by Nancy Krulik
Suddenly Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She turned quickly to see if someone had opened the pantry door. But the door was shut tight.
The draft on Katie’s neck grew colder. Her chef’s hat blew off her head.
But the food on the shelves wasn’t moving. The wind wasn’t blowing on it. In fact, it wasn’t blowing anywhere—except around Katie.
Which could only mean one thing: The magic wind was back!
The magic, wild tornado began blowing harder now, whipping around and around, faster and faster until …
It stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone. Katie Kazoo was back!
But so was the real Chef Pierre. And ooh la la was he confused!
Chapter 15
“What am I doing here?” Chef Pierre asked. He shook his head and looked at Katie. “And what are you doing here?”
“I … um … I took a wrong turn,” Katie told him. “I thought I was going to the arcade.”
“Zee arcade eez on a different deck,” Chef Pierre said. “Zees eez zee baker’s pantry. I never go in zee baker’s pantry. So why would I be here now? I’m supposed to be …” He stopped for a minute. “Oh right,” he said sadly. “Now I remember. I’m supposed to be carving my beeg block of chocolate. But I messed zat up. I’m not sure why. Eet eez all kind of foggy.”
Katie didn’t say anything. The truth was, Chef Pierre hadn’t messed anything up. She had. But she couldn’t explain that to him. He’d never believe her. Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it hadn’t just happened to her.
“I don’t get eet,” Chef Pierre said. “I was making a flying feesh. Zat eez zee easiest sculpture of all.”
Katie frowned. It hadn’t seemed easy to her.
“What a waste of dark chocolate,” Chef Pierre continued. “Eet was one of my best batches ever.”
“It’s too bad no one will get the chance to taste it,” Katie said. “It seems so sad that there’s all this delicious chocolate, but no one can touch it.”
Chef Pierre nodded. “I know what you mean,” he agreed. “I love eating zee chocolate after I make eet. But the captain likes having zee statues around as decorations. Eet’s just what zey do on zees ship.” He sighed heavily. “Not zat eet matters anymore. I’m not going to be cooking, eating, or carving chocolate on zees ship. Not after zee mess I just made of zee demonstration.”
Oh man. Now Katie felt even worse. Chef Pierre was probably going to be fired. And it was all her fault.
“Zee thing is, I really love zees job,” Chef Pierre said sadly. “I get to make chocolate and travel all over zee world. Zee only thing I do not like eez carving in front of a crowd. I’m not a showman. I’m a chocolate chef.”
“Maybe the captain won’t be mad,” Katie said. “Everybody can have a bad day, right?”
“Not on zees ship,” Chef Pierre told her. “Zee captain doesn’t tolerate any mistakes from anyone. Especially mistakes zat make zee passengers angry. And boy did I make zem angry.”
“I think that woman overreacted,” Katie told Chef Pierre. “You hit her with a piece of chocolate. I’ve never heard of chocolate seriously hurting anyone.”
Chef Pierre laughed. “You’re a funny child,” he told her. “What eez your name?”
“Katie,” she answered.
“Well, Katie,” Chef Pierre said, “we’d better get you out of zees pantry. Passengers aren’t supposed to be in here.”
Katie stood up and followed Chef Pierre into the kitchen. She didn’t want Chef Pierre getting into any more trouble because of her.
“There you are!”
Just then, the ship’s captain came rushing into the kitchen.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” the captain said in his loud, booming voice.
“I am so sorry, sir,” Chef Pierre said.
“Chocolate shouldn’t be for showing,” the captain explained. “It’s for eating. Your show was a disaster. But everyone is raving about the delicious dark chocolate you made.”
Katie and Chef Pierre looked curiously at the captain. What was he talking about?
“You mean zey are eating zee brick of carving chocolate?” Chef Pierre said. “Oh no. I shouldn’t have just left eet sitting there.”
“Actually, that was fine,” the captain told him. “The people were eating it up as fast as they could get their hands on it.”
“I love chocolate,” Katie piped up. “And I’ve heard Chef Pierre’s chocolate is the best! Especially his chocolate-covered strawberries …”
The captain looked down. It was the first time he even noticed Katie was standing there. “What are you doing in here, young lady?” he asked her.
“I … uh … I made a wrong turn,” Katie said nervously. He was kind of a scary guy.
The captain shook his head. “You shouldn’t be in the ship’s galley. A girl your age shouldn’t be around sharp knives and equipment.”
Katie bit her lip and tried not to laugh. He didn’t know the half of it.
The captain looked back at Pierre. “Are you aware that your performance upset several passengers? They claim they were injured.”
“I know, sir,” Pierre said. “I’ll have my things packed. I know zees is my last cruise.”
“Wait. Maybe you don’t have to fire Chef Pierre,” Katie said to the captain.
“Katie,” Chef Pierre warned. “Not now.”
The captain looked down at Katie. “That’s not for you to say, young lady.”
“But I have a great idea,” Katie told him.
The captain smiled. “I guess it won’t hurt to listen to an idea.”
“You don’t have a candy shop on the Promenade Deck,” Katie told him. “And every mall needs a candy shop. Back in Cherrydale, we have this place called Cinnamon’s Candy Shop, and all the kids love it. Why can’t you have a chocolate shop on board?”
“A chocolate shop,” Chef Pierre said. “Zat has always been my dream.”
“You could make and sell chocolate,” Katie told him. “And you wouldn’t have to put on a show.”
The captain thought for a moment. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said.
“I could make chocolate bars in zee shape of zee ship,” Chef Pierre suggested. “And, of course, small fish, mermaids, and dolphins.”
“And chocolate-covered strawberries,” Katie suggested.
“It’s worth a try,” the captain agreed. “Your chocolate is awfully good.”
“Merci, sir,” Chef Pierre said.
“Thank Katie,” the captain told him. “After all, it was her great idea.”
Chapter 16
“Where is everyone?” Katie asked Lori the next morning when she arrived at the Cruisin’ Kids Clubhouse. She was the only kid there.
“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Lori said. “Aren’t Suzanne and Lizzie with you?”
Katie shook her head. “My family ate breakfast in our cabin,” she said. “I thought Suzanne would be here before me.”
“None of the Minnows are here,” Lori said. “The other groups have already left to go to their activities. I was waiting for you guys. I thought we could play a game of volleyball by the pool this morning.”
Katie frowned. Volleyball was one of those things you couldn’t really do all by yourself.
She looked out the window at the pool below. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There, right by the snack bar, were the other Minnows. They were standing in a circle. In the middle stood Suzanne. She was holding a big sign. It said:
“Um, Lori?” Katie pointed to the Pool Deck below. “I think I found them.”
Lori followed Katie’s gaze. She spotted Suzanne and the other kids. “What is she doing?” Lori asked Katie.
“It looks like she started her own camp,” Katie told her.
“She can’t do that,” Lori said.
Katie sighed. Lori didn’t know Suzanne very well. But Katie did. Suzanne did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, wherev
er she wanted. From the looks of things, what Suzanne wanted to do now was to start her own camp.
Katie turned and headed for the door.
“Now where are you going?” Lori asked her.
“To talk to Suzanne,” Katie said.
“Wait up,” Lori said. “I’m going with you.”
A few seconds later, Katie and Lori had joined the Minnows on the Pool Deck.
“Sorry,” Suzanne told Lori. “This club is for kids only.”
“I’m a kid,” Katie told her.
“Well, I guess you can join,” Suzanne said. “But you should know this club is really different from the other one. For one thing, we don’t climb rock walls, we don’t have relay races, and we definitely don’t play wall ball.”
“What do you do?” Lori asked her.
Suzanne held out her wrist. She was wearing a purple bracelet that was made from construction paper. “Well, for one thing, we don’t wear green wristbands. We wear purple. It’s a much cooler color.”
“Okay,” Lori said. “But what activities are you going to do?”
“Right now we’re hanging out on the Pool Deck,” Suzanne told her.
“That’s an activity?” Katie asked.
Suzanne shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” she said. “And later we’re going to hang out in the library. After that we’re going to hang out in the karaoke café.”
“The karaoke café is only open to adults,” Lori reminded her.
“Oh,” Suzanne said. “Well, then we’ll hang out outside the karaoke café.”
“That sounds like lots of fun,” Lizzie said. “I’ve been to a karaoke café at home, but I’ve never been outside of one. You have the greatest ideas, Suzanne.”
Katie figured Lizzie would do whatever Suzanne told her to. And Carly just wanted to be with the other girls. But she couldn’t figure out how Suzanne had gotten Stan and Dan to be part of her club.
“I don’t get it. Why would you want to be in Suzanne’s club instead of the Cruisin’ Kids Club?” she asked the twins.
Before Stan or Dan could answer, Suzanne opened her mouth. “They’re bored with doing the same activities on every cruise. My activities are cooler.”
“We have done all the rock climbing and ice-skating a million times before,” Stan said.
“Yeah, there’s nothing new,” Dan added. “We thought we’d give this a shot.”
“But isn’t just hanging out boring?” Lori asked them.
“No,” Suzanne butted in. “Because they’re hanging out with me. And I’m never boring.” She looked at Katie. “We’re going to hang out on the other side of the Pool Deck now. Are you coming?”
Katie glanced over at Lori. She looked very sad. Katie couldn’t leave her all alone. And besides, doing nothing but hanging out actually seemed uncool to her.
“No, thanks,” she said. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
“Suit yourself,” Suzanne said. Then she turned and led the other Minnows across the deck to a row of deck chairs. “This is going to be a completely different kind of hanging out,” she told them.
“Definitely,” Katie could hear Lizzie agreeing. “This side of the pool has green and white lounge chairs. But that side has blue and white chairs. That’s completely different.”
“Well, not completely,” Carly said. “Because green and blue are in the same family. Green is actually blue and yellow mixed. The kind of green is based on how much blue and how much yellow you use and …” Carly’s voice faded into the background as she and the other kids walked away.
“The captain is not going to be happy,” Lori told Katie as they watched the kids leave. “He doesn’t want mutiny on board his ship.”
Katie gasped. A mutiny. Wow! That sounded like something that only happened on pirate ships. Suzanne had done some pretty incredible things, but this just might have been the most incredible.
There was a mutiny on the high seas. And Suzanne Lock had started it all.
Chapter 17
“Well, Katie, I guess it’s just you and me today,” Lori told her as they walked back into the Cruisin’ Kids Clubhouse together.
Katie frowned. The whole point of going on this cruise with Suzanne’s family was so she would have a friend to hang out with instead of just being with grown-ups all day. But Lori was a grown-up. A nice grown-up, but a grown-up just the same.
But Katie wasn’t going to leave. Lori looked so sad. And worried. Not that Katie blamed her. A mutiny was a pretty huge deal.
“Is there anything special you would really like to do?” Lori asked her. “Maybe something on the ship you haven’t tried yet?”
Katie thought about that. She’d been on the waterslide, played miniature golf, climbed the rock wall, and shot hoops. Just about the only thing she hadn’t done was go shopping on the Promenade Deck.
Suddenly Katie got another one of her great ideas. “That’s it!” she exclaimed excitedly.
“What’s it?” Lori asked curiously.
“I know what we can do,” she said. “And it’s something even Suzanne won’t be able to resist.”
“What is it?” Lori asked excitedly.
“I’ll show you,” Katie told her as she headed for the door. “We need to go to the Promenade Deck.”
“We’re going shopping?” Lori asked. She sounded confused.
“No,” Katie assured her. “This is something much better.”
An hour later, the Minnows were all gathered on the Promenade Deck—together. They were inside the Cruising Clothes Boutique. Each one of them was wearing a cool outfit from the store.
“See, I told you my club would do the coolest stuff ever,” Suzanne said to Katie. “And now we’re having a fashion show.” She tipped the brim of her purple sun hat over one eye and straightened the skirt of the purple-and-white sundress she would be modeling in the show.
Katie shook her head. Suzanne was unbelievable. For one thing, it hadn’t been Suzanne’s idea to put on a kids’ fashion show to advertise clothes sold on board the ship. It had been Katie’s. And it was the Cruisin’ Kids Club putting on the show, not Suzanne’s club.
But there was no point in telling Suzanne that. It was easier to let her think she’d planned the whole thing. What was important was that the kids were all having fun—together. And they were. Even the boys! Lori looked so happy. She winked at Katie and gave her a thumbs-up.
“So all we have to do is walk outside to the end of that road thing?” Stan asked Suzanne.
“It’s called a runway,” Suzanne said. “And you don’t just walk. You do a model walk. Like this.” Suzanne began prancing around the store, lifting her knees up high and stretching her legs out as she walked. She looked like a purple-and-white pony.
Lizzie began to giggle.
Suzanne stopped and glared at her. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, you mean you were serious?” Lizzie said. She gulped. “I’m sorry. I thought you were just goofing around.”
“I never joke about modeling,” Suzanne told her.
“Of course,” Lizzie said nervously. She began to walk around the store, lifting her legs up high and stretching them out, just like Suzanne had. “Is this right?”
“It’s better,” Suzanne said. “And don’t forget to turn around a few times so people can see your bathing suit cover-up from all the angles.”
Lizzie pranced around the store and turned around and around like a pinwheel. “Oooh, I’m getting dizzy,” she said.
Carly spun around, too. Suddenly, she lost her balance and wound up falling into a rack of clothes. Katie raced over to help her up.
“Don’t worry,” Carly said from beneath the pile of blouses and bathing suits. “I’m okay. Maybe I’ll just do the walking, not the spinning,” she added.
“Me too,” Lizzie said. “I’m pretty good at the walking part.” She started prancing around the store again.
“There’s no way I’m doing that,” Dan told Suzanne.
“Me neither,” S
tan said.
Suzanne looked really mad. “You have to. This is a fashion show. That’s a fashion show walk.” Then she groaned. “Oh, what’s the point? This is never going to work.”
Uh-oh. It looked like Suzanne was about to storm out of the shop. Katie had to do something.
“Don’t some fashion shows have dancers?” she asked Suzanne nervously.
Suzanne shrugged. “I guess so. Why?”
“Do you guys dance?” Katie asked the twins.
“No,” both brothers said at the same time.
“But I can walk on my hands,” Stan said.
“Then you should do that,” Katie told him. “And, Dan, you can walk right next to him the regular way.”
“Why would they do that?” Suzanne demanded.
“Um … er … because …” Katie stammered. She looked over at the twins. They were both wearing the same beach outfit—a green-and-yellow flowered bathing suit with a yellow shirt and green flip-flops. “Um … because that way they can show the same outfit from two different angles.”
Suzanne thought about that for a minute. “That will work,” she said. “Besides, it won’t matter. After everyone sees me in this sundress and hat, they won’t be able to think about anything else.”
Chapter 18
“Did you all have a wonderful time on your cruise?” Lori asked Katie’s and Suzanne’s families as they got ready to leave the ship the next morning. The boat had docked overnight, and now it was time to go home.
“I can’t believe how fast five days went,” Katie’s father told her as he began rolling his suitcase down toward the gangway of the ship. “It seems like just yesterday you were saying hi to us instead of good-bye.”
“It was fun,” Katie’s mother said. “I feel so rested.”
Katie looked down. She was wearing her green Minnow wristband, the medal she’d gotten from the magician, and a T-shirt that said MY NEW BEST FRIEND IS A DOLPHIN. “This was the best vacation ever!” she exclaimed.
