Ann Martin - Mallory On Strike

Not being forced to take care of my brothers and sisters made me appreciate them a whole lot more. That's why I was looking forward so much to our special day together.

Jessi and I spent the week thinking up fun activities. I'll admit, we were as excited as the kids were.

On Saturday morning, Jessi met me at our door at seven o'clock. She was armed with a sack full of art supplies, including a pack of Magic Markers, and some special treats of her own. We hurried to the park to prepare it for our outing and then rushed back to the house. We had been gone a little over an hour and

when we got back, all seven of my brothers and sisters met us at the door. They were dressed in jeans, sweat shirts, and jackets, as I'd instructed.

"I'm glad you two came back," my mom called from the kitchen. "They've been standing like this for fifteen minutes, waiting for you to return."

I had found an old police whistle on a leather cord in the garage, and had hung it around my neck. I was also wearing a visor like Kristy's. I thought that would make me seem more like a leader. I blew on the whistle, then announced, "Good morning, Explorers. Are you ready for the big day?"

"Yes!" The triplets shouted so loudly that Mar go and Claire covered their ears. But they were grinning.

"All right, then." I pointed toward the stairs. "Our first stop is the rec room, where you will make your uniforms."

The kids ran for the stairs so fast that for a second I was afraid we might start off the day with a sprained ankle or a bump on the head.

Jessi took charge once we were all downstairs. She held up her newspaper. "All right, Explorers," she cried. "It's time to make your official Explorer Hats!"

"Oh, boy, oh, boy!" Nicky shouted gleefully. (The kids were so excited that everything

they said seemed to come out at full volume.)

As I helped them fold their hats, I said, "And for today, you each get to choose a special name for yourself, because today is all about make-believe."

Nicky chose Frodo, after our pet hamster. The triplets named themselves Robin Hood, Little John, and Friar Tuck. Vanessa decided to be Emily Dickinson. (She loved the book I'd bought her at the mall!) Margo decided to be Queen Margo.

Finally Claire, who had been quietly wrestling with her hat, held it up to me. "Write my name, please."

"What do you want to be called?" I asked.

"Mallory." She gave me a big grin.

I was surprised. "Not 'Mean, Old Mallory'?"

She giggled and shook her head so hard her hair bounced. "Nope. Just Mallory."

My vision grew blurry and I knelt beside my little sister and squeezed her so hard she cried, "Ow!"

"Everybody ready?" Jessi asked.

"Yes!" came the resounding chorus.

Jessi and I led our explorers out the door and down the street.

First stop was the circus that a bunch of kids were putting on in the Braddocks' backyard. I pulled out my coin purse and handed each

of my brothers and sisters the admission — one nickel.

"Oh, goody," Claire cried. "A circus."

The circus was a short event. It featured Buddy Barrett as Jocko the Lion Tamer and Pow, his dog, as the Lion. Matt Braddock played Thor the Strong Man, who lifted a broomstick with balloons tied to either end. That act was short-lived because Byron sat on one end of the pretend barbells and popped the balloons. The finale of the show was performed by Suzi Barrett, who demonstrated the latest moves she'd learned in tumbling class.

Even though it was a pretty small circus, my brothers and sisters applauded as loudly as if they were watching the greatest show on earth. When it was over, Jessi, who had made prior arrangements with Mrs. Braddock, stood up and told the performers, "Now it's time for us to entertain you."

"Us?" Vanessa asked. "Which us?"

"Us us," I replied. "I want each of you to get out your paper bags." As Jessi passed out the Magic Markers, I told my brothers and sisters to draw a picture of their favorite animal on the bottom of the bag.

"But what are we going to do?" Adam asked.

I had already drawn the face of a cow on my bag. I slipped my hand in the bag and

made the mouth move. "A puppet show!"

"Can we play, too?" the other kids asked.

"Of course." I had remembered to bring spare bags, and I passed them around.

The children stretched out on the lawn and laboriously worked on their drawings. When they had finished, Jessi said, "We need a stage. The toolshed would be perfect!"

"Great," I agreed. "And let's do a song, like Old Macdonald, so we can introduce each animal. Now we need an orchestra. Everybody, grab your instrument out of your knapsack."

Jessi and I put together the craziest orchestra ever. Nicky and Margo had packed matching kazoos, Vanessa had brought a plastic harmonica, and Claire had found a little toy trumpet. Jordan had a slide whistle, while Adam crashed together a pair of cymbals made out of two aluminum pie plates. But Byron's instrument was the cleverest of all — a tuba made from a piece of garden hose and a funnel.

The puppet show worked out better than we could ever have imagined. Nicky started it off, crouching behind the toolshed, his lizard puppet held in the air, while the band blasted out Old Macdonald. He sang the first verse of the old rhyme, then was joined by several turtles, a lion, a giraffe, two bears, and a brontosaurus. The kids tried to crouch behind the little toolshed but they got so crowded

that they finally stood in a row in front of it.

"It's better like this/' Jessi murmured to me, as the kids worked the mouths of their animals while singing the song or playing their instruments. "Now they can see each other's puppets and perform at the same time."

When all the animals had been introduced, and had had their chance to dance back and forth, the song came to an end.

"That was great," Suzi Barrett said. "What should we do next?"

"We'd love to stay," I said, "but the Explorers have a lot more things to do today."

"There's more?" Margo asked. "I can't believe it."

"Why not?" Jessi asked, kneeling in front of her to retie her tennis shoe.

"This was so much fun, I thought our day

was over."

"No way!" I laughed. "We've only just begun." I blew shrilly on my whistle and shouted, "Follow me, Explorers!"

Jessi and I led the parade out of the yard. Each of the kids now carried a puppet on his or her hand and wore an Explorer hat.

Next stop was the playground or, as Jessi and I had renamed it for the day, the Secret Garden.

"Why secret?" Margo asked, pushing her newspaper hat back on her head.

"Because there are secret clues hidden all over this playground — I mean, garden/' I explained.

"And you have to find them," Jessi added.

"Clues?" Nicky's eyes were two huge blue circles. "Really?"

Jessi nodded. "You see, there is a hidden treasure here in the Secret Garden."

"And you have to follow the clues to find it," I said.

"Where do we start?" Vanessa asked. She was just as intrigued by the idea of a treasure hunt as her younger brothers and sisters.

I took off my newspaper hat, unfolded it, and found (where I had written it the night before) the first clue:

for

"Table!" the kids shouted in unison. Jessi and I stood back and watched my brothers and sisters run from picnic table to picnic table, searching for the next clue.

"Going out at seven in the morning to hide

these wasn't exactly my idea of a good time," I murmured to Jessi, "but watching those guys have fun makes it worth it."

"I found it!" Vanessa yelled, pulling off the piece of paper I'd taped under one of the tables. She waved it in the air, and the other kids clustered around to hear her read it out loud. For a second they stood, thinking, and then Jordan shouted, "I know where it is."