Ivy and Bean_ Books 4,5,6 - Annie Barrows [13]
“Oh, you’re a bad girl!” scolded Katy. “You get a time-out!”
“Now I’m barfing on your shoes because I ate all that cookie dough,” said Bean, crawling toward Katy.
“Eew, no!” squealed Katy, jumping away.
“Okay,” said Bean. “I’m barfing on my sister’s homework.”
Katy grabbed the doll. “That’s gross, Bean. I don’t want to play that.”
“Okay, let’s say I have to go to the hospital and get my stomach pumped.” Bean made a sound like a siren.
Katy looked down at Bean. “No,” she said firmly. “You’re not doing any of that. You’re in a time-out.”
Bean looked up at Katy. This game was too much like life. When she and Ivy played House, the house burned down. Bean wished she were playing with Ivy. “All right. I’m in a time-out. See you later.” She got up and started toward the sidewalk.
“Where are you going?” asked Katy.
“Ivy’s. My time-out is at Ivy’s,” said Bean. “Bye.”
BIRD BRAINS
“IIIII-VEEE!” Bean shouted into Ivy’s mail slot. “Yoooooo-hooo!”
“Hello, Bean,” said Ivy’s mom, opening the front door. “Care for a slice of cucumber?” She was holding a plate of them.
Bean wanted to say, Are you nuts? But she knew that wasn’t polite. “No thank you,” she said. “Is Ivy home?”
“She’s out in the yard,” said Ivy’s mom. “Go on back.”
Bean walked down the path beside Ivy’s house and opened the gate that led to the backyard. Ivy’s yard didn’t have a trampoline like Bean’s, but it did have big rocks and a perfectly round puddle that Ivy called a pond even though she had to fill it with the hose. Ivy was standing still in the middle of the long, weedy grass. Her arms were raised to the sky, and she had a big smile on her face.
“Are you trying to fly?” called Bean.
Ivy turned to Bean and smiled even bigger, but she didn’t move. “Hi,” she whispered.
“Wave your arms,” advised Bean.
Ivy smiled so hard her eyeballs bulged out.
“What the heck are you doing?” Bean asked.
“I’m trying to be good,” whispered Ivy.
“What?” yelled Bean. She waded through the weedy grass.
“I’m trying to be good,” Ivy whispered again.
“Why do you have to be so quiet about it?” Now Bean was whispering, too.
“Because I don’t want to scare the birds away. I’m trying to be so good that birds land on my fingers and wolves come out of the woods and follow me down the street,” Ivy explained.
Bean stared. “Why would being good make birds land on your fingers and wolves do whatever you just said?”
“I found out about it yesterday. If you’re super-good and pure of heart, animals think you’re one of them and they love you and follow you around.”
Ivy’s arms were trembling. She must have been holding them up for a while. “Are you sure about this?” asked Bean.
“Positive. I saw it in a picture. There was this guy with birds flying all around him and a wolf licking his foot. My mom said this guy was so good that wild beasts talked to him and birds swarmed after him.”
“I don’t get it. Why did the birds swarm after him?”
“Because his heart was so pure and kind that they saw that he was the same as an animal on the inside. They loved him,” Ivy said.
Bean thought about that. “Like Snow White, you mean?” Hadn’t the birds helped Snow White make a pie?
Ivy made a face. “Snow White wasn’t good. She was a goonball. Everyone knows you’re not supposed to eat stuff you get from strangers.”
“But the birds liked her,” said Bean.
“Maybe the birds felt sorry for her, but they didn’t think she was one of them,” said Ivy. “Anyway, I don’t want to be like Snow White. I want to be like the guy in the picture. I want a wolf to follow me because I’m pure of heart.”
A wolf. Bean pictured a shaggy wolf walking beside her while a bird rested on her shoulder. Her mom and dad would be scared half to death, but Bean would say, “The wolf won’t hurt you. He’s my friend.” Then the wolf and Bean would give each other long, understanding looks. And then Bean’s mom and dad would feel rotten because they hadn’t realized that Bean was so pure of heart. They had thought she was a pain. Bean smiled at Ivy. “A wolf would be pretty cool.”
“Yeah.” Ivy smiled