by Judy Delton
By the next Pee Wee meeting, they had lots and lots of trash.
“Have you been working hard to save the earth?” asked Mrs. Peters when she greeted them.
All the Pee Wees talked at once.
“I put a brick in the tank of our toilet, to save water, Mrs. Peters,” said Patty.
“That’s nothing,” said Roger. “I put a brick in lots of toilets. My grandma’s and my aunt’s and my cousin’s.”
“I hope you asked them first,” said Mrs. Peters.
“I planted my tree already,” said Rachel. “A weeping willow.”
“Why is it weeping?” asked Tim.
“Probably because it didn’t want to be in Rachel’s yard!” shouted Roger.
Rachel ignored Roger. Maybe she didn’t hear him, thought Molly. But Roger picked on Rachel. He loved to make her mad.
“Good for you, Rachel,” said Mrs. Peters.
“I stopped a lady on the street,” said Kevin. “She was smoking. I told her she was polluting her body.”
The Pee Wees cheered.
“We must be careful not to be rude,” said Mrs. Peters. “Try not to step on toes.”
“Did you step on her toes, Kevin?” asked Tim.
“That’s just an expression, silly,” said Rachel.
Roger’s hand was waving.
“I stopped using paper towels,” he said. “Because of the trees.”
“He wipes his hands on his shirt instead, Mrs. Peters! I saw him,” shouted Sonny.
Roger gave Sonny a mean look.
“Well, you did. It’s the truth,” said Sonny.
“I brush my teeth without water,” said Kenny proudly.
“Yuck!” said Lisa. “How do you rinse the toothpaste out of your mouth? Is your mouth all white inside?”
All the Pee Wees ran over to Kenny to look in his mouth.
“It isn’t,” he said.
“You swallowed it! Gross!” cried Rachel.
Molly told about all the trash they had collected for recycling. “We are going to use it twice,” she said.
“Good for you,” said Mrs. Peters. “There will be a prize for the one who does the most creative thing with trash,” she added.
Now Molly’s mind was really spinning. Maybe an egg carton jewelry box wasn’t creative enough. She had to find something no one else would think of. She had to win that prize!
Mrs. Peters talked some more about recycling. She talked about trees and water and pollution and clean air. She showed them the Save-the-Earth badge. And she showed them a short film about endangered species.
“I’m glad you all had so many things to report,” she said.
The Scouts sang their song and said their pledge. They played games and played with baby Nick. Then they had ginger cookies and milk.
“Next week we’ll give the prize for the most creative recycling,” said Mrs. Peters as they left. “And then we’ll have a campaign to collect old newspapers.”
“I think we have enough trash,” said Mary Beth. “Come and see what we’ve got,” she said to the boys, on the way to Molly’s. “We better start recycling it.”
When the Scouts got to Molly’s house, Molly’s mother said, “What are all those bags behind the garage?”
Molly told her.
“It’s good to recycle,” said Mrs. Duff. “But those bags are killing the grass and they will attract mice.”
Mary Beth was right. It was time to put this trash to a new use.
Lisa held up an old hot-water bottle.
“I’ll bet it leaks,” said Molly.
“It must be good for something,” said Tracy.
“I’m going to use these buttons,” said Lisa. “They are perfectly good buttons and someone threw them away.”
“They’re all different colors,” said Mary Beth. “You can’t wear a blouse with all different kinds of buttons on it.”
“I’m not putting them on a blouse,” said Lisa mysteriously.
“Tell us!” shouted Tim.
Lisa shook her head. She picked all the buttons out of the trash and put them into her pocket.
“Here’s a doorbell!” shouted Kenny. “I’m going to put it on my door.”
“We have a doorbell already,” Patty reminded him.
“Two is better,” said Kenny.
All the Pee Wees found something to recycle.
“Let’s go down in my basement and make this stuff,” said Molly.
The Scouts took what they had found and followed Molly. Each one wanted to win Mrs. Peters’s prize.
Kenny worked on the old doorbell.
Lisa worked with her buttons and some old wire.
Tracy decided to make earrings out of some small springs she found.
“I can paint them with colored nail polish!” she said.
Molly looked and looked through a big trash bag. She was still looking for something special. Something that no one else would think of. Something good enough to win the prize.
Not jewelry.
Not doorbells.
Not egg carton jewelry boxes.
All of a sudden she saw something. It was in the bottom of the bag. It was white. When she pulled it up, she saw that it was a curtain. A long white lace curtain. And underneath it were some more curtains just like it.
“Ooh,” said Mary Beth. “Those look brand-new! I wish I’d found them. I’d make a doll dress.”
“There are too many for a doll dress,” said Molly. “I am going to make a dress for me. A lace dress.”
Now the other girls wanted to make dresses. But Molly had found the best material.
“Ho, you can’t sew,” said Roger. “You need a sewing machine to make a dress.”
“Do not,” said Molly, even though what Roger said sounded true.
“I’ll use pins.”
Molly ran upstairs and got her mother’s pincushion. She held the curtains up in front of her. She folded them and gathered them and tucked them. She used lots and lots of pins.
The curtains were long. They went to the floor, even with pins in them. The sleeves hung down to Molly’s fingertips.
“It looks beautiful!” said Tracy.
“It looks like you are wearing curtains,” said Roger. “Ha, ha, Molly’s a window! Molly’s a window!”
“I think it looks too pretty to wear for every day,” said Mary Beth. “It should be for a fancy party.”
Molly’s heart jumped. It would be a wedding dress! It was white and it was lace. Mrs. Peters would be very proud of her! She would say, Look at Molly! She has made her own wedding dress!
A wedding dress was very, very creative. No other Scout would make her own wedding dress. Molly was sure to be the only one. Unless she told them what she was doing. And she wouldn’t. It would be her secret. She would finish it after everyone had gone.
She took the dress off and pretended to be interested in what the others were doing. But inside she had her own warm little secret. This wedding dress would make her a winner.
“Look,” said Tracy. She hooked her spring earrings behind her ears and they bobbed up and down. The metal showed through even though she’d used three coats of nail polish.
She’ll never win, thought Molly. No way. “They are pretty,” she told Tracy. “They bounce like little curls.”
Lisa’s button secret turned out to be buttons on wire. She strung them in a row and then put it around her arm for a bracelet.
“That’s smart,” said Molly. But not smart enough to win, she wanted to add.
Kenny’s doorbell wouldn’t ring. “I have to get a battery,” he said.
Rachel was painting her egg carton with an old can of spray paint. It was pretty but not pretty enough. It was no wedding dress, that was for sure.
“We have to go home and eat,” said Kenny. “We can finish tomorrow.”
As soon as the Scouts left, Molly worked on her dress. “I’ll be older and bigger when I get married,” she said out loud to herself. “I better make this go
wn longer and fatter.”
Molly let three pins out in the waist. She made the sleeves fatter and the hem longer. Then she made a veil for her head, and a long train that dragged on the floor in back of her. Just like a real bride, she thought.
She ran to her drawer and got some hair ribbons. She tied them on the sleeves. She put one long one around her waist. She got some of her mother’s artificial flowers from a vase in the living room. She pinned them to her belt and on the top of her head.
When she looked in the mirror, she was shocked.
“I’m a real bride!” she said out loud.
She wanted to rush right over to Mrs. Peters and show her. But it was too late. Mrs. Peters might be in bed. Molly had done what her father said, used something twice. She definitely was saving the earth. She thought of all those wasted new wedding dresses, and she, Molly, would put a label in hers that said MADE WITH 100 PERCENT RECYCLED GOODS. She was bursting with pride. What was an old egg carton compared to a wedding gown?
And besides saving the earth, she’d win a prize. She didn’t ever remember being so happy or so patriotic.
She took her dress off and folded it carefully. The sooner she got to bed and fell asleep, the sooner the Pee Wee meeting would come.
CHAPTER 4
Molly Is a Window
It seemed to take forever, but finally Tuesday came. Molly took her recycled curtain dress to the meeting in a big box. She would put it on in Mrs. Peters’s bathroom.
All of the Pee Wees were carrying things.
Tracy had on her bobbing-spring earrings.
Lisa wore her button bracelet.
Kenny was ringing his doorbell.
And Rachel’s jewelry box still looked like an egg carton.
“Now!” said Mrs. Peters. “I can’t wait to see what my Scouts have done to recycle!”
Everyone’s hand was waving.
The prize was in a bag in front of Mrs. Peters.
“I’ll bet it’s a book,” whispered Patty. “A book about saving the earth.”
“It looks more like a game,” said Kevin. “One of those new ecology games.”
“Let’s start with Tim,” said Mrs. Peters.
Molly liked the way Mrs. Peters started with shy people. People who didn’t wave their hands.
Tim held up money he had gotten from cans and scrap metal he had collected and turned in.
“Good for you.” Mrs. Peters smiled at Tim. “If everyone collected metal, the earth wouldn’t run short.”
“But he didn’t actually recycle it himself, Mrs. Peters,” said Rachel.
“There are many ways of recycling, Rachel,” said Mrs. Peters.
“She likes their way better,” whispered Rachel to Molly. “She didn’t make that much fuss over my jewelry box when I came in.”
It was just like school, thought Molly. Trying to know what the teacher wanted. It was a full-time job for a second-grader.
Mrs. Peters called on Tracy. She showed her jumpy earrings.
Lisa showed her button bracelet.
All the Scouts took their turns. Molly wanted to be last. The best for last. Mrs. Peters looked at old lampshades made into funny hats. She saw belts made into dog collars.
“Let’s have a little break before we hear from Mary Beth and Molly,” said Mrs. Peters. “We could use a cold drink.”
Was Mrs. Peters getting tired? Bored? Had she seen enough old junk for the day? Maybe Nick would wake up and distract her. Maybe the time would be up and Molly would have to wait until next week! Maybe Mary Beth would take too long with her turn.
It took a long time for the Pee Wees to drink their sodas. Roger took ages collecting the cans and straws. Mrs. Peters took ages putting the soda cans into the machine that squished them flat. Twelve cans. One by one by one.
Mrs. Peters began to talk about acid rain. Had she forgotten about recycling?
“Mrs. Peters,” called Mary Beth at last. “Can I show what I recycled?”
“Oh, yes,” said their leader. “We still have you and—”
“And Molly,” said Mary Beth.
That was loyal of Mary Beth to remember her. Mary Beth was a loyal best friend.
Mary Beth reached under the table for a big, big package she had with her. She took it out and held it up.
It looked like a person! Was it all right to make a person out of trash?
“It’s a scarecrow!” blurted out Mary Beth proudly. “It’s an old mop for a head, and a stick for a body. I found this old dress in the trash, and the hat and the old necklace. Then I tied these old cans on the skirt so when it flapped in the wind the noise would scare the crows away from a garden.”
Mrs. Peters looked impressed. “Mary Beth has used the most old things in her project,” she said. “Just look at all the old things on her scarecrow.”
“I got the idea from Molly,” said Mary Beth. “Instead of just a dress, I thought I’d use lots of old things.”
Copycat! thought Molly. And what does she mean, “just a dress”? She had given Molly’s idea away. It would not be a surprise anymore. What kind of a best friend was this anyway?
“Are there crows in your yard?” asked Rachel.
Mary Beth shook her head. “But there could be,” she added.
“Have you got a garden?” demanded Roger.
“Well no, but …” said Mary Beth.
“Ho, no garden, no crows! What good’s something to scare crows if there are no crows!” he chortled.
“I can give it to a farmer,” said Mary Beth. She looked as if she might cry.
Molly wished she wasn’t last. Everyone was restless. They wanted to go home.
“All right, Molly. Let’s see what you have,” said Mrs. Peters.
Molly went into the bathroom and put on her dress and veil.
She pinned it the way she had at home. But it didn’t look as good as it did in her bedroom mirror. The sleeves were different lengths and she had forgotten the flowers. The veil didn’t stay on and there was a spot on one of the curtains that Molly had not seen before. It looked like catsup.
“Hurry up!” she could hear Roger shouting. “Are you melting down tin cans or what?”
When Molly came out, everyone stared. No one said anything. Maybe they were overcome with her beauty, Molly thought.
“It’s those curtains,” Roger finally said. “Molly’s recycled into a window!”
Everyone in the room began to laugh. Not a little laugh. Not a chuckle. But a big holding-your-breath kind of laugh. Even Mrs. Peters was trying not to laugh.
“It’s not a window!” said Molly. “It’s a wedding gown! I made a wedding gown from old curtains!”
Mrs. Peters clapped her hands. She tried to frown.
“It’s very unusual,” she said.
Kenny held his doorbell up to his stomach. “Look, guys, I’m a door!” he said.
“Let’s not tease Molly,” said Mrs. Peters, holding up her hand. “It is sort of recycling. You are on the right track, Molly,” she went on.
“Yeah, but you’ve got the wrong engine!” shouted Kevin.
“I was thinking of something more—practical,” said Mrs. Peters.
Molly sat down. The pins were sticking her. She was afraid she would cry.
“I think the winner is Mary Beth,” said Mrs. Peters. “All your things were wonderful, but Mary Beth used the most items. And second prize goes to Tim, who sold the most scrap metal,” she said.
Her best friend, Mary Beth, had won the prize. And she, Molly the earthsaver, had not even come in second! Old tin cans had come in ahead of her beautiful wedding dress! Maybe Mrs. Peters did not understand that Molly was going to wear this dress. To really get married in it someday. Why else would she have made it so large?
But everyone was gathered around the winners. Making a fuss over a dingy scarecrow. And a bunch of old cans.
Molly wasn’t sure she wanted to save the earth anymore. She would just put those curtains back in the garbage.
CHAPTER 5
Save Those Trees!
Mary Beth opened her prize.
It wasn’t a game.
It wasn’t a book.
“A can crusher!” shouted Mary Beth. “Just what I wanted!”
“Now you can crush your own soda cans,” said Mrs. Peters.
“I’ll let you use it too,” said Mary Beth to Molly. “You can come over to my house and crush your cans.”
Molly did not want to share a prize. She didn’t want Mary Beth to feel sorry for her.
The second prize went to Tim. He got a little tree.
“It is a little pine sapling,” said Mrs. Peters. “You can plant it in your backyard and watch it grow.”
Tim touched the tree’s green needles.
“It’ll be a Christmas tree,” said Kevin. “You can decorate it at Christmas and you won’t have to cut down a real one.”
“And now, before our pledge and our song, I want to tell you about our next Save-the-Earth project. Newspapers!”
The Pee Wees cheered. All except Molly. She wasn’t going to get excited about a bunch of old papers.
“This week we’ll collect them and tie them in bundles and take them to a paper company for recycling. Your newspapers will have a whole new life as a grocery bag or a notebook or a paper cup!”
“Hip hip hooray!” shouted Kevin.
The Scouts said their pledge and sang their song.
Molly put her dress in the box and started home.
“I really liked your wedding dress,” said Patty on the way. “I think you should have won.”
“I do too,” said Mary Beth, putting her arm around Molly. “I wouldn’t have thought of a scarecrow if it wasn’t for you.”
“What’s in the box?” asked Molly’s mother when she got home.
Molly showed her family the wedding dress.
“I saved the old curtains,” she said. “But I didn’t win.”
Molly’s mother put her arm around her.
“It is very creative,” she said.
“But I hope you don’t plan on wearing it soon,” said Mr. Duff. “I’d hate to lose my daughter to Roger White at this young age.”
