My Pops Is Tops! (4 page)

“You know we’re going to Pops’s,” Katie said, stroking his soft brown-and-white fur. “You’re such a smart dog.”

“And loud, too.” Mrs. Carew laughed. “He’s barking right in my ear.”

“Pepper, down!” Katie ordered, pulling her cocker spaniel onto her lap.

Katie giggled when she saw the big sign on the gate. In gold letters, it said Marsh Manor. But when Katie was little, she couldn’t say “Marsh Manor” very well. She called it “Marshmallow.” Sometimes she still did.

All the people who lived in Marshmallow were grandparents, just like Pops. Most of them didn’t work anymore. So the community was more like camp. Besides all the houses on the tree-lined streets, there were also tennis courts, a golf course, and a swimming pool. But best of all was the clubhouse. It was a big white brick building. Inside it had a restaurant, a gym, and a game room. Pops and his friends played cards and board games, as well as Ping-Pong and pool.

“Okay, we’re here,” Katie’s dad said as he pulled up in front of the small white house.

“Ruff! Ruff!”
Pepper barked loudly as he jumped at the car door. Katie laughed and opened it for him. Pepper ran up the front porch steps.

“I thought I heard my four-legged grand-son,” Pops said, opening the door. “Whoa! Nice to see you, too,” he added as Pepper leaped up and licked his hand.

“Hi, Dad,” Katie’s father said, giving Pops a hug before he even put down Katie’s suitcase.

“Hi, Davy,” Pops said.

Katie giggled. Most people called her father David or Dave. But her grandfather always called him Davy. It made him sound like a little kid.

It was really hard for Katie to imagine her father as a kid. Every time she tried, all she could picture was a baby’s tiny body with her dad’s big grown-up head on top. It was
not
a pretty picture.

“Hi, Wendy,” Pops greeted Katie’s mom. “Are you all ready for the big wedding?”

“I hope so,” Katie’s mom said. “I packed in a hurry.”

“And speaking of hurrying . . .” Katie’s father said, looking at his watch. “We can’t hang around. Otherwise we’ll hit traffic going to the airport.”

“You go ahead,” Pops told him. “And don’t worry about a thing. Katie, Pepper, and I are going to have a great time this weekend.”

“Thanks for Sunday, Dad,” Katie’s father said.

“No problem,” Pops assured him. “I’m finally making it to the Olympics. At my age!” He smiled at Katie.

Katie forced herself to smile back. She sure wished she was looking forward to it as much as Pops was.

“That was delicious,” Katie said that night as she ate the last forkful of her grandfather’s special blueberry pancakes.

“You were an excellent helper,” Pops told her. “I didn’t know you were such a great chef.”

“Well, I take cooking classes on Wednesdays,” Katie explained. “And most Saturdays my friends and I meet at our house for cooking club.” She looked down at her empty plate. “I love having breakfast for supper,” she said.

“I don’t think there should be any rules about when to eat pancakes,” Pops agreed. “Basically, I hate rules!”

Katie had once said the exact same thing. And when the magic wind came and turned Katie into her principal, she got rid of all the school rules. What a disaster that had been!

“Well, there have to be some rules,” she told Pops.

“True,” Pops said. “But I don’t have to like ’em!”

Katie giggled. Her grandfather was the funniest man she knew.

“Why don’t you and Pepper go set up the checkerboard in the guest room?” Pops told Katie. “I’ll clean up out here and then join you.”

“Okay,” Katie said, getting out of her seat. “Come on, Pepper.”

Pepper wagged his stubby brown tail and followed Katie into the spare room. He climbed up onto the chair beside her as she started to place the red and black checkers on the board.

While Katie waited for Pops, she noticed the leather-bound photo album on the night-stand. “Oh, cool,” she said. The book was filled with black-and-white photos of when Pops was a young man. Ones Katie had never seen before. They were really funny.

There was Pops, sitting on top of a motorcycle. He was wearing a black leather jacket and boots. In another picture, Pops was in swim trunks at the beach. He was making muscles with both of his arms. Katie turned the page and spotted a picture of her grandfather wearing a crewneck white sweater with a big letter
T
on it. He was holding a girl in a short skirt high up in the air.

“Oh, that’s from my cheerleading days,” Pops said as he walked into the room and peered over her shoulder. “I thought you’d get a kick out of those pictures.”

“Your what?”

“My cheerleading photo.” He smiled. “I look pretty good, don’t I?”

“You were a cheerleader?” Katie asked with surprise.

“Sure was,” Pops said proudly.

“But . . . but . . . you’re a boy!” Katie exclaimed.

“In college there are boy cheerleaders, too,” Pops told her. He turned the page. “See, there I am with my megaphone, shouting to the crowd.”

“You’re teasing me,” Katie said.

“No, I was a cheerleader. And I can prove it,” Pops said. “Watch this.” He raised his hands high above his head in a V shape. “V-I-C-T-O-R-Y is our battle cry. GO, TEAM!”

Katie watched in amazement as her grandfather leaped off the ground with his legs spread to either side and his arms straight up.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “That was incredible. Can you teach me that?”

Pops rubbed his back and sat down for a minute. “Maybe later. But how about I show you a picture of your father at four years old, all dressed up like a girl for Halloween?” Pops suggested, pulling out another photo album.

“My daddy dressed like a girl?” Katie asked excitedly. “Where? Where?”

Katie and her grandfather spent the rest of the night looking at old pictures. It was so much fun, Katie forgot all about the school Olympics. At least she did until Pops stood up and stretched.

“Guess these old bones need a rest.” He groaned slightly. “That cheerleading jump really made my legs sore. Good night, honey.”

Katie sighed. If one jump was too much work for Pops, how was he going to make it through a whole day of Olympic events?

Katie awoke to a big, red, wet tongue splashing across her cheek. “Good morning, Pepper.” She giggled, wiping the dog slobber from her face.

Pepper looked up at her and wagged his tail. Then he used his teeth to pull her covers off.

“I guess you want to go out,” Katie said, sitting up in bed. “Okay. Just give me a minute to get dressed and brush my teeth.”

Pops was still sleeping. Katie could hear him snoring in his bed as she walked past his room to the bathroom.

“Shhh . . .” Katie warned Pepper. “Don’t wake him.”

Pepper wagged his stubby brown tail.

A few minutes later, Katie was dressed and ready. She picked up a tennis ball and walked toward the door. “Come on. We’ll go play in the front yard,” she said.

Pepper jumped up excitedly.

As Katie stepped outside, she felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. “Whoa, it’s chilly this morning,” she told Pepper as they bounded down the steps.

But Pepper didn’t seem to notice the wind. Maybe that was because it wasn’t blowing on him. It wasn’t blowing the trees, either.

In fact, the wind was just blowing on Katie.

Uh-oh.
Katie gulped. This was no ordinary wind. This was the magic wind.

The magic wind grew stronger then, circling Katie. The tornado whipped around wildly. It was so powerful that Katie was sure it was going to blow her away.

And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone. And so was Katie Kazoo.

She’d turned into someone else . . . switcheroo

The question was, who?

Before Katie could figure that out, Pepper started barking wildly. Katie looked out through her glasses to see two older men walking up the drive toward her.