Free Sophie the Chatterbox by Lara Bergen Page B

how about your mom’s stockings? The ones we played Fashion Show with? Did you tell her Tiptoe didn’t rip them and we did?” Kate asked.
    “Er … no,” Sophie said. And she did not really want to. Tiptoe was a kitten. She could not really get in trouble. But Sophie sure could.
    Still, if she was really going to be honest, no matter what the consequence was …
    “I’ll tell them,” she said to Kate. “I will! I promise!”
    From now on, Sophie would be completely, totally honest, just like her new name said.
    And to be completely, totally honest, Sophie was getting a little hungry.
    She picked up her lunch bag. “I wonder what my mom packed for me,” she said.
    Then she opened the bag. And right away, she knew.
    Someone with a snooty voice from two rows up did, too.
    “Ew! Gross!” the voice squealed. It belonged to Mindy VonBoffmann. She spun around and held her nose.
    “Quick! Open a window!” Sophie whispered to Kate.
    She rolled her lunch bag closed. But it was too late. Mindy’s best friend, Lily Lemley, grabbed her nose, too.
    “Ew!” Lily cried. “Gross!”
    “Who packed egg salad?!” Mindy asked.
    Kate looked at Sophie. And Sophie looked at Kate.
    Sophie slowly raised her hand. “Um, that was me,” she honestly said.
    The whole bus started to groan.
    “We’re here, class!” Ms. Moffly called.
    Thank goodness!
Sophie thought.

A park ranger met Sophie’s class as soon as they got off the bus. Sophie could tell she was a park ranger because of her Smokey Bear hat. That was even before she said, “Hello there! My name is Ranger Fawn.”
    The ranger’s smile was very big. And she was very tall.
    “Welcome to Popes Creek,” she said, “otherwise known as George Washington’s birthplace. Have any of you ever been here before?”
    Mindy raised her hand. Of course. She liked to say she had done things (even when she had not).
    Most kids shook their heads.
    “No. I have not,” Sophie honestly said. “My mom wanted to come one time. But my dad said it sounded too boring. And my little brother, Max, won’t sit in a stroller anymore. The last time we took him somewhere, he jumped on an old bed and we all got in trouble. So we stayed home and did the Slip ‘n Slide instead, because that is never boring, and you’re
supposed
to jump on it.”
    Ranger Fawn looked down at Sophie. “Wow!” she said, smiling. “We have a chatterbox here, don’t we?”
    Behind her, Toby laughed. Sophie could hear him loud and clear. And Archie. And Mindy. And Lily. And everyone else in their class, she bet.
    Sophie wanted to say, “Excuse me. That is not funny. Look at my shirt. I am not a
chatterbox.
I’m Sophie the Honest!”
    But Ranger Fawn was already turning around. “Okeydokey, let’s get started!” she said.
    The ranger led the class down a path along a river. There were shady trees and wooden fences.Behind one fence were sheep. Behind another were some cows. There were also a bunch of little white buildings and a big house made of brick. But the ranger didn’t stop at any of those. Instead, she stopped in front of some lines of white rocks on the ground.
    “This is the house where George Washington was born,” Ranger Fawn said.
    “Huh?” Sophie said. She pointed to the big house made of brick. “Don’t you mean
that
house? And by the way, I’m not a chatterbox. I’m just honest,” she added.
    “Sophie,” said Ms. Moffly. She was standing behind the class. “Let’s let Ranger Fawn finish talking before we start.”
    Ranger Fawn smiled a big smile. “That’s okay,” she said. “I’m
honestly
glad you asked that. In fact, that big house was not George Washington’s. It was built later. And it’s not exactly what George’s house looked like. But it gives you an idea.”
    Sophie frowned. “Why not just show the real house?” she asked.
    “Because the real house burned down in 1779,” Ranger Fawn explained. She pointed to the white gravel lines on the ground. “All we have of