Free To Catch a Mermaid by Suzanne Selfors

Mr. Mump were eagerly picking corn and piling the ears into the truck’s bed. When Hurley spotted Boom and Winger, he ran from the field and blocked their progress with his meaty frame. “We got the corn first,” he told them, clenching his fists.
    “That corn doesn’t belong to you,” Boom said. He didn’t know that for sure, but he suspected it because no one in the neighborhood owned the field.
    “Finders keepers,” Hurley whined. “You can’t have any. We’re gonna sell it to the store and I get to use the money to buy a new bike.” The Mumps weren’t going to eat the corn?
    “Whatever,” Boom said, hiding his disappointment. Images of hot, buttery corn drifted from his head and evaporated like fog.
    “Yeah. Whatever,” Winger chimed, standing slightly behind Boom.
    As Boom and Winger started up the Brooms’ walkway, Hurley made a few clucking sounds. “Everyone at school is calling you a chicken, ’cause you chickened out of the tournament.”
    Boom whirled around and glared at his archenemy. “You know I didn’t chicken out! I was in Prunewallop’s office. I want a rematch on Monday.”
    “You should give him a rematch,” Winger said.
    “A rematch?” Hurley laughed a fake horror-movie laugh. “Why should I? What’s in it for me? I’m the champion of the school, two years in a row. You’re just a loser.”
    Winger grabbed Boom’s arm as Boom almost flew out of his sneakers. All he wanted to do, at that moment in time, was to pound on Hurley. Sure, it was wrong to hit someone and there would be big consequences, but he wanted to —
real
bad. “Boom,” Winger pleaded. “You’ll get into trouble again.”
    Something unpleasant stepped between Boom and his archenemy. It was Daisy Mump. She was ten, just like Mertyle, and she was always dressed like she was going to a birthday party. Today her pink coat was trimmed in fake zebra fur and it matched her doll’s coat. The doll was about half Daisy’s size and she had tucked it under her arm. “I saw Mertyle’s new doll,” Daisy said to Boom. She pointed to the bedroom window. “I saw Mertyle holding it.”
    “Huh?” Boom caught his breath and jerked his arm away from Winger.
    “Why does she have a Molly Mermaid Faraway Girl Doll? I don’t have a Molly Mermaid doll. They’re impossible to find. The Faraway Girl Company doesn’t even make them anymore.” Daisy scrunched up her freckled face.
    “Mertyle doesn’t have a whatever-you-call-it doll,” Boom said, glaring over Daisy’s curly blond head at Hurley.
    “A
Faraway Girl
Doll,” Daisy corrected. She shoved her doll up to Boom’s face. “See, mine is from Sweden. Her name is Elsa and she cost one hundred dollars. Every pair of shoes costs twenty-five dollars, and she has twelve pairs. And we have six matching outfits and she came with a book that tells all about her life in Sweden. My friend Bula’s doll is from France and her name is Gigi —”
    “Whatever,” Boom said, pushing the doll away, pushing away the desire to hit Hurley as well. He tried to walk up his walkway, but Daisy ran around and blocked him.
    “Nobody has a Molly Mermaid doll. It’s superspecial. It’s the most expensive Faraway Girl Doll ever made. How come your sister has one?” Daisy hissed. “Your family is poor.”
    “She doesn’t have one,” Boom insisted.
    “But I saw it.” Daisy stomped her patent-leather rain boot.
    “I saw the doll too,” Hurley said. “I saw Mertyle holding it yesterday in your kitchen. My dad says those dolls are impossible to find. He’s been trying for two years. They don’t even sell them on the Internet anymore.”
    “I want a Molly Mermaid Faraway Girl Doll,” Daisy whined. “Tell Mertyle I want it.”
    Hurley stood real close to Boom. They were about the same height but Hurley had thirty pounds on Boom. Boom knew he was no match for Hurley’s weight, but he flexed his kicking foot just in case. “Give me the doll,” Hurley whispered. “Give it