said Rocky. “That would be weird.”

“Okay. So keep calling me Frank and come to the Toad Pee Club meeting on Saturday morning. Don’t go to that rhyming girl’s house.”

“What do you mean?” asked Judy.

“Didn’t Stink tell you? We’re having a really big, important meeting of the Toad Pee Club,” said Frank.

“How come?”

“We want to enter Toady in a race they’re having at the pet store that morning. Fur & Fangs. You can win a tarantula.”

“Stink told you this?” asked Judy.

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s a girl tarantula named Trudy,” added Frank. “It’s a painted tarantula and has orange stripes.”

“And it has eight eyes, and fangs, and it keeps away robbers,” said Rocky.

“Robbers!” said Judy. “There aren’t any robbers around here.”

“Yah-huh. Friend robbers,” Rocky said. “Maybe it works on people who steal other people’s friends, like Little Miss You-Know-Who.”

“Well, sorry, but I have to go to my new club. Amy Namey says —”

“AmyNameyAmyNamey. That girl’s all you talk about now,” said Rocky.

“Amy Namey sounds lame-y if you ask me,” said Frank.

“Ha! Amy Namey said you’d say that!” said Judy.

Rocky looked at Frank. Frank looked at Rocky and shrugged.

“What’s wrong with you guys?” said Judy. “Yesterday you liked her.”

“Yeah, and yesterday you didn’t like her,” said Rocky.

“Just ’cause she rhymes,” said Frank. “We were friends with you FIRST. Before Suzy New-Club came along.”

“Yeah, along comes Amy Rhymey and you forget about us,” Rocky said.

“I bet any money a toad never peed on her,” said Frank. “So she can’t be in OUR club. No way.”

“Shh! Here she comes!” said Judy.

“Bonjour!” said Amy Namey. “That means ‘hello’ in France.”

“Whatever,” said Rocky.

“Hey, can we ask you a question?” asked Frank.

“Okay, shoot,” said Amy. “But hurry up. I have to give a report to your class.”

“Did a toad ever pee on you?” asked Rocky.

“What? NO!” said Amy.

“See?” Rocky and Frank said to Judy.