Charlotta covered her ears, squeezed her eyes shut tight, and took a deep breath. Slowly, she reached out her left hand and put it in the dollhouse.
When Charlotta opened her eyes, her hand had gotten smaller!
Her baby sister gave another wail, and Charlotta put in her entire left arm. Believe it or not, her entire left arm got smaller!
She put in her right arm and hand, her left foot, then her right foot, and she got small enough that she could squeeze her whole self right into the dollhouse.
Now all of Charlotta was inside the house. She had shrunk enough so that she fit perfectly.
“Hello!” she said to the doll family.
“Hello!” the doll family said.
“Wah, wah,” said the doll baby.
“Woof, woof!” said the doll dog. Charlotta gave it a pat.
“We’re so happy you’re here,” said the doll daddy.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” said the doll mommy.
“Play with us!” said the doll girl and boy.
Charlotta played with the dolls all day. They had the most wonderful time. When they were done, the doll mommy and the doll daddy said, “Now we have a surprise for you!”
Can you guess what it was? They brought out the yummy doll cake and put little doll candles in it, even though it wasn’t Charlotta’s birthday.
“This is to thank you for getting us this beautiful house,” the doll daddy said.
“But I didn’t,” Charlotta explained. “I don’t even know how it got here.”
“Don’t you see?” said the doll mommy. “You wished for it, and here it is.”
“Just like you wished to come play with us, and you did,” said the doll boy and girl. “You must be very magic.”
The doll baby said, “Wah, wah, magic,” and the doll dog said, “Woof, woof, magic.”
Charlotta wasn’t sure if it was magic, but then of course here she was, inside the dollhouse.
Whether Charlotta was magic or not, she was very happy.
The dolls served up the doll cake. And do you know what kind of cake it was?
YES! It was chocolate. And it was yummy indeed.
And that’s the happily-ever-after ending.
But not quite. It gets even better.
Remember how Charlotta’s own house was small and she had to share a room with her little brother and baby sister and her grandparents slept in the other room and her parents could only afford cabbage for supper? Well, Charlotta squeezed her eyes really tight and wished really hard.
When she opened her eyes, there were her parents, her grandparents, her little brother, and her baby sister inside the dollhouse.
So Charlotta and her family all lived together with the doll family in the big, beautiful dollhouse with plenty of room for all, and plenty of cake, too.
And that is how Charlotta really, truly lived happily ever after.
Wah, wah. Woof, woof.
All of Rodney’s friends had pets.
Lionel had a boa constrictor.
Charlotta had a cheetah.
Ameera had an aardvark.
Even Mateo, who liked to do nothing, had a monkey.
Rodney wanted a pet, too. He wanted a pet to cuddle and hold, to play with when he was lonely, and to comfort him when he got scared, especially at night. Rodney had a mama and a mommy who both loved him very much, but they couldn’t always be there to comfort him, and Rodney didn’t like to complain.
Finally, he mustered up the courage to ask them, “Can I have a pet?”
His mama sighed. “I’m sorry, Rodney, but we live in a small apartment.”
“But Lionel, Charlotta, Ameera, and Mateo have pets,” Rodney said.
His mommy shook her head. “Pets are messy and loud. The neighbors wouldn’t approve. Besides, it’s against the building rules.”
“What about a fish?” asked Rodney.
His mama and mommy looked at each other.
“A fish might be okay,” said his mama.
“We can pick one out together,” said his mommy.
“Hooray!” said Rodney.
They all walked downstairs. They never took the elevator because it was old and dangerous—there had been a terrible accident on it once. Then they headed to the pet store, which happened to be right next to the Waddlebee Toy Store on Cattywampus Street.
“Are you sure you don’t want a toy instead?” Rodney’s mama asked, while his mommy pointed to a rubber fish in the toy store window.
“I’m sure,” Rodney said. “I want a real, live pet that I can talk to.”
They went into the pet store. It was a strange pet store, because there were no dogs or cats or bunnies like you’d expect—just tiny animals, like bugs and fish. Rodney went to the fish tank and picked out an orange one with blue spots.
Rodney and his mama and mommy went home and put the fish in a glass bowl in his room.
That night Rodney watched his fish swim around and around. Around and around and around and around and around. It was boring, so he went to bed.
During the night Rodney had a scary dream. It’s not important to know what it was about, only that it was so scary that Rodney woke up screaming. He needed a hug. He looked at his fish. It was still swimming around.
Eventually, both his moms came in and hugged him.
After that, Rodney felt better, but he frowned at his fish. “You’re not a very good pet,” he said.
The next day at the park, Rodney told his friends he had a fish.
“Can your fish slither and wrap itself around your neck, like my boa?” asked Lionel.
“Can your fish run as fast as the wind, like my cheetah?” asked Charlotta.
“Can your fish grunt and eat ants, like my anteater?” sang Ameera, who liked to sing.
“Can your fish climb trees and eat bananas, like my monkey?” asked Mateo. Then he added, “Chee-chee-chee!”
“No,” said Rodney. “But it can swim around and around.”
“BORING!” his friends said.
Rodney sat by himself under the willow tree. He wished he had a pet that could do something, a pet he could cuddle, a pet he could play with and talk to and take with him wherever he went.
Rodney got up and wandered down Cattywampus Street, wishing all the way. He stood in front of the Waddlebee Toy Store, but he still didn’t go in. He didn’t want a toy—he wanted a better pet. He didn’t go into the pet store, either, because they only had bugs and fish, and he already had a fish, and what kind of a pet is a bug anyway?
He headed back to the park. All of a sudden, his foot hit something on the sidewalk and he tripped. “OW!” Rodney said.
Next to his foot was a rock. It wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small, either. Rodney picked it up. It was a perfect, oval-shaped, medium-sized rock—very smooth and pretty. He cradled it in his palm and rubbed it with his thumb.
Rodney slipped the rock into his pocket, where it fit perfectly.
Back home, Rodney watched his fish swim around and around. When he was totally bored—which, trust me, happened in about ten seconds—he took the rock out of his pocket. It had two little black spots on it. Rodney got a black magic marker and made the spots bigger. Now they looked like eyes.
He got a red magic marker and drew a curved line below the eyes, so the rock looked like it was smiling at him. Rodney smiled back.
“I will call you Rocky,” he told the rock.
Rodney wasn’t sure, but he thought the rock nodded. He slipped Rocky back into his pocket.
That night, after Rodney said good night to his moms and to his fish, he held Rocky in his hand and whispered, “Good night, Rocky.”
He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard the rock whisper back very softly, “Good night, Rodney.”
<
br /> Rodney held Rocky to his ear and listened again, but he was stone silent. Rodney patted Rocky and tucked him under the pillow.
In the middle of the night, Rodney had another scary dream. This one had a ghost and a knife and it was indeed very scary.
Rodney was about to yell for his moms, when he remembered Rocky under his pillow. He took him out and rubbed his smooth surface and looked into his black eyes. Rocky’s smile seemed to grow bigger.
Rodney held Rocky to his ear and was pretty sure he heard the faintest whisper: “Don’t be afraid.”
Suddenly, Rodney felt better. He didn’t need to call for a hug, and he slept soundly for the rest of the night.
The next day, Rodney brought Rocky to school and kept him snug in his pocket. At the park, Rodney showed Rocky to his friends.
“That is a rock,” Lionel said.
“It is smiling,” said Charlotta.
“And it has eyes,” sang Ameera.
“What does it do?” asked Mateo.
“My rock smiles all the time. My rock is smooth. My rock is named Rocky. Rocky goes everywhere with me,” said Rodney. “He keeps me company and is not afraid of anything!”
Rodney demonstrated how Rocky nestled in the palm of his hand, how to rub Rocky’s smooth back, and how Rocky went everywhere with him in his pocket.
“I want a rock,” said Lionel.
“Me too!” said Charlotta, Ameera, and Mateo all at once.
“What about your pets?” asked Rodney.
“I lied. I don’t really have a boa constrictor,” said Lionel.
“I don’t really have a cheetah,” said Charlotta.
“La-la-la, I don’t really have an aardvark,” sang Ameera.
“But I DO have a monkey! Chee-chee-chee!” said Mateo. (Was Mateo telling the truth? If you read the story about him, maybe you’ll know.)
“We can all have rocks!” Rodney said. He helped his friends search the park until they each found a rock.
“My rock is heavy,” said Lionel.
“My rock is round,” said Charlotta.
“My rock is sharp,” sang Ameera.
“My rock has spots all over,” said Mateo.
“Our rocks are perfect!” said Lionel, Charlotta, Ameera, Mateo, and Rodney all at the same time.
From then on, all five friends carried their rocks everywhere they went.
Rodney still fed and watched his fish. He even gave it a name—Fishy. Sometimes he let Rocky sit at the bottom of Fishy’s bowl. Rocky always smiled, no matter what.
And sometimes at night when Rodney got scared, he was pretty sure that he could hear his rock whisper, “Don’t be afraid,” and Rodney always felt better.
Zzzzzz….
Like a lot of kids, Mateo did many things. In fact, he did more than most. He played the ukulele, the drums, and the piccolo. He played soccer, practiced ballet, and ran track. He was in the chess club, the math club, and the drama club. He knew thirteen different card games, read all kinds of books, and drew comics. He rode his bike, went to the zoo, and hung out with friends in the park. He told jokes, mixed potions, and built model rockets that he bought from the Waddlebee Toy Store. Phew! That’s a lot of things.
But do you know what his favorite thing was? Well, I happen to know that Mateo’s favorite thing to do was nothing. Unfortunately, he had very little time to do nothing because he was so busy doing all those other things.
Finally, one day he told his father, “I am going to do nothing all day!”
At first his father was upset because he didn’t want Mateo to miss ballet practice, math club, or Lindalee’s birthday party.
But Mateo begged and begged. “Please. I really, really, really want to do nothing!”
So his father said okay.
Now, where was Mateo going to do nothing?
First he went to his room. But there were so many things there—books, toys, puzzles, games—that Mateo knew he couldn’t possibly do nothing with all that stuff around.
So he went outside. He saw his friends Emmett and Rodney riding their bikes. They each had a present in their basket. They stopped when they saw Mateo.
“We’re going to Lindalee’s party,” Emmett told him.
“Are you going?” asked Rodney.
Mateo almost hopped on his bike to go with them, but then he remembered he was busy. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m doing nothing today.”
“Have fun!” Emmett and Rodney called as they rode off.
Mateo crossed Cattywampus Street and went into the park. He had lived across from the park his entire life, so he knew just where to go. At the farthest edge, near the railroad tracks, under the willow tree was a huge rock. This was Mateo’s favorite rock. It was twice as big as him and it was very smooth, with a curve that made the perfect comfortable spot to stretch out on his back.
Mateo lay on that rock and did nothing. It was so much fun!
But after a while of doing nothing, Mateo’s stomach grumbled. He was hungry. It was almost lunchtime.
I wish I had a banana, he thought. Bananas were his favorite food. Everybody loves bananas.
Just then something swished in the willow tree above him. Mateo looked up. You will never believe what he saw. There was a little brown monkey with a long, stripy tail. It held something in its hands, but was jumping so fast Mateo couldn’t see what it was.
“Wowza!” said Mateo, sitting upright. “You look like a monkey!” He sniffed. “And you smell like one, too.”
This silly little monkey grinned. Its stripy tail swished back and forth. “Chee-chee-chee,” it said in a silly monkey voice.
The monkey held out the things it was holding—two long yellow things, one in each hand.
Do you know what they were?
Exactly!
Bananas.
That silly little monkey had two bananas.
“Chee-chee-chee,” said the monkey, and it shinnied down the tree branch, sat next to Mateo, and waved the bananas at him.
“I was just wishing for a banana,” Mateo said. “Can I have one?” After all, the monkey had two, so it could spare one, right? He reached out his hand, then added, “Please.”
The monkey looked at one banana, then the other. Then it looked at Mateo and stuck out its tongue.
“Chee-chee-chee,” it said. Then that silly little monkey hopped off the rock and scurried away lickety-split.
Mateo remembered he was supposed to be doing nothing, but he really wanted one of those bananas. So he stopped doing nothing, hopped off the rock, and ran after the monkey.
Mateo was good at running. So was the monkey. They ran around the rock, around the park, all the way down Cattywampus Street to the Waddlebee Toy Store, and all the way back to the willow tree.
“Chee-chee-chee!” the monkey said as he scurried up the tree, then tiptoed out along a long, wobbly branch.
It so happened that another thing Mateo was good at was tree climbing. So when the monkey climbed up, Mateo did not hesitate. He scurried up right after the monkey.
The monkey stood at the end of the wobbly branch, bouncing up and down. “Chee-chee-chee!” it teased, waving one of the bananas at Mateo.
And with that, the monkey peeled it, took one bite, then another, and another, until he’d eaten the whole thing. Nothing was left but the peel.
The monkey waved the remaining banana at Mateo.
Mateo could see that banana. He could smell that banana. But this monkey was really starting to annoy him with all its silly monkey antics.
So Mateo inched along the wobbly branch, closer and closer, and reached out his hand so far that he could almost touch the banana. The branch swayed under his weight. Whoa.
Suddenly, the monkey jumped up and down, screaming, “Chee, chee, chee, chee,
chee, chee!” about a hundred times. The branch swung all over the place, but the monkey held on with his feet and his long, stripy tail. Then the monkey threw the peel from the first banana at Mateo.
It landed on the branch right in front of him, just as Mateo was taking another step.
Guess what happened?
Yup. WHOOSH! Mateo slipped on the banana peel and the branch snapped and—CRACK—he tumbled down to the ground. Luckily, he missed the rock, but he rolled down the grassy knoll to the bottom, where he fell into a mud puddle. SPLASH!
The monkey grinned as it jumped to a higher branch and screamed, “BAAA-NAAA-NAAA!” super loud.
Then that silly little monkey threw the other banana right at Mateo. It bonked him on the head and landed with a plop in the mud puddle. A tiny frog went, “Ribbit, ribbit,” and hopped away.
Mateo picked up the banana and peeled it. One, two, three bites—he ate the whole thing.
When he was done, Mateo got up and brushed himself off. He looked around, but the monkey had disappeared back whence it came (wherever that was).
The day was almost over, so Mateo headed home. He saw Emmett and Rodney riding toward him.
“How was the party?” Mateo asked.
“It was canceled,” Emmett said.
“Lindalee was being rude,” Rodney added.
Mateo was pleased that he had missed it. He didn’t like it when Lindalee was rude. Even though, now that he thought about it, that monkey had been kind of rude. Or was it just being silly? After all, Mateo had gotten a banana, just as he had wished.
When he got home, his father greeted him. “How was your day doing nothing?” he asked.
“Pretty good,” said Mateo. “I met a monkey in the park who gave me a banana.”
“That’s nice,” said his father. “Are you going to do nothing tomorrow, too?” he asked.
“Maybe,” said Mateo. “If I have the time.”
And with that, he went upstairs, took out one of his model rockets, and got back to work.
Chee-chee-chee!
The Kids of Cattywampus Street Page 3
