Lucky Dog Days (5 page)

During the week they had decided to give Mrs. Peters an end-of-the-summer
thank-you party. Mrs. Peters had worked hard too.

Molly’s mother made a huge cake.

Molly made a dog out of colored icing for the top. She gave the dog a black nose. And a blue ribbon around his neck. A tag on the ribbon said
LUCKY
in little letters.

Sonny’s mother sent potato salad from the deli. “Because she works,” said Sonny proudly. “Otherwise she would have made it herself, she said.”

Rachel’s mother made little bitty sandwiches in the shape of dogs and cats. They had cream cheese and olives in them. Some had anchovies.

“Yuck,” said Roger when he tasted one. He spit the anchovy out.

Rachel sighed. “My mother said she thought that might happen,” Rachel told them. “She said some children might not
know what anchovies were, if they didn’t go to parties often.”

Roger stuck out his tongue at her. He brought hot dogs. His mother called them perfectly good-tasting hot dogs.

Tracy brought soda pop. “Allergy-free,” she said. “It has no preservatives in it.”

The Pee Wees couldn’t wait to surprise Mrs. Peters. They snuck the food in the back door while some of the Pee Wees went to the front.

They tied balloons to the chairs.

They put the food on the table.

When Mrs. Peters came into the kitchen, they all yelled, “SURPRISE!”

Tiny and Lucky both began to bark.

“How exciting!” cried Mrs. Peters. “Oh, my goodness! What a nice way to end the dog days of August.”

“Dog days?” said Kevin.

“The end-of-summer days in August are called dog days,” Mrs. Peters explained. “When there is green algae on the lake and you can’t swim.”

Lucky howled at her words. Owoooo! “We have our own dog days,” said Molly. “We have had dog days the whole Help-a-Pet Month!”

Everyone laughed and got in line behind Mrs. Peters for food.

Then their leader had badges to give out to the Scouts for working so hard at the rummage sale to help a pet. The Pee Wees pinned them on their shirts.

“Our troop surely helped pets more than any other troop!” said Mrs. Peters proudly.

The Scouts could not wait any longer.

“Do we have a mascot?” shouted Roger.

“Can we keep Lucky?” asked Molly.

Mrs. Peters smiled. The Scouts did not move.

“Yes!” she said. “There were enough mothers who could take turns keeping Lucky. So he is our new mascot.”

Lucky barked a high puppy bark. “Yip! Yip!”

Tiny barked a low bark. “Arf! Arf!”

And Troop 23 cheered loudly. “Yeah!” they shouted. “He is ours!”

“And now,” Mrs. Peters went on, “I have another little surprise for you.”

The Scouts looked up at their leader.

What kind of a surprise? Molly wondered.

They had their new badges.

They had a Scout mascot.

What kind of a surprise could it be?

The Pee Wees sat on the floor in a big circle. Mrs. Peters sat in a chair. She smiled at the Scouts. Then she said, “My
surprise is some big news. I am going to have a little Pee Wee Scout of my own. In a few months I am going to have a baby!”

The Pee Wees were very quiet. Molly felt shocked. She had never thought of Mrs. Peters with a baby of her own. She was their Scout leader. She wasn’t a mother.

Some of the Pee Wees looked at each other.

We should say we are happy, thought Molly. But instead Molly wanted to say, Will you still be our leader?

No one said anything. They just sat and looked at Mrs. Peters.

Then Roger whispered to Molly, “Babies can’t be Scouts.”

“I know you are all surprised,” Mrs. Peters went on. “But I will still be your Scout leader. Our troop will still meet here every Tuesday. We will just have one
more little Scout at our meetings.”

“Yeah!” shouted Molly.

Then all the Pee Wees cheered.

The boys ran up and shook Mrs. Peters’s hand. The girls gave her little hugs.

Then, when Mr. Peters came home, they cheered for him too.

A baby might be fun, thought Molly. She didn’t have any little brothers or sisters.

“Maybe we can take it for a walk in a stroller,” said Mary Beth.

Mary Beth was very motherly, thought Molly.

“My mom will buy it a real cute dress if it’s a girl,” said Rachel.

“I hope it doesn’t have allergies,” said Tracy, wiping her nose.

It was time for the surprise party to end.

They had come to give Mrs. Peters a
surprise. And instead, she gave one to them!

The Pee Wees got into a circle. They held hands.

First they said the Pee Wee Scout pledge together. Then they sang the Pee Wee Scout song.

Suddenly Molly felt a good feeling in the bottom of her stomach. It felt like her birthday or Christmas. But it wasn’t.

“Rat’s knees!” she said. “I love Pee Wee Scouts!”