Ellie and the Good-Luck Pig

by Callie Barkley

  Good-bye, Plum

  Ellie opened her mouth to speak. Mr. Fisk turned to listen. He was watching her, waiting. . . .

  Finally, Ellie blurted out, “I’ll—I mean we’ll really miss her.”

  She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t say anything bad about Plum. She was such a sweet pig. And deep down, Ellie knew Plum would be happy at Mr. Fisk’s farm sanctuary.

  The rest of the morning was a blur for Ellie. Mr. Fisk went home to get his animal trailer. He returned a little while later to take Plum to her new home.

  Before Mr. Fisk loaded Plum into the trailer, the girls and Ms. Sullivan said their good-byes. When it was Ellie’s turn, she leaned in close to the pig’s fuzzy pink ear.

  “Thanks for the good luck, Plum,” she whispered. “And good luck to you at your new place.”

  Plum looked Ellie in the eye and snorted a few times.

  Then the girls and Ms. Sullivan waved as Mr. Fisk drove off. Ellie stood there the longest, watching them go.

  “Come on, Ellie!” Liz called. “Want to ride home with us?”

  Ellie looked over toward the barn door. Liz, Marion, and Amy had their bikes out and their helmets on. Ellie hurried to catch up.

  Halfway home, Marion swerved around a big pothole on the bike path. “Look out!” she called to the other girls behind her. But it was too late. Liz hit the pothole but kept going. Amy hit it and cycled on.

  Then Ellie hit it—and she heard a loud pop. She stopped and got off her bike to check it out.

  Her front tire was flat.

  “Oh, no,” Ellie groaned. With Plum gone, she thought her good luck might be over. But maybe it was worse than that.

  Maybe the bad luck was about to begin.

  Ellie woke up on Sunday morning and decided to think more positively. “Ellie,” she said aloud to herself, “you’re being silly. Who has ever heard of a good-luck pig?”

  Later she made popovers with Nana Gloria. Usually, they puffed up in the oven—hollow on the inside, golden brown on the outside. Today they rose halfway, then fell sadly.

  “That’s funny,” Nana Gloria said. “Did we forget the baking soda?”

  Ellie didn’t think so, but she tried to just let it go. Now and then, these things happened.

  In the afternoon Ellie and her little brother, Toby, took their dog, Sam, for a walk. A rabbit jumped out of a bush in front of Sam. Sam strained at the leash, yanking it out of Ellie’s hand. Sam darted off after the rabbit. It took Ellie and Toby an hour to chase him down.

  Okay, thought Ellie. That felt like bad luck. But Sam was always trying to chase rabbits and squirrels. This time probably had nothing to do with Plum leaving. Right?

  The Blues

  “All right, class!” Mrs. Sienna announced Monday morning. “Clear your desks and take out a pencil. We are having a pop math quiz on symmetry.”

  The whole class groaned, Ellie loudest of all. She hated pop quizzes. They made her nervous. Then it was hard to concentrate.

  Mrs. Sienna hardly ever gave pop quizzes. “Why today?” Ellie whispered to Amy in the row next to her. Amy shrugged.

  Ellie had a feeling she knew the answer: bad luck!

  Mrs. Sienna passed out the quiz papers. Ellie looked down. The sheet was filled with shapes.

  Ellie thought hard, trying to remember: How did you know if a shape was symmetrical or not?

  She looked at each of the shapes. The longer she looked at them, the more nervous she got. Then slowly, slowly, the shapes on the page seemed to change. Now they all looked like . . . pigs!

  Ellie knew she had to calm down. She took a deep breath. She tried her best, finished the quiz, and handed in her paper.

  But she felt terrible. Ellie knew she hadn’t done well at all.

  The rest of the morning wasn’t so great either. It was gym day and Ellie didn’t have her sneakers.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Payne,” Ellie said to the gym teacher. “I forgot. I was so excited about wearing my brand-new dress. And these shoes match so well.”

  Mrs. Payne smiled warmly. “It is a lovely dress, Ellie,” she said, “and I love your shoes. But you know the rules. Only sneakers on the gym floor. You’ll have to sit on the bleachers today.”

  Finally lunchtime rolled around. Ellie hoped a little time with her friends would make her feel better.

  She opened her lunchbox and pulled out her juice box. She tried to poke the straw through, but it wouldn’t go in. She grasped the juice box tighter and tried again, and again, and—

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” Ellie cried. The straw was in. But her tight grip on the juice box sprayed juice through the straw—and all over Ellie.

  She jumped up and looked down at her dress. It was splattered all over with red fruit-punch spots.

  Ellie couldn’t hold it in any longer. The pop quiz, the forgotten sneakers, and now this!

  “My new dress!” she cried. “It’s ruined! And it’s all Mr. Fisk’s fault!”

  Ellie Talks It Out

  Liz, Amy, and Marion stared at Ellie. They looked very confused.

  “Did you just say it’s Mr. Fisk’s fault?” asked Amy.

  “The fruit punch on your dress?” added Liz.

  “What does Mr. Fisk have to do with it?” said Marion.

  Ellie sat back down. She looked at her friends. She was tired of keeping things to herself. So she decided to tell them everything.

  “Well, I don’t really mean that it’s Mr. Fisk’s fault,” she began. “It’s just . . . I think Plum was bringing me good luck. Now she’s gone. And so is my good luck!”

  She reminded the girls about the spelling test and sudden weather change on Monday. She’d gotten the lead in the play and found the money on Tuesday. “And then I won that raffle, climbed the rope the fastest in gym, and had my dentist appointment moved to a different day!”

  “Wow!” Liz exclaimed. “You really did have some good luck last week!”

  Ellie nodded. “I know!”

  The girls were quiet for a few moments. Then Amy spoke up. “But you didn’t just have good luck,” she said.

  Ellie tilted her head to one side. “What do you mean?”

  “Ellie, you’re an amazing speller,” Amy said. “Haven’t you gotten one hundreds on the last three spelling tests? You’ve learned a lot of spelling rules. Maybe you’re just a natural!”

  Ellie thought about it. It seemed to make sense.

  “And they must have loved you during your play audition,” added Marion. “That’s why they called you to sub in.”

  “And in gym,” said Liz, “you’ve always been super speedy. None of us can ever catch you in tag!”

  Ellie took a bite of her sandwich. She was letting their words sink in.

  “Okay,” she said at last, “but then why am I the only one who got a flat tire yesterday? Liz and Amy hit the pothole too.”

  Marion smiled. “I have an idea about that,” she said. “We three filled our tires with air at Ms. Sullivan’s, right after Plum left.”

  “Oh . . .” Ellie said, remembering how she’d stood by the driveway for a while. She’d been so upset about Plum, she hadn’t noticed what the girls were doing.

  “Then what about today?” Ellie said. “I forgot my gym shoes, ruined my dress, and did terribly on that quiz!”

  Amy nodded. “Yeah. Those first two do seem like bad luck.”

  “Just plain old everyday bad luck,” Marion agreed.

  Liz leaned over the table toward Ellie. “But guess what?” she said. “I didn’t do well on that quiz either.”

  “Me neither,” said Amy.

  “Neither did I!” said Marion. “Nobody was ready for it!”

  Ellie’s face brightened. “Really?” she said.

  Her friends nodded their heads and smiled.

  “So Plum wasn’t a good-luck pig?” Ellie asked.

  The girls all shook their heads.

  “And now that she’s gone, I won’t have bad luck forever?” Ellie asked.

 
“Nope!” said Liz.

  “Uh-uh,” said Amy.

  “No way,” said Marion.

  Ellie beamed. “Yes!” she cried. “I think you’re right!” All of a sudden, she felt so much better!

  In celebration, Ellie grabbed her lunchbox and threw it into the air. “Yippee!” she cried, reaching out to catch it on the way down.

  But she had forgotten that she hadn’t zipped the lunchbox. A napkin, a banana, and half a sandwich fell out. They landed on Ellie’s head. She frowned.

  Then all four friends burst out laughing.

  Clover All Over

  A few days later, after school, the girls met at The Critter Club. They had to get the barn ready for two new guests! A family was going on vacation. The Critter Club girls were going to take care of their hamster and their dog while they were away.

  After they finished their jobs, they went to sit in the clover patch. “What do you think Plum is doing right now?” Ellie asked.

  Liz giggled. “She’s either getting muddy or getting hosed off!”

  The girls all laughed. “Good one, Liz,” Ellie said, patting her on the back. As she did, Ellie’s sparkly red watch fell off. It dropped into the clover patch.

  Ellie reached to pick it up and—

  Could it be? Ellie looked closer.

  Under the watch, in the exact spot where it landed, was a four-leaf clover!

  “Oh! Look! Look!” she cried, pointing it out to Liz, Amy, and Marion. “That is just so lucky—” Ellie stopped herself. “I mean,” she said, “I guess I must have really good eyesight!”

  Read on for a sneak peek at the next Critter Club book:

  Liz and the Sand-Castle Contest

  Liz Jenkins peered through the glass side of the fish tank. “I really wish I were a fish right now!” she said.

  She and her friends, Ellie, Amy, and Marion, were at The Critter Club. They were standing around an aquarium filled with colorful fish. The girls were pet sitting the fish for a couple of weeks.

  “It would feel great to go for a swim,” Ellie agreed. “Do you think fish ever get hot?”

  Santa Vista was in the middle of a summer heat wave. Liz would bet it was about ninety-five degrees in Ms. Sullivan’s barn. It was the headquarters of The Critter Club, the animal rescue shelter the girls had started.

  “I forgot how hot it can get here,” Marion said. She had just returned from horseback riding camp. “Up in the mountains at camp, it was so cool!”

  Amy sighed. “I’m just glad my writing program is inside,” she said. “The classroom at the rec center is super air-conditioned!”

  Amy sprinkled fish food into the water. The fish raced up to the surface to snatch the crumbs.

  “You’re lucky,” Ellie said to Amy. “Nana Gloria doesn’t like turning on the air conditioner.” Nana Gloria was Ellie’s grandmother. She lived with Ellie’s family. “I’m going to melt by the time my parents get back from their trip!” She turned to Liz. “You have to take me with you to Luna Beach tomorrow!”

  Liz giggled. “I wish I could take all three of you!” she replied. “But our car is going to be packed!”

  Liz’s family was leaving the next day. They had rented a beach cottage for a long weekend. Liz could not wait. Even when it was hot at the beach, there were sea breezes and cool waves. Liz was a strong swimmer. She could body surf all weekend to stay cool.

  Liz looked down at the fish. “I’m just sorry I won’t be able to help with these guys,” Liz said.

  “That’s okay,” Ellie said. “We three can handle them. But we’ll miss you, Liz!”

  Callie Barkley loves animals. As a young girl, she dreamed of getting a cat or dog of her own until she discovered she was allergic to most of them. It was around this time that she realized the world was full of all kinds of critters that could use some love. She now lives with her husband and two kids in Connecticut. They share their home with exactly ten fish and a very active ant farm.

  Marsha Riti is an illustrator based in Austin, Texas. Her premiere picture book is The Picky Little Witch. She likes to take long walks, stopping frequently to pet neighborhood kitties.

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster • New York

  CritterClubBooks.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Callie-Barkley

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Marsha-Riti

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com • First Little Simon paperback edition February 2015 • Copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. Designed by Laura Roode. The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal Std.

  Jacket design by Laura Roode

  Jacket illustrations by Marsha Riti

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Barkley, Callie. Ellie and the good-luck pig / by Callie Barkley ; illustrated by Marsha Riti. First edition. pages cm. — (The Critter Club ; #10) Summary: After winning the lead role in a play, acing a spelling test, and finding money, second-grader Ellie wonders if the Critter Club animal shelter’s newest animal—a little pink pig—is bringing her good luck. [1. Animal shelters—Fiction. 2. Pigs—Fiction. 3. Luck—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction.] I. Riti, Marsha, illustrator. II. Title. PZ7.B250585El 2015 [Fic]—dc23 2014043208

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2403-5 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2402-8 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2404-2 (eBook)