Blue Ribbon Blues Read Free Page B

Jack.”
    “I’m a blue-ribbon farmer too,” Jack shot back.
    Tooter poked him in the arm. “We’ll see about that.”

7
Pepperoni Parts
    After Jack left, Tooter found her father at his computer. “Working on your story about the girl who moves to a farm?” she said.
    “Yep.”
    “Do you have it all figured out yet?”
    “I can always use a good idea.” He looked up at her. “Know anybody who has one?”
    Tooter grinned. “Mmm, I might.” She sat on his desk. “How about this? The girl has a goat. She names it Pepperoni.”
    “Why not Baloney or Salami?”
    “Dad, be serious.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Okay. So, she meets this boy from the farm next door. And he’s supposed to be a real hotshot. His goat wins the blue ribbon every year at the county fair. And he’s grouchy to the girl, even though she’s really, really nice to him. And so she decides to teach him a lesson. She enters
her
goat in the county fair. And”—Tooter clapped her hands—“she wins the blue ribbon!”
    Mr. Pepperday nodded. “Sounds good,” he said. “But I think one thing is missing.”
    “What’s that?” said Tooter.
    Mr. Pepperday scrolled down to a blank screen. He tapped on the keyboard. Two words appeared on the screen:
    hard work
    “Right, Dad,” said Tooter. “I didn’t forget. Itjust slipped my mind. Here, I’ll help you out.” She climbed onto his lap. Searching the keys letter by letter, she tapped out a paragraph:

    The girl worked hard every day with her goat. She taught the goat to stand like a perfect rectangle. And she taught it lots of other stuff. The goat won the blue ribbon. And the girl was famous.
    She hopped off her father’s lap. “Okay, Dad, you can take it from there.”
    Tooter went outside. As she walked through the barnyard, she couldn’t tell which chicken was Eggbert. They all looked alike. And all of them ignored her.
    But not Pepperoni. Seeing her coming, thegoat walked over to meet her. Tooter stroked her high, bony nose. She waggled her wattles. She looked into the goat’s yellow, slotted eyes, so different from her own. Pepperoni ate some grass from her hand.
    She whispered, “We’re pals, aren’t we, Pep?”
    Pepperoni seemed to nod.
    “And we’re going to work hard and win that blue ribbon, aren’t we?”
    She put her ear to Pepperoni’s mouth. She thought she heard the goat say
yes.
    Just then Chuckie and Harvey came running over. Chuckie was holding a book. He handed it to her. “Aunt Sally says you’re supposed to study this. It’s about goat parts.”
    Chuckie and Harvey ran off.
    Tooter opened the book. On one page she found a drawing. It showed the parts of a goat.
    “Okay, Pep,” said Tooter. “These are yourpin bones.” She pointed to spots on either side of Pepperoni’s tail. She spoke clearly and slowly into Pepperoni’s ear. She figured her goat should learn her own parts.
    “And this is your dewclaw.” She pointed to a spot just above Pepperoni’s hoof. “That’s a funny one,” she said to herself. “Wonder if I have one of those.” She pulled up her pants leg and pulled down her sock. “Nope,” she said. “Just the old anklebone.”
    She pronounced and pointed out other parts.
    “Stifle.”
    “Chine.”
    “Withers.”
    “Fetlock.”
    And, of course, “udder” and “wattles,” which she already knew.
    She walked around the goat pasture, studying the parts. A great way to test herselfcame to mind. She ran into the house and returned with a pad of yellow Post-It notes. She wrote down each part name on a sheet. She pressed each part name where she thought it belonged on Pepperoni’s body. When she checked the drawing in the book, she’d gotten them all right!

    Behind her she heard laughter. And arfing.
    Her mother stood there, paintbrush in hand, with Chuckie and Harvey. When her mother stopped laughing, she said, “I guess I owe Chuckie an apology. When he told me you wallpapered your goat, I didn’t believe him. Now I