Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up

by Herman Parish

  “Did you fall?” asked Amelia Bedelia, concerned. “Did the wind push you over?”

  “No,” said Mrs. West, laughing. “This is just the best news I’ve had in a long time—all thanks to you, Amelia Bedelia!”

  That night, before dinner, the phone rang. It was Mrs. West. “Guess what, Amelia Bedelia?” she said. “Your friend Wild Bill found a buyer for my cars right away. With the money from the sale, I’ll be able to make my repairs.”

  “That’s great,” said Amelia Bedelia.

  “So I don’t have to sell my lot,” Mrs. West went on. “In fact, I’ve decided to donate that land to the community to be made into a park.”

  “That’s really great!” said Amelia Bedelia. “A park to play in is way better than a place to park cars!”

  One bright and sunny morning not too long after Mrs. West sold her cars, Amelia Bedelia jumped out of bed and did a little dance with Finally. The big day was here at last. She could hardly wait!

  First, Heather and Holly and their parents drove to Amelia Bedelia’s house. The girls were so excited that they skipped and ran and turned cartwheels in the yard while the grown-ups talked.

  But finally everybody was ready. The girls jumped on their bikes. The moms and dads walked behind. Amelia Bedelia’s mom carried a large white box, and her dad held Finally’s leash.

  Amelia Bedelia felt easy and breezy, zipping along. She led the way right to the empty lot next to Mrs. West’s house. Only it wasn’t an empty lot anymore.

  Today was the new park’s opening day!

  Amelia Bedelia braked her bike and coasted to a stop. Heather and Holly were right behind her.

  “Wow,” Holly whispered.

  “Amazing!” Heather added. “I didn’t think it would be this good!”

  “I did,” said Amelia Bedelia, looking around with a satisfied smile. “I knew it would be the best park in town!”

  It was a park made for adventures. There were curving, swooping lanes for riding bikes. There was a wall to practice rock climbing. There were nets and ladders made of rope to clamber up and long, long ropes to swing on. There was a fountain kids could splash in. And best of all, there was—

  “Our tree house!” Holly exclaimed.

  It was the best tree house in the world. Amelia Bedelia was sure of it. It had everything the girls had talked about: a rope ladder, a hammock, a telescope, and two ways to get down—a slide and a pole. It was the perfect place for an explorers’ club to meet.

  A little black dog with long legs came dashing up to sniff Finally. Diana came running after her. “Sorry!” she gasped. “Licorice is very excited about this new park!”

  “We are too!” said Amelia Bedelia.

  Everyone in the neighborhood was excited. The park was full of parents and kids. Pete was trying out the climbing wall. Doris was cheering him on. Amelia Bedelia waved at her friend Charlie, who was chasing his poodle, Pierre, through the fountain. Mrs. West was sitting on a bench, looking around with a wide smile, and Wild Bill was at her side.

  “Here you go, Amelia Bedelia,” said her mother, handing her the large white box.

  Amelia Bedelia took the box and brought it over to Wild Bill.

  “Howdy!” said Wild Bill. Mrs. West gave Amelia Bedelia a kiss on the cheek.

  “Howdy!” Amelia Bedelia said back. “I brought something for you!” And she handed the box to Wild Bill.

  “For me?” Wild Bill looked surprised. He opened the box carefully. First he smiled. Then he started to laugh out loud.

  “Look what this little lady has done in her kitchen!” he chortled.

  Inside the box was a cake in the shape of a hat—a ten-gallon cowboy hat.

  “You said you’d eat your hat if we cleaned up this lot and got a tree house here,” said Amelia Bedelia. “And we did!”

  Amelia Bedelia’s parents had forks and paper plates too. Wild Bill served pieces of his cake hat, chuckling all the while.

  “A toast!” he said, holding up a piece of cake on a fork.

  “No, it’s cake,” said Amelia Bedelia. “Chocolate with marshmallow frosting.”

  Wild Bill shook his head. “A toast means that we honor somebody who has done something extraordinary,” he said. “And this toast is for you. To Miss Amelia Bedelia and her friends! They did a lot to make this new park happen!”

  “To Amelia Bedelia and her friends!” everyone in the park called out, and Amelia Bedelia blushed.

  Amelia Bedelia and Heather and Holly sat down on the bench beside Mrs. West to eat cake and watch people enjoying the park. “We want to ask you something,” said Heather to Mrs. West.

  “And tell you something,” Amelia Bedelia added.

  “Go right ahead!” Mrs. West said cheerfully.

  “We found a name for our club at last,” said Amelia Bedelia. “We are going to be the Easy Breezy East and West Explorers’ Club!”

  “Perfect,” said Mrs. West, smiling. “And what did you want to ask?”

  “Will you be in the club too?” Holly asked. “You’re the best explorer we know.”

  “I’d be honored,” Mrs. West answered.

  “We’ll meet in the tree house in the summer,” said Holly.

  “And in the winter we can meet in my house!” said Mrs. West.

  “Will you tell us some more about your adventures?” asked Heather.

  “I certainly will,” said Mrs. West. “And we will all follow the first and only rule of the Easy Breezy East and West Explorers’ Club . . .”

  “No being bored!” all four explorers shouted together.

  “Explorers rule!” added Amelia Bedelia.

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  Credits

  Cover art © 2015 by Lynne Avril.

  Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h.

  Copyright

  Gouache and black pencil were used to prepare the black-and-white art.

  Amelia Bedelia is a registered trademark of Peppermint Partners, LLC.

  AMELIA BEDELIA CLEANS UP. Text copyright © 2015 by Herman S. Parish III. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Lynne Avril. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  www.harpercollinschildrens.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Parish, Herman.

  Amelia Bedelia cleans up / by Herman Parish ; pictures by Lynne Avril.

  pages cm—(Amelia Bedelia ; #6)

  Summary: “Amelia Bedelia and her friends clean up a vacant lot and build a clubhouse—with surprising results! Includes a guide to idioms used in the book and features black-and-white art throughout”—Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-06-233401-5 (hardback)—ISBN 978-0-06-233400-8 (pbk. ed.)—ISBN 978-0-06-233403-9 (pob) [1. Clubs—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Tree houses—Fiction. 4. Clubhouses—Fiction. 5. Parks—Fiction. 6. Humorous stories.] I. Title. PZ7.P2185Aobg 2015 [E]—dc23 2014032539

  EPub Edition © January 2015 ISBN 9780062334022

  15 16 17 18 CG/OPM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FIRST EDITION

  Greenwillow Books

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