Piggy Party (Cul-de-sac Kids Book #19): Book 19 (3 page)

“Let me in,” Abby called. “Please?”

“Are you mad at me?” Carly asked.

“Why should I be?” Abby said.

Carly waited for her sister to say more.

But Abby was quiet.

At last, Carly slid open the door. “I’m sorry about the meeting . . . the way I acted. It wasn’t very nice.”

Abby smiled. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “But tell me about your idea. It sounds
very
exciting. All of us are dying to know if winter is over.”

Carly let her big sister into the secret place. Gladly.

They had their own private club meeting. Just two sisters.

And a butterscotch guinea pig.

SIX

Carly slept with Piggy that night. She didn’t put the guinea pig under the covers. But she scooted the cage up close to her bed.

“How’s that?” she said. “You’ll be safe here.”

The ball of puff looked sleepy. He’d made a little nest of cedar chips in his cage.

“Ready to dream about springtime?”
Carly hoped so. “Now we’ll say our prayers.”

Piggy made three clicking sounds. Soft, sleepy ones.

Carly knelt beside her bed. She began to pray. “Dear Lord, please don’t let Piggy see his shadow tomorrow. We want some warm weather as soon as possible. It’s okay if the Pennsylvania groundhog sees
his
shadow, though. Amen.”

She turned out the light and climbed into bed.

“Good night, Piggy,” she said. “Sweet dreams of spring.”

In the middle of the night, Carly opened her eyes. She thought she saw a misty shadow.

She strained her eyes to see. But the bedroom was dark.

“Where’s my flashlight?” she mumbled to herself.

Then she remembered. She reached down on the floor and found it. She pointed the light at the shadow.

“Oh no!” she gasped.

It was a Jimmy-shaped shadow!

She sat straight up in bed. “What are you doing?”

“I play with Piggy,” Jimmy said. The guinea pig was sitting on his shoulder.

“Better be careful with my pet,” she demanded.

“Piggy not just yours.” Jimmy had a weird smile. “Piggy belong to all Miss Hartman’s class. Jimmy too!”

“But I’m supposed to take care of him.” Carly reached for Piggy.

Jimmy backed away. “He like riding here. Piggy like me better than you.”

“You’re wrong. He’ll fall and get hurt,” Carly said.

Jimmy began to spin in a circle. Around and around he whirled. He was laughing loudly. He was sure to wake up the whole family!

“Please stop!” Carly said.

But Jimmy kept spinning. And laughing.

Poor Piggy. He was making his dear little whistle sounds. Only now they weren’t so little. They were so loud Carly had to cover her ears.

And she was crying. “Please, Jimmy, please . . .”

When she opened her eyes, Carly saw her mother.

“Oh . . . where am I?” Carly asked.

“You’re right here in your bed,
sweetie,” said Mother.

“But Jimmy was twirling Piggy and . . .”

“You were probably dreaming,” Mother said. “Jimmy’s in his bed sound asleep.” She touched Carly’s face.

“I thought Piggy might get sick. All that spinning. He could’ve fallen . . . he could’ve died.”

“Honey, look,” Mother said, pointing to the cage. “The guinea pig is perfectly safe.”

Carly leaned over her bed to see. Piggy was still curled up in his bed of wood chips. “It
was
a dream. But so real.”

Mother was smiling. “Are you ready to go back to sleep?”

“Just a minute.” Carly reached down and stroked Piggy’s teeny-weeny head. “Now I’m ready.”

Her mother tiptoed to the door. “See you in the morning.”

“Okay. And no more bad dreams,” Carly said.

She really,
really
hoped not.

SEVEN

It was Groundhog Day.

Carly slid Piggy’s cage next to her kitchen chair. She sat down for breakfast.

Jimmy slurped his milk across the table. His straight black hair was still damp from his bath. “Why Carly take little pig everywhere?” he asked.

“Because I’m in charge of Piggy,” Carly said. “And he isn’t a pig.”

Jimmy nodded. “I know name of class pet. Miss Hartman tell me, too.”

Carly still wanted to protect Piggy. She didn’t know what Jimmy might do. Especially after her horrible dream.

Mother brought over a plate of hot waffles. “It’s time for the blessing,” she said. “Who would like to pray?”

Abby raised her hand. “I’ll say grace.”

When the prayer was finished, Mother said, “Dee Dee called on the telephone earlier.”

Carly perked up her ears. “What did she say?”

“She wants to bring Mister Whiskers over for Groundhog Day.” Mother was frowning. “Why does she want to bring her cat here?” she asked.

“Because Carly have secret party,” Jimmy said, grinning.

Carly ignored her brother’s words. “What did you tell Dee Dee?” Carly asked her mother.

Mother smiled. “I told her to call back after breakfast.”

Shawn’s eyes lit up. “Can all the cul-de-sac pets come for party?” he asked. “We will see if winter is done.”

Carly wasn’t so sure. Dee Dee had no right to spoil Carly’s experiment. It was
her
idea, after all. A private party for just Piggy and her.

Jimmy asked, too. “Can Jason bring Croaker?” Croaker was the only frog in the cul-de-sac.

Abby poured orange juice in her glass. “It’s Carly’s party,” she said. “She’ll decide who comes or not.”

Jimmy was whining. “But
I
want to come.”

“It’s up to Carly to invite you. But only if she wants to.”

Carly thought about that. Abby was being kind. She wished Dee Dee wasn’t so
selfish. It would be lots of fun with all the pets looking for their shadows. That is,
if
the sun was shining.

But Carly hoped the sun wouldn’t shine at all. Not today. Then spring would come for sure!

Carly ate her breakfast. But she glanced around the table at her brothers, Shawn and Jimmy. And Abby, too. They looked very eager. Like they couldn’t wait for Carly to decide something.

“Mommy make hot cocoa for the party,” Jimmy suggested.

Abby’s eyes lit up, but she was still.

“We can bake cookies, too,” Shawn said. “Serve with hot cocoa at party.”

The kids were dying to come to her party. “Okay,” she said at last. “Everyone’s invited.”

“Hoo-ray!” cheered Shawn and Jimmy.

Abby didn’t cheer, but she looked happy. Very happy.

Carly felt good all over. “We’ll call the experiment a Piggy Party. That stands for the guinea pig, in case you don’t get it. Since we don’t have a groundhog.”

Jimmy spoke in broken English. “We cross fingers for spring. Happy American Groundhog Day.”

Carly, Abby, and Shawn clapped their hands.

“Yay!” Carly said. “It’s Piggy Party time!”

Abby looked out the window. She groaned. “It’s starting to snow again.”

Carly was secretly glad. If the sun didn’t shine, then Piggy wouldn’t see his shadow. Neither would any of the pets.

It was perfect.

Jimmy was shaking his head. “Why Carly make silly weather test?”

“Silly?” Carly pointed at the window. “Look outside. Snow, snow . . . and more snow. Don’t you wanna know when this rotten weather’s going away?”

Jimmy smiled back. “You very smart sister.” It sounded like
velly
smart.

“Thank you,” Carly said.

Piggy was rattling his cage. Time to feed him his breakfast of pellets.

“I almost forgot about you,” Carly said. She sprinkled some guinea pig food into his little dish.

Shawn came around and peeked into the cage. “Tell Piggy to eat very much breakfast,” he said to Carly.

“He’s hungry, all right,” Carly replied.

They watched the guinea pig eat.

“Piggy need lots of energy,” Shawn said. “To hide from shadow.”

Carly grinned.

She liked the sound of that!

EIGHT

Carly and Abby swept the snow off their front porch.

“Somebody run and tell Dunkum,” Carly said. “We’re having the Piggy Party over here.”

“We are?” Jason Birchall piped up.

Carly looked over at her sister. “Abby’s president. She said so.”

Abby stopped sweeping. “It’s all right, Jason,” she called. “Carly already asked.”