No Grown-ups Allowed (2 page)

THREE

At last it was Friday.

Jason walked home with the Cul-de-sac Kids. All the kids lived on Blossom Hill Lane. Seven houses on one cul-de-sac.

“My grandma is spending the weekend,” Jason told his friend Dunkum.

“Sounds like fun,” Dunkum said.

“No kidding!” Jason said.

Dunkum stopped in the middle of the street and stared at Jason. “What's
that
supposed to mean?”

“Nothin' much.” Jason ran and slid on the snow.

Abby Hunter tossed her scarf around her neck. “I think Jason is up to something!”

Dunkum nodded. “I better have a talk with Jason's grandma.”

Dee Dee Winters giggled. So did her best friend, Carly Hunter—Abby's little sister. “I
like
your grandma,” said Dee Dee.

“Me too,” said Carly.

Stacy Henry laughed. “Who needs a sitter when you're in third grade? I stay by myself every day after school.”

“But what about for a whole weekend?” Abby asked.

“Guess you're right,” Stacy said. “That's too long to be alone.”

Abby's Korean brother, Shawn, threw a snowball at Stacy. It bounced off her backpack.

“Why you!” Stacy dropped her stuff
and reached down. She pushed a pile of snow together. “This is war!” she shouted, giggling.

Eric Hagel grinned. “You're in for it now, Shawn!”

The kids watched Stacy smooth out her snowball. She added more snow to it, then patted it hard. She tried to pick it up. It was too heavy.

Shawn marched into the snowy street. “I help you, Stacy. This make good snowman.” He spoke in broken English because he'd just come to America. Shawn and his brother Jimmy had been adopted by Abby's parents.

“Goody!” shouted Carly. “Let's build a snowman.”

“How about a snow monster?” Eric suggested. “The biggest one in the world.”

“Make him an alien!” yelled Jason.

“There's no such thing,” Abby said.

“So what,” said Jason. “There aren't any monsters, either.” But he thought
about his plan to trick his grandma. Now
that
was something a monster might do!

The kids took their school stuff home and came back with buckets of warm water.

“Let's make him in
my
yard!” Jason hollered.

Just then Grandma Birchall stepped outside. She stood on the porch, waving to Jason.

Jason looked the other way. On purpose. He knew what she wanted. It was time for his medicine.

“Jason, dear,” she called.

“In a minute,” Jason snapped. Then he ran to help Eric and Dunkum roll up a huge snowball. They grunted as they pushed it across the yard.

Abby and Stacy made a medium-sized ball.

Dee Dee and Carly made the head. Carly started laughing.

“What's so funny?” Abby asked.

Carly kept giggling. “We could call the snow creature Dino-Dunce. And give him a walnut-sized brain.”

“I know! He could have a tiny head like a Stegosaurus,” Dee Dee added.

Eric laughed. “Who said anything about making a dinosaur?”

“Yeah,” said Jason. “What happened to our alien?”

“Let's mix him all up,” s-uggested Dunkum.

“Yes!” Shawn shouted. “We make snowman-monster-dino-alien.”

“And let's call him our February Snow Creature,” said Abby.

“Our what?” Stacy asked.

“You know, like at the Winter Carnival in Minnesota,” Abby said. “My grandparents took us to see it once.”

“Yes!” said Shawn. “We make great snow creature.” He and Jimmy, his little brother, were grinning.

Jason couldn't remember seeing
Shawn and Jimmy so excited. Except for the day Abby and Carly's parents adopted them. That was Thanksgiving—three months ago.

Jason had an idea. “We could rope off the cul-de-sac and charge a fee to see our snow creature.”

“For how much?” Dunkum asked.

“Enough for an ice cream party,” yelled Jason.

“You're not supposed to have sweets,” Dee Dee reminded him. She wrinkled up her nose.

Jason gritted his teeth. He'd have sweets if he wanted to. He was thinking of his mother's valentine chocolates this very minute.

Jason turned and looked toward his house.
Good!
Grandma had gone inside.
She's probably making supper,
he thought.
Now is a good time to sneak inside. Nothing can stop me now!

FOUR

Jason crept onto the porch and tiptoed inside. Grandma was tinkering around in the kitchen. All clear!

First, he sneaked down the hall. Then he dashed into his parents' bedroom.

Squeak!
He slid open the closet.

There were hatboxes and shoe boxes on his mother's side of the closet. Color coded as always. Red was for dress up. Blue was for work at her beauty shop. Green was for around the house. Everything was in order.

Now for the candy!

Jason pushed his father's shirts aside. Behind them was a shelf for belts and ties and things.

Before he could see the box, Jason smelled the chocolates. His taste buds shivered. They quivered.

Dark, rich chocolate balls! Waiting to melt into pools of sweet bliss in his mouth.

He reached for the box and opened it. The fattest candy seemed to call his name. Jason placed it on the end of his tongue.

“Gotcha!”

Jason whirled around. He stared into Abby Hunter's face.

“Spit it out!” she said.

“You cwavy?” Jason said, his mouth full.

Abby shook her head. “Say what you want, but we need those outside.” She was giggling now as she grabbed the candy box. She held up two plump, juicy chocolates.
“What
bee-u-tee-ful
eyes you have!”

Jason stared at his friend. He couldn't believe it. She was going to use his mother's chocolates for snow creature eyeballs!

Jason chewed up the gooey candy and swallowed.

Abby waved her finger at him. “Does your grandma know what you just ate?”

“Do I look
that
dumb?” Jason said.

Abby raised her eyebrows. Then she turned and ran out of the house. But Jason was right behind her.

“Jason, is that you, dear?” It was his grandma calling from the kitchen.

Oops! Jason froze in his tracks. “Uh, yes, Grandma, it is.”

She came into the living room wearing an apron. It was tied in a bow around her trim waist. “Come here, dear. I need a hug.” She held out her arms.

Jason hugged her, but held his breath so she wouldn't smell the chocolate on his breath.

“It's time for your medicine, young man.” She pulled a bottle of pills out of her pocket. Opening the lid, she put one in Jason's hand.

Jason spun around and hurried out the door.

Grandma called after him, “Do you want a glass of water, dear?”

“Not this time,” Jason yelled. And as soon as she wasn't looking, he dropped the pill into the snow.
Poof!
It disappeared.

There! Grown-ups can't tell me what to do!
Jason decided. He felt mighty good about taking charge of things. His way.

FIVE

Jason helped Shawn and Jimmy pour water on the snow. They rubbed out the bumps so the snow would harden. Nice and smooth.

Jimmy found an old twig and snapped it in two. “Snow Creature . . . funny arms,” he said.

Stacy found another twig. “Here, this girl needs three arms.”

“GIRL?” shouted Jason.

Stacy grinned.

Dunkum frowned. He plopped his blue
hat on Snow Creature. “There, now it's a BOY!”

Dee Dee ran home and came back with two pieces of lettuce for ears.

Abby licked the pieces of chocolate.
Smack!
She stuck them on Snow Creature's face.

Jason gritted his teeth.
What a waste!

The kids clapped. It was perfect, except for one thing. The nose.

“Is SHE a snooty snow creature?” asked Stacy, looking down her own nose.

“No, HE needs an antenna nose,” announced Eric.

“Let's have a nose vote,” said Abby. “How many want Stacy's idea?”

Stacy, Dee Dee, Carly, Abby . . . and little Jimmy voted yes.

“No fair!” Jason whined. “Jimmy can't vote with the girls.”

Dunkum whistled. “Here's a freaky idea. We'll give S.C. two faces, one on each side of his head.”

“S.C.?” asked little Jimmy. He looked confused.

“Santa Claus, right?” Jason said, laughing.

The boys cheered.

“Hey, wait a minute,” said Abby. “Don't get Jimmy all mixed up. S.C. stands for Snow Creature.”

“S.C. need two heads,” Jimmy said.

“Yes!” Shawn said. He began rolling up another snowball.

“A two-headed snow creature,” said Stacy. “One for the boys; one for the girls!”

“Ours will look beautiful,” bragged Dee Dee.

Eric strutted around Snow Creature. “But ours will be better!”

Abby frowned. “This isn't a contest. We're the Cul-de-sac Kids—we stick together, remember?”

Dunkum grinned. He marched up to Abby and stood beside her. “The president of the cul-de-sac is right.”

So the kids set to work, for the fun of it. And by dark, Snow Creature was finished.

The head created by the boys wore Dunkum's blue knit hat. Black olives made the eyes. And a red rubber band formed the mouth.

The head created by the girls wore Abby's straw hat. Red licorice formed the mouth. And lettuce made the ears. Two chocolate eyeballs stared straight at Jason's house.

Jason wished the chocolates were melting in his mouth. Instead of freezing rock hard outside.

“Time for supper,” Grandma Birchall called.

Jason hurried to the front porch. He turned to look at Snow Creature once more. HE was terrific!

Inside, Jason smelled Grandma's meatloaf and potatoes. He ate some of everything. Grandma smiled when he finished.

Boy, did I fool her! She thinks I'm full,
Jason thought as he planned his dessert. Ah, dessert! The rest of the valentine chocolates, of course.