Molly for Mayor

by Judy Delton

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  YEARLING BOOKS are designed especially to entertain and enlighten young people. Patricia Reilly Giff, consultant to this series, received her bachelor’s degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in history from St. John’s University. She holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. She was a teacher and reading consultant for many years, and is the author of numerous books for young readers.

  Published by

  Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers

  a division of

  Random House, Inc.

  1540 Broadway

  New York, New York 10036

  Text copyright © 1999 by Judy Delton

  Illustrations copyright © 1999 by Alan Tiegreen

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

  The trademarks Yearling® and Dell® are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

  Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers

  eISBN: 978-0-307-80011-4

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Yearling Books You Will Enjoy

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  1 Red Leaves, New Books, New Badges

  2 The Pee Wees Throw Their Hats into the Ring

  3 Work or Fun?

  4 Molly for Mayor

  5 Campaign Fever

  6 Mudslinging

  7 High and Mighty

  8 Up in the Air

  9 The Washable Ad!

  10 The Big Mistake

  11 The Winners Are …!

  For Tienne Otteson, my dear friend

  and number one choice for mayor.

  CHAPTER 1

  Red Leaves, New Books, New Badges

  “Fall is my favorite season,” said Molly Duff, picking up some red maple leaves that had fluttered to the ground.

  “It’s called autumn,” said Rachel Meyers. “That’s the real name for it.”

  “Whatever it’s called, it’s not my favorite season,” scoffed Sonny Stone. “I don’t like any season that means school starts, that’s for sure. July is my favorite season. It’s my birthday and we go to the lake and there’s no school at all.”

  “July isn’t a season. It’s a month,” said Mary Beth Kelly, who was Molly’s best friend.

  “I love a new school year!” said Rachel. “I get new clothes and books and pencils and tablets. My mom and I are going shopping at the Mall of America next Saturday.”

  Rachel had very nice clothes, thought Molly. Her father was a dentist and people said they were rich. Most of the Pee Wees agreed that she was the best-dressed Pee Wee Scout.

  It was Tuesday, and the Scouts were on the way to their meeting at Mrs. Peters’s house. She was their leader. There were thirteen Pee Wees altogether. They earned badges and learned new things, but mostly they had a good time. They had treats every week, talked about their good deeds, sang the Pee Wee Scout song, and said the Pee Wee Scout pledge.

  “Wheee!” shouted Roger White. “Geronimo!” He threw himself into a pile of leaves in someone’s front yard. The pile scattered and blew away. Most of the leaves stuck to Roger’s sweater.

  “Hey, I’m a leaf guy!” he shouted.

  “He’s got a leaf brain,” muttered Mary Beth.

  “Now those people will have to rake all those leaves up again!” said Tracy Barnes. Then she sneezed. She was allergic to leaf mold.

  A man came out and shook his fist at Roger, but he had run to the next block by that time. Roger was not Molly’s favorite Pee Wee Scout.

  By the time everyone caught up to Roger, he was busy drawing a mustache on a big sign on someone else’s front lawn. The sign said VOTE FOR CLIFF NELSON FOR COUNCILMAN.

  “What’s a councilman?” Sonny asked.

  “How could you not know that?” asked Rachel with a sigh.

  But she didn’t answer his question. No one else did either. Molly thought Kevin Moe would know about councilmen because he was so smart. He was going to be mayor someday. Maybe even president. Molly wanted to marry Kevin. Unless she married Jody George. Jody was smart too, and nice, and he had a wheelchair. No other Pee Wee had a wheelchair. Sometimes Jody let them ride in it.

  But Kevin wasn’t there, so no one answered the question.

  “How come these signs are up all over the place?” asked Tracy.

  That was an easy question. Even Molly knew that.

  “It’s because it’s election time,” she said. “These people want to be mayor or governor or president or something. The signs are campaign posters.”

  Now Roger was drawing glasses on Cliff. And a beard.

  “You’re defacing public property,” said Rachel. “That’s against the law. You could go to jail.”

  That was where Roger would end up, thought Molly. He was always doing something none of the other Pee Wees would do. Molly’s mother said he was always looking for trouble.

  Roger was drawing earrings on Cliff now. And a hat with a feather on it. And a pipe in his mouth.

  “That guy won’t like for people to think he smokes,” said Lisa Ronning. “That’s a bad image for a public servant.”

  “Smoking’s not so bad,” said Sonny, pretending to puff on a pencil.

  “It’s bad enough to make you die,” said Lisa.

  Sonny put his hand on his chest and fell over on the sidewalk. Roger laughed and fell over too.

  “They won’t be laughing when their lungs get all black and icky,” said Lisa.

  “Everyone has these posters up in their yards,” said Mary Beth. “I wouldn’t know who to vote for even if I could vote.”

  Molly wasn’t worried about voting. It would be a long, long time before the Pee Wees could vote.

  “What badge do you think we’ll work on next?” Molly asked Mary Beth.

  “I don’t know, but we should find out today,” she answered.

  “I hope it’s a good one,” said Lisa. “Like horseback riding or surfing or skydiving.”

  “I hope it’s not something we have to learn, like bike rules again,” said Roger.

  Roger was the one who needed those rules the most, thought Molly.

  The Pee Wees turned the corner and came to Mrs. Peters’s house. Mrs. Peters stood on her front steps waving to them. Jody was wheeling up in his wheelchair, and Kevin and Patty and Kenny Baker were there too. So was Tim Noon.

  Well, it won’t be long now till we hear all about our new badge, thought Molly. The Scouts ran up their leader’s front steps, walked politely through the house, and went down the basement steps to their meeting room. They took their places around the big table and waited for the meeting to begin. In a
few minutes Molly would know what badge they would earn! She hoped it wasn’t skydiving! She was afraid of heights. But rat’s knees! Any badge would be fun if the Pee Wees worked on it together!

  CHAPTER 2

  The Pee Wees Throw Their Hats into the Ring

  Roger began to pound the table. “We want our new badge,” he chanted. “We want our new badge!”

  Some of the other Pee Wees pounded the table too, and took up the chant.

  “What is it? What is it?” asked Patty Baker. She was Kenny’s twin sister.

  “I hope it’s not work,” Sonny said through a yawn. “I hope it’s just fun.”

  “It will be fun,” said Mrs. Peters. “Loads and loads of fun.”

  The Pee Wees cheered. Fun was something none of them could get enough of.

  Mrs. Peters held up her hand for silence.

  “You’ve probably seen the campaign posters around town, in the stores, and on front lawns,” she said.

  Everyone stared at her. What did this have to do with badges? And fun? Campaign posters weren’t fun. The Pee Wees couldn’t vote.

  “Elections are coming,” their leader went on. “We live in a democracy, where we have a choice of who is in charge of our city and of our country.”

  Tim yawned. Roger made snoring noises. No one really wanted to hear about a democracy, thought Molly. They learned about stuff like that in school.

  Mrs. Peters explained that some countries had kings who made the rules. The people had no say in their government. She talked about how lucky Americans were and how lucky the Pee Wees were to be able to grow up in a free country and vote.

  “Our country isn’t free,” said Tim. “Everything costs money.”

  Rachel groaned. Mrs. Peters explained how people were free, not things in the stores.

  Lisa waved her hand. “What about our badge?” she asked.

  Mrs. Peters laughed. “I’m getting to that,” she said. “Be patient.”

  That was what Molly’s dad always said. Be patient. Molly hated to be patient. She hated to wait. It seemed as if waiting was all she ever did. Waiting for Christmas, waiting for her birthday, waiting for summer vacation, waiting for Mrs. Peters to tell them about their new badge.

  Now Mrs. Peters was drawing something on the blackboard. Just like in school, thought Molly.

  “This is a ballot box,” said Mrs. Peters. “And this,” she went on, “is a voting machine. On election day people go to the polls to cast their vote. They go behind a curtain and pull the lever for the man or woman they want to put in office. In small towns, they don’t always have a machine. People may write the name of a candidate on a piece of paper and put their vote into a box.”

  “Where’s the window?” Sonny asked.

  “What window?” Mrs. Peters looked puzzled. “There is no window.”

  “You said there’s a curtain,” said Sonny.

  Some of the other Pee Wees nodded. “You did,” said Patty. “You said they go behind a curtain.”

  “The curtain is in front of the voting machine,” said Mrs. Peters. “It covers a little booth so that the person has privacy.”

  “Do people take off their clothes?” asked Tim. “Like in dressing rooms?”

  “Of course not. Why would they do that?” asked their leader.

  “Then why do they need privacy?” asked Tim.

  Rachel groaned. “Because their vote is private,” she said.

  “That’s right,” said their leader. “Voting is a private choice.”

  “Yada yada yada,” said Roger.

  “He is so rude,” said Tracy. “That’s no way to talk to a Scout leader.”

  Mrs. Peters didn’t seem to have heard Roger. She erased the voting machine and the ballot box and drew a town. There were hills and trees and houses and a post office. At least Molly thought it was a post office. It had a flag on it.

  “This,” said their leader when she’d finished, “is Peeweeville!”

  Now all the Pee Wees were paying attention. What in the world was Peeweeville?

  “What’s Peeweeville?” asked Kenny.

  “Peeweeville is an imaginary town where the Pee Wee Scouts run the city as the elected officials. There is a Pee Wee mayor, some Pee Wee councilpeople, a Pee Wee dogcatcher, a school superintendent, and a chief of police.”

  “Who are these Pee Wees?” shouted Tracy.

  Mrs. Peters smiled. “You are!” she said.

  Everyone looked baffled.

  “You are the Pee Wees who are going to run for office! You are going to campaign and make posters and vote and choose the best person for the job. You are going to be mayor and councilpeople. You are going to run the town!”

  Tim burst into tears. “I don’t know how to be a mayor,” he said.

  “I do,” said Kevin. “I’d like to run for mayor!”

  “Well, this will be your big chance,” said Mrs. Peters. “You may be elected mayor of Peeweeville.”

  “Do we have to run for office?” demanded Rachel. “I don’t like politics much. I’m too busy. I take dance lessons on Thursday, and violin on Saturday, and—”

  Mrs. Peters stopped her. “You have to campaign in order to get your new badge,” she said. “But not everyone will be nominated, or elected, of course.”

  “What’s nominated?” asked Sonny.

  “That’s when people decide who will run for office,” said Jody. “It’s when they choose the candidates.”

  Jody was so smart, thought Molly. He could run Peeweeville, or even Elm City, with one hand tied behind him, as her grandma liked to say. Molly would surely vote for Jody.

  Mrs. Peters was busy telling everyone how to campaign. They had to say what office they wanted to run for. They had to make a list of what they would change in the city and what new laws they would make. They had to make campaign posters so that they would be noticed. They had to tell everyone why they would be the best candidate for the job.

  “I don’t want to be mayor,” said Sonny.

  “I want to be dogcatcher,” said Lisa.

  “I’m allergic to dogs,” said Tracy.

  “This is a dumb badge,” said Sonny. “There’s no Peeweeville anyway.”

  “I think Mrs. Peters’s idea of fun is really work,” Mary Beth whispered to Molly.

  Rat’s knees, thought Molly. She had a feeling her friend was right. A little while before, Molly had thought she didn’t have to worry about voting because the Pee Wees were way too young.

  Well, it seemed she was wrong. They were old enough to vote—and run for office.

  CHAPTER 3

  Work or Fun?

  Before the meeting ended, Mrs. Peters passed out little booklets about cities and how they were run. She gave the Pee Wees pamphlets about voting. And she gave them flyers with pictures of the city officials in their town, and of the people who were really running for office. One of the people was Cliff Nelson.

  “You can find out more about the issues on the Internet,” she said. “And in the newspapers and at the library.”

  Molly didn’t want to know more.

  “This feels like school,” grumbled Mary Beth. “Like we have to do a report or something.”

  “You have to know about cities in order to run one,” said Mrs. Peters.

  “She must have heard me,” whispered Mary Beth, turning red.

  “Once you decide what office you would like to run for,” said Mrs. Peters, “let me know. Then you can make posters with your picture on it. You can think of a catchy saying that people will remember, like ‘cleaner lakes’ or ‘better schools.’ You can make flyers to pass out, telling what you will do if you’re elected, just like the flyers I gave you.”

  “We’ll set up a make-believe TV station, and each of you will have a chance to talk for a few moments and tell us what you’ll do if you’re elected. Then, on Election Day, we all will actually vote and elect officials to run Peeweeville.”

  “Can we have debates?” asked Kevin. “I’d like
to debate Jody on TV. Like the presidents do.”

  “If you like,” said their leader. “But I think it will be enough work just to prepare a short talk.”

  There it was again, the word work, when Mrs. Peters had said the badge would be fun. But Kevin and Jody both loved work, and they always did a little extra to earn their badges. Work was the same as fun to them.

  Sonny’s mother, who was assistant Scout leader, brought in some pumpkin cookies with frosting and passed them around. Stuck in each cookie was a toothpick with a tiny American flag. This was a political treat, thought Molly.

  The Pee Wees who had done good deeds that week told about them (there were only three), and then they sang their Pee Wee song and said their pledge. The meeting was over. It was time to go.

  “Rat’s knees,” said Molly to Mary Beth on the way home. “I don’t know what I want to run for.”

  “I don’t want to run for anything,” said her best friend, kicking at some oak leaves. “I’ll bet Kevin and Jody will run for mayor. Which one would you vote for?”

  Molly wouldn’t be able to make up her mind. She liked them both. They both were good at whatever they did. But a town couldn’t have two mayors. It would be a hard choice.

  “I’ll have to wait and see what they say they’ll do,” said Molly wisely.

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” scoffed Mary Beth. “My dad says campaign promises are always broken.”

  “Kevin and Jody wouldn’t lie!” said Molly, frowning. “They’re both honest!”

  Mary Beth shrugged. “Not when they run for office,” she said. “These guys turn really mean. They say bad things about each other to get the vote.”

  Molly didn’t believe this. At least about Kevin and Jody.

  “Roger might do that,” she said. “That’s the only way he could get people to vote for him. But Kevin and Jody wouldn’t.”

  “Ha!” said her friend. “Wait and see.”

  Roger came running up behind them. “I’m going to be mayor!” he shouted. “I want to be the biggest thing you can be in the city.”