Free Pee Wee Pool Party by Judy Delton

CHAPTER 1
Pool Plans for Jody
    “N o more pencils, no more books!” cried Roger White. “No more teachers’ dirty looks!”
    Running across the school playground, Roger crumpled up his math folder and his report card and threw them over his head.
    “He’s littering,” said Mary Beth Kelly to her best friend, Molly Duff.
    “And he can’t throw away a report card!” said Molly.

    “I just did!” shouted Roger. “School’s out at last. I can throw away anything I want.”
    It was June. Summer had arrived and so had vacation time. The Pee Wees were looking forward to summer vacation. Roger most of all.
    The other Pee Wees liked school. And they liked their Pee Wee meetings, and earning badges. They met all year long at the home of their leader, Mrs. Peters. There was no vacation from being a Pee Wee, and Molly was glad. She loved being a Pee Wee.
    “My mom says Roger is going to grow up to be an airhead,” said Tracy Barnes.
    “He is one already,” said Rachel Myers. “He gets bad marks because he never pays attention in school and he never does his homework.”
    Roger was making faces at the girls now,and taking off his sneakers to walk barefoot. “I’m going fishing with my dad every single day,” he boasted.
    “He can’t go fishing every day,” corrected Patty Baker. “His dad has to go to work some days.”
    “We’re going to California with Ashley for two weeks,” said Kenny Baker, Patty’s twin brother. Ashley was their cousin and a temporary Pee Wee when she was in town. In California she belonged to the Saddle Scouts.
    “We’re going to Disneyland while we’re there,” added Patty.
    “We went to Disneyland last year,” said Jody George. Jody was in a wheelchair. Molly thought it would be hard to go to Disneyland in a wheelchair, and go on rides and in castles and on boats. But nothing seemed to stop Jody. He did everything the other Pee Wees did.
    The Pee Wees stopped in the park and sat down on the benches in the sun.
    “Summer feels good on your hair,” said Lisa Ronning, leaning back and closing her eyes.
    “Guess what?” said Jody. “We’re getting a big swimming pool put in our backyard.”
    “We have one of those,” said Rachel. “It has a little ladder and everything. In winter we take it apart and store it.”
    “Ours is in the ground,” said Jody. “It’s going to have a diving board.”
    Jody never liked to hurt anyone’s feelings, so he turned to Rachel and added, “But it’s probably just like yours, otherwise.”
    “No it isn’t,” said Sonny Stone. “Pools that are down in the ground are a lot better. They’re just like pools on TV.”
    “There’s nothing the matter with our pool,” said Rachel, crossing her arms.
    “Ho,” said Roger, “yours is just like a bigwading pool compared to the real ones like Jody’s getting.”
    Rachel was turning red. She didn’t like to be second best.
    The Pee Wees all stared at Jody. Lots of them had wading pools. And there was a lake in town. And a public swimming pool. But no one had a real in-the-ground pool in the backyard!
    “What will you do with all the dirt you dig up?” asked Tim Noon.
    “They take it away, I guess,” said Jody.
    “Everybody’s got pools in California,” said Ashley.
    “Well, not many people here do,” said Rachel.
    “Can we swim in your pool?” asked Kevin Moe. Kevin and Jody were two of Molly’s favorite Pee Wees. She had wanted to marry Kevin. Then Jody had joined their troop. She liked him too. Since she couldn’t marry both of them, she decided to wait till she grew up to see what would happen.

    “Sure,” said Jody. “All my friends can come. After all the pipes are in and it’s finished, I’m going to have a big pool party.”
    Jody was very generous. Molly knew he would share his pool with everyone.
    “In California we have these big pool parties, with cold drinks and lots of food and stuff,” said Ashley.
    “We do that too,” said Rachel.
    A party with all