The Judy Moody Star Studded Collection - Megan Mcdonald [31]
“I need gum!” yelled Stink. “Give me back my gum!”
“Stink! Don’t yell. Haven’t you ever heard of noise pollution?”
“Is my coffee in there?” Dad asked, rubbing his hair.
“Judy? Is that ice cream? It’s dripping all over the table!” Mom carried the leaky carton over to the sink.
“ZZZZ-ZZZZZ!” Judy made the sound of a chain saw cutting down trees.
“She’s batty,” Stink said.
Dad put the brownie mix back in the cupboard. Mom took the toilet plunger off the kitchen table and headed for the bathroom.
Time for Plan B. Project R. E. C. Y. C. L. E. She, Judy Moody, would show her family just how much they hurt the planet. Every time someone threw something away, she would write it down. She got her notebook and looked in the trash can. She wrote down:
“Stink! You shouldn’t throw gooey old oatmeal in the trash!” Judy said.
“Dad! Tell her to quit spying on me.”
“I’m a Garbage Detective!” said Judy. “Garbologist to you. Mr. Todd says if you want to learn what to recycle, you have to get to know your garbage.”
“Here,” said Stink, sticking something wet and mushy under Judy’s nose. “Get to know my apple core.”
“Hardee-har-har,” said Judy. “Hasn’t anybody in this family ever heard of the Three R’s?”
“The Three R’s?” asked Dad.
“Re-use. Re-cycle.”
“What’s the third one?” asked Stink.
“Re-fuse to talk to little brothers until they quit throwing stuff away.”
“Mom! I’m not going to stop throwing stuff away just because Judy’s having a trash attack.”
“Look at all this stuff we throw away!” Judy said. “Did you know that one person throws away more than eight pounds of garbage a day?”
“We recycle all our glass and cans,” said Mom.
“And newspapers,” Dad said.
“But what about this?” said Judy, picking a plastic bag out of the trash.” This bread bag could be a purse! Or carry a library book.”
“What’s so great about eggshells?” asked Stink. “And smelly old ground-up coffee?”
“You can use them to feed plants. Or make compost.” Just then, something in the trash caught her eye. A pile of Popsicle sticks? Judy pulled it out. “Hey! My Laura Ingalls Wilder log cabin I made in second grade!”
“It looks like a glue museum to me,” said Stink.
“I’m sorry, Judy,” Mom said. “I should have asked first, but we can’t save everything, honey.”
“Recycle it!” said Stink. “You could use it for kindling, to start a fire! Or break it down into toothpicks.”
“Not funny, Stink.”
“Judy, you’re not even ready for school yet. Let’s talk about this later,” said Dad. “It’s time to get dressed.”
It was no use. Nobody listened to her. Judy trudged upstairs, feeling like a sloth without a tree.
“I won’t wear lipstick today if it’ll make you feel better,” Mom called up the stairs.
“And I’ll only drink half a cup of coffee,” Dad said, but Judy could hardly hear him over the grinding of the rain forest coffee beans.
Her family sure knew how to ruin a perfectly good Mr. Rubbish mood. She put on her jeans and her Spotted Owl T-shirt. And to save water, she did not brush her teeth.
She clomped downstairs in a mad-at-your-whole-family mood.
“Here’s your lunch,” said Mom.
“Mom! It’s in a paper bag!”
“What’s wrong with that?” Stink asked.
“Don’t you get it?” said Judy. “They cut down trees to make paper bags. Trees give shade. They help control global warming. We would die without trees. They make oxygen and help take dust and stuff out of the air.”
“Dust!” said Mom. “Let’s talk about cleaning your room if we’re going to talk dust.”
“Mo-om!” How was she supposed to do important things like save trees if she couldn’t even save her family tree? That did it. Judy went straight to the garage and dug out her Sleeping Beauty lunch box from kindergarten.
“Are you really going to take that baby lunch box on the bus? Where the whole world can see?” asked Stink.
“I’m riding my bike today,” said Judy. “To save energy.”
“See you at school, then.” Stink waved his paper-bag lunch at her. If only she could recycle her little brother.