Free Katy Kelly_Lucy Rose 01 by Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing About Me Page A

we did hear my mom and Madam calling and we went up and Madam said, “The Cheerios are missing and I am pretty sure Gumbo didn't eat them.”“I think Jake ate them,” my mom said. “And then crawled through this hole in the floor where the radiator pipes go through.”“So where is he?” I asked.
    And my mom said, “I think he has gotten underneath the floorboards.”
    Then I felt sick with worry that we would never find him.
    But all of a sudden Jonique said, “I have a very great idea! Follow me!”
    She ran back to the basement and into the olden-days kitchen and Melonhead ran after her and so did I. “One of us should get in the dumbwaiter,” Jonique said. “Then they can ride up and look through the slot on the side to find him or at least leave him some food.”
    Melonhead said, “I'll do it!”
    But I said, “No. I lost him so I should do it.”And I didn't say I was scared to pieces which I was.
    But then Melonhead said, “Lucy Rose, if you let me do it I will trade you my good lunches for your bad lunches for the rest of the year.”
    I couldn't believe it. “You don't have to give me your good lunches,” I said. “You can do it if you want.”“Thanks!” Melonhead said.
    Then I was a little embarrassed feeling. “Besides,” I said, “it'll take me and Jonique to pull the rope that makes the dumbwaiter box go up because it's not electric or anything.”
    So Melonhead smooshed himself into the dumbwaiter and there was hardly any room left and then he said, “Raise her up!”
    Jonique and I yanked on the rope with all of our muscles and the dumbwaiter went up and Melonhead went with it and we pulled and pulled until we could only see an empty space, like if you saw elevator insides without seeing the elevator, only smaller. Then we pulled even harder and our arms felt like they were coming out of their sockets and we held on but then I screamed, “Watch out!” because I couldn't hold on another second andneither could Jonique and the rope just got away and I didn't breathe at all waiting for the crash.
    But nothing happened.
    We called up, “Are you okay?”
    And he yelled back, “Yes.”“Look through the slot,” Jonique told him. “What do you see?”“I can see the space between the basement ceiling and the upstairs floor,” Melonhead said.“I mean do you see Jake?” I shouted up to him.“Nope,” he said. “But I'll put some food in the in-between place and then after I get down we'll send it back up and maybe Jake will find it and walk through the slot and be captured in the dumbwaiter!”
    I was depressed with that news.“Let her down,” Melonhead said.
    So we pulled the rope but nothing happened. Then we swung on it and nothing happened. Then Melonhead said, “Hurry up, Lucy Rose. It's hot in here.”
    And I said, “It's stuck.”
    Then Melonhead went quiet and I went frantic because now Jake and Melonhead were both stuck in the walls and I said, “I'll get Pop.”
    “Oh, brother!” Jonique said, shaking her head so her braids flew side to side. “He'll probably be mad at us.”
    And I said, “Probably, but we can't just leave Melonhead in there forever.”
    And she said she was one who agreed with that because after a while he would be starving, so we ran for Pop and he and Madam and my mom came to the basement and started calling up things to Melonhead. “Help is here,” Pop yelled and he pulled on the rope.“Don't worry,” Madam said, even though Pop was not having luck getting him down.
    But my mother looked at me and looked at Jonique with mad eyes and she said, “Whatever made you girls think this was a good idea?”
    Jonique looked like she was about to cry.“Well,” Pop said, “you have to give them credit for original thinking and a certain amount of nerve.”“But poor Adam Melon,” my mom said.“Adam Melon is probably having the time of his life,” Pop said.
    And then we all went up to the kitchen wherethe dumbwaiter goes up to. The problem is