Free Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford Page B
Authors: Peggy Gifford
either one.
The truth was, Sam had a little crush on Moxy, though Moxy pretended not to notice and Sam didn’t really understand it. All Sam knew was that Moxy always had a plan and when Moxy had a plan something alwayshappened. Like last summer when they had picked up golf balls from the seventh green of the Forest Hills golf course and washed them off and sold them back to golfers for twenty-five cents apiece. It was always interesting to be with Moxy.
“I’m cleaning my room,” Moxy explained. “It’s a bit messy. Which is the main reason I haven’t been able to get around to reading
Stuart Little
yet.”
chapter 9
In Which Another
Reason Moxy Has
Not Yet Read
STUART LITTLE
Is Uncovered
“Another reason is because I’ve been trying to train Mudd,” Moxy continued. She was speaking to Sam from her new shocking pink cell phone. “Do you think I should call Mom and remind her of that?”
“But training Mudd is number two on your list of stuff you wanted to get done,” said Sam. “Reading
Stuart Little
is number one.”
“Oh, Sam! If we don’t hurry and train Mudd, he will never become a show dog,” said Moxy.
“No, he won’t,” said Sam. Though Samwasn’t sure of the cutoff date for turning regular dogs into show dogs.
“And you know what that means?” asked Moxy.
Sam couldn’t remember.
“It means I will never get to run-walk Mudd around Madison Square Garden in a pair of cute flats on national television. I might just as well cross it off my list of Possible Career Paths.”
chapter 10
The Problem
with Training
Mudd
Though Moxy had not gotten around to actually training Mudd, thinking about training Mudd had consumed a fair amount of her time this summer. One thing she had figured out was that to train Mudd, someone needed to train Rosie first. That’s because Mudd did whatever Rosie said. If Rosie barked, “We will now eat pillows,” Mudd ate pillows.
The other problem with training Mudd was that Mudd had a serious barking problem. Mudd barked at everything thatmoved. He barked at a leaf blowing down the street and a butterfly beating its wings and the UPS man delivering packages to Mr. Cloud’s house five blocks away. In fact, most of the time he was so busy barking he couldn’t hear Moxy when she told him to stop barking.
Just another reason, thought Moxy, that she had reached the end of August without reaching the beginning of
Stuart Little
.
chapter 11
The Part
Where the Story
Really Starts
to Heat Up
This is the part where the story really starts to heat up. The part where it gets a little dicey for Moxy. “Scary” is the word Pansy later used. “Out of control” was the phrase Moxy’s stepfather, Ajax, mumbled for some years after. Mark called it “a chain of astonishing events” and left it at that.
Since I am the first to tell this story, you will have to accept my version of what happened next, and I am quite inclined to agree with Moxy when she called this “the Third-Worst Day of My Life.”
chapter 12
In Which the Word
“Consequences”
Reappears
As soon as Sam hung up, he called Moxy back. “I’ll come over and watch you read if you want,” said Sam. He was always looking for a reason to be around Moxy.
But Moxy wasn’t listening. She was looking up the word “consequences” in the dictionary, and it was beginning to make her feel a little ill. It interested Moxy a great deal that a single word—twelve letters that could be erased with a #2 eraser—was powerful enough to make her feel as if she might throw up.
Here is a close close-up picture Mark took of the definition of the word “consequence” from the Random House dictionary
.
When Moxy didn’t reply, Sam imagined he heard the words “Come right over!” in Moxy’s silence and set out for the Maxwells’ house.
By the time he reached their front porch, Moxy’s room was clean. All the old ice cream bowls and clean and dirty towels, all the magazines and general damp
The truth was, Sam had a little crush on Moxy, though Moxy pretended not to notice and Sam didn’t really understand it. All Sam knew was that Moxy always had a plan and when Moxy had a plan something alwayshappened. Like last summer when they had picked up golf balls from the seventh green of the Forest Hills golf course and washed them off and sold them back to golfers for twenty-five cents apiece. It was always interesting to be with Moxy.
“I’m cleaning my room,” Moxy explained. “It’s a bit messy. Which is the main reason I haven’t been able to get around to reading
Stuart Little
yet.”
chapter 9
In Which Another
Reason Moxy Has
Not Yet Read
STUART LITTLE
Is Uncovered
“Another reason is because I’ve been trying to train Mudd,” Moxy continued. She was speaking to Sam from her new shocking pink cell phone. “Do you think I should call Mom and remind her of that?”
“But training Mudd is number two on your list of stuff you wanted to get done,” said Sam. “Reading
Stuart Little
is number one.”
“Oh, Sam! If we don’t hurry and train Mudd, he will never become a show dog,” said Moxy.
“No, he won’t,” said Sam. Though Samwasn’t sure of the cutoff date for turning regular dogs into show dogs.
“And you know what that means?” asked Moxy.
Sam couldn’t remember.
“It means I will never get to run-walk Mudd around Madison Square Garden in a pair of cute flats on national television. I might just as well cross it off my list of Possible Career Paths.”
chapter 10
The Problem
with Training
Mudd
Though Moxy had not gotten around to actually training Mudd, thinking about training Mudd had consumed a fair amount of her time this summer. One thing she had figured out was that to train Mudd, someone needed to train Rosie first. That’s because Mudd did whatever Rosie said. If Rosie barked, “We will now eat pillows,” Mudd ate pillows.
The other problem with training Mudd was that Mudd had a serious barking problem. Mudd barked at everything thatmoved. He barked at a leaf blowing down the street and a butterfly beating its wings and the UPS man delivering packages to Mr. Cloud’s house five blocks away. In fact, most of the time he was so busy barking he couldn’t hear Moxy when she told him to stop barking.
Just another reason, thought Moxy, that she had reached the end of August without reaching the beginning of
Stuart Little
.
chapter 11
The Part
Where the Story
Really Starts
to Heat Up
This is the part where the story really starts to heat up. The part where it gets a little dicey for Moxy. “Scary” is the word Pansy later used. “Out of control” was the phrase Moxy’s stepfather, Ajax, mumbled for some years after. Mark called it “a chain of astonishing events” and left it at that.
Since I am the first to tell this story, you will have to accept my version of what happened next, and I am quite inclined to agree with Moxy when she called this “the Third-Worst Day of My Life.”
chapter 12
In Which the Word
“Consequences”
Reappears
As soon as Sam hung up, he called Moxy back. “I’ll come over and watch you read if you want,” said Sam. He was always looking for a reason to be around Moxy.
But Moxy wasn’t listening. She was looking up the word “consequences” in the dictionary, and it was beginning to make her feel a little ill. It interested Moxy a great deal that a single word—twelve letters that could be erased with a #2 eraser—was powerful enough to make her feel as if she might throw up.
Here is a close close-up picture Mark took of the definition of the word “consequence” from the Random House dictionary
.
When Moxy didn’t reply, Sam imagined he heard the words “Come right over!” in Moxy’s silence and set out for the Maxwells’ house.
By the time he reached their front porch, Moxy’s room was clean. All the old ice cream bowls and clean and dirty towels, all the magazines and general damp