Free Peggy Gifford_Moxy Maxwell 02 by Does Not Love Writing Thank-You Notes Page B

collection.”
    Pansy stopped crying and started sniffing the floor.
    â€œI call it Eau de Moxy,” said Moxy modestly.
    â€œWhat’s it made of?” asked Pansy.
    â€œIt’s a surprising combination of household products and three kinds of perfume.”
    Mrs. Maxwell got up. There followed a brief exchange between Moxy and her mother, the details of which I won’t go into. (It is enough to say that the words “Pine-Sol” and “Lemon Pledge” were mentioned.) But if I stop and tell you every detail of every conversation, I’ll never get back to the question before us, which is why Pansy couldn’t go to Hollywood with Mark and Moxy.
    The reason Pansy couldn’t go to Hollywood was that she had a different father than Mark and Moxy.

chapter 9
    Divorce and the Problem of Last Names
    When Mark and Moxy were quite young (Moxy had just started to walk and Mark had just started to read), their father moved to New York City to star as a character named Dr. Flint Stone on the TV show
As the World Twirls
. Unfortunately, Dr. Flint Stone had contracted a severe case of malaria while he was in Africa looking for a kidnapped nurse, and he hadn’t survived the first season. But Moxy’s father decided to stay in New York anyway, even though he no longer had a job, and Moxy’s mother decided to stay in Ohio, and they decided to get a divorce.
    A few years later, during Story Hour at the local library, Moxy’s mother was “swept off her feet” (Moxy’s words) by the famous children’s poet A. Jackson Maxwell (Mark and Moxy call him Ajax). And after a “whirlwind romance” (Moxy again), they were married.
    There was, however, considerable confusion about how someone named Mrs.
Maxwell
could be the mother of two children named Mark and Moxy
Hunter,
and how Mark and Moxy
Hunter
could have a sister named Pansy
Maxwell.
    Finally, they all agreed to choose just one name for everyone.
    â€œMaxwell” won by just one vote.

chapter 10
    60 Words About Mark and Moxy’s Stepfather, Ajax
    Ajax wrote children’s books all day (and sometimes right through dinner and sometimes he was still writing children’s books when Pansy went to bed and sometimes he was still writing children’s books when Mark and Moxy went to bed—although Moxy didn’t really go to sleep when she went to bed, she read books under the covers with her flashlight).

chapter 11
    2:01 p.m.—In Which Moxy Looks at Her Clock
    â€œMom, shouldn’t we be going to the mall soon?” Moxy was looking at her clock. It said 2:01 p.m.
    â€œ
I’m
going to the mall as soon as I take these dirty dishes downstairs,” said Mrs. Maxwell. “
You’re
going to the mall as soon as you finish writing your thank-you notes.”
    â€œBut you’ll be downstairs before I can even get started.”
    â€œThen I guess you’re not going to the mall.”
    Moxy was shocked. “But I have to exchange my evening gown!”
    But Mrs. Maxwell was already walking down the stairs. She was also calling Uncle Jayne on her cell phone. She was also carrying two old ice cream bowls and a plate with a fork stuck to it
and
Moxy’s black evening gown. (Over the years Moxy had observed that a really first-rate mother can do many things at once without messing any of them up.)
    Moxy listened as she followed her mother down the stairs.
    â€œUncle Jayne?…Well, Merry Christmas to you too,” said Mrs. Maxwell—even though Christmas was yesterday. “Would you mind coming over to sit with the children while I dash to the mall?”
    Apparently Uncle Jayne didn’t mind, because Mrs. Maxwell was saying “thank you” by the time she reached the bottom stair. She was moving so rapidly that Mark, who was behind Moxy, couldn’t even get a photograph of her.

chapter 12
    Introducing Granny George
    They found Granny George sitting in the