Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little Read Free

kitchen
.

chapter 16
What Moxy
Did Not Do Next
    Moxy did not cry. She did think she might throw up. But since she despised throwing up (though she liked the word “despise”), she decided to eat a peach instead.
    “May I have one too?” asked Sam. But by then Moxy was already headed for the backyard. Sam took a peach, bit into it, and followed Moxy to the hammock.
    “Let me help,” he said. He put the peach between his teeth and held the hammock still so Moxy wouldn’t have to struggle to get in.
    “Thank you, Sam,” Moxy said. Then she lay back in the hammock and looked at the sky.
    Moxy needed to get organized. She needed a plan. She needed another peach. Another peach would help her think. Once more Sam held the hammock still, and Moxy struggled out. Sam wasn’t sure where they were going next. So he just followed her.
    Two minutes later Moxy and Sam wandered into the kitchen again. They found Pansy there. She was standing on the counter eating a peach.
    Moxy began to pace. This was a clear sign to Pansy and Sam that Moxy was thinking very hard. They’d seen Moxy think before and this was exactly how it looked.

chapter 17
In Which
We Learn
What Moxy
Was Thinking
    Moxy was thinking about inventing a hammock that automatically stopped moving when you decided to get out.
    She did not even glance at the clock. She did not know that time was running—sprinting is the better word—out. It was thirteen minutes after two o’clock.

    Mark calls this photograph “The End of Time: Still Life with Peaches and Moxy’s Right Arm.”
    And then, just as she was about to throw the first peach pit away, it happened.

chapter 18
In Which Moxy
Has the Most
Brilliant Idea
of Her Life
    Actually, Moxy’s mother disagreed when she found out about it. But at the time, as Moxy said later and many times over, it seemed like a fabulous, stupendous, near-genius idea.

chapter 19
Moxy’s Fabulous,
Stupendous,
Near-Genius
Idea
    “A peach orchard,” said Moxy as she bit into a peach, “is the only thing that will save me.” Then she added, taking a fourth peach, “Thank goodness I’m me. Otherwise I wouldn’t have come up with this fabulous, stupendous, near-genius idea, and then where would we be?”
    Pansy and Sam leaned ever so slightly (you wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t told you) toward her.
    The kitchen clock hummed like a mosquito; the
pad, pad
of Ajax’s fingers on his laptop upstairs sounded like thunder.
    “You’re going to have to go out there and plant a peach orchard right now,” said Moxy, pointing at the backyard. “And thank you for your help,” she added. She knew that saying thank you encouraged people to help you even more.
    She handed Sam the peach pit she’d been holding in her hand. “Start with this,” she said. “Please.” “Please” was also a very helpful word. It encouraged people who might otherwise quit to keep going.
    Sam and Pansy stared at Moxy.
    “How else are we going to pay for my college education?” she said. It was all so obvious.
    Pansy had not blinked since—I don’t know—two pages ago, so she did.
    “Don’t you
get
it?” Moxy was growing the tiniest bit impatient. “When Mother sees that I can make enough money selling peaches from my peach orchard to pay for my entire college education—and possiblydental school too, if that’s a Career Path I happen to choose—she’ll say to Ajax, ‘That Moxy is so smart, why on earth does she need to read a book about a mouse!’ ”
    Moxy was not convinced that Sam and Pansy were using their quiet time constructively. “We haven’t got time to stand around staring at nothing!” Moxy exclaimed. “The whole orchard has to be planted and watered before Mother gets home.”

chapter 20
In Which
Moxy Snaps
into Action
    Moxy went back to the hammock and lay down. She was exhausted. She’d been on an emotional roller coaster for most of the day.
    Granted, there were a few problems with the Peach