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“There you go,” said Judy, popping on the new head. But when she turned the doll upside down to put some shoes on her, the doll’s head flew off and bounced across the floor!

“Whoa!” said Judy, running after the head. “That won’t work. Let’s try this one. How would you like eyes that can close and open?” Judy twisted the new head onto the doll’s neck and waved her up, down, up, down through the air a few times to watch the eyes open and close.

“Voilà!” said Judy. She kissed the doll right on the nose.

Next she dressed each doll in a blue-and-white hospital gown she made from an old sheet, and gave each of them a paper bracelet printed with a name: Colby, Molly, Suzanna, Laura.

“Knock, knock,” called Stink, pounding on her door.

“Go away,” said Judy.

“Knock, knock!” said Stink.

“Who’s there?” said Judy.

“I, Stink,” said Stink.

“I Stink who?”

“I stink you should let me in your room,” said Stink, letting himself in anyway. He peeked behind the blanket hanging over the bottom bunk.

“Aaagh!” he yelled, jumping back in shock. “Those dolls! The hospital — you stole! Those are . . . those aren’t . . . if Mom and Dad find out . . .”

“Stink, you promised you wouldn’t tell.”

“Yeah, but . . .”

Judy was making a tiny cast out of oogey wet newspaper. “Look, if you keep quiet, I’ll let you help me.”

“It’s a deal!” said Stink.

Stink and Judy finished putting the cast on one of the doll’s legs. When it dried, they painted it white and signed it with lots of made-up names. After that, they made a sling for another doll, with a scrap of cloth. On a different doll Doctor Judy put tattoo Band-Aids from her Band-Aid collection all over its legs, arms, and stomach.

“Double cool!” said Stink.

Last but not least was a rag doll made of cloth. Judy took a pink marker and drew a scar from the doll’s neck down to her bellybutton. Then she drew a red heart, broken in two. With black thread, she stitched the broken heart back together, hiding it under the doll’s hospital gown.

“Just like that girl Laura!” Stink said.

When she was finished, Judy propped up all the dolls in a row on her bottom bunk and stood back to admire her work. She set her own doll, Hedda-Get-Betta, next to them.

“Wow, you made them look really good!” said Stink.

A little later Judy packed all the dolls into a box and secretly mailed them back to the hospital. Without a return address, no one would ever know that she was the one who had stolen the dolls.

It’s like a real doll hospital, thought Judy. She, Judy Moody, was on her way to being just like First Woman Doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell.

On Monday morning Mr. Todd asked, “Where’s Frank today?”

“Absent,” said Judy.

“Oh, that’s right. I heard that he broke his finger. Does anybody know how it happened?”

“It’s a looooooooooooooooooong story,” said Judy.

“As long as a centipede!” said Rocky.

“I heard Judy Moody stepped on him!” said Adam. “CRACK!” He bent his finger back like it was breaking.

“Okay, okay. We’ll ask Frank all about it when he gets back.”

“He’ll be back tomorrow,” Judy said.

Judy looked at the empty desk next to her. Without Frank, there was no one to snort at her jokes. Without Frank, she spelled barnacle with an i. Without Frank, she had nobody to tease about eating paste.

To make matters worse, all morning Jessica Finch kept inching her desk a little closer, a little closer to Judy.

“Is that the elbow that was in the paper?” Jessica asked.

Judy drew a mad face on her famous elbow and pointed it at Jessica.

“Hey, Judy? Want to come over to my house after school?” asked Jessica. “I could show you my glow-in-the-dark spelling posters.”

“Can’t,” said Judy.

“Why not?”

“I have to feed Jaws, my Venus flytrap.”

“How about tomorrow?”

“I feed it every day,” said Judy.

“How about after you feed Jaws?” asked Jessica.

“Homework,” said Judy.

The truth: by Friday Judy was almost bored enough to go to Jessica’s. Rocky had to stay at his grandma’s after school for a week