by Martha Hynson
Chapter One: The Lucky Sock
Macy Joy Mills flopped flat down on her fluffy green rug. The chocolate chips were partly melted but that was exactly perfect because it would make them stick to her face like glue. She squeezed her eyes shut and stuck them in place. Too bad there was no whipped cream. If there was, she could squirt on a smile. All she had was toothpaste. She squeezed some on her lips. Now she was Pancake Girl, the superhero who could fit in every tiny space and find missing things. She reached under her bed. Was her ticket in that dark place? Her fingers touched something hairy. She yanked her hand back. The chocolate chips fell off, but the hairy thing hung on.
“Help!” Macy jumped up and bumped her night stand. “Help, help! A big hairy spider is eating me!” She shook herself hard like Woof-Woof did after a bath. Plunk. A huge pink bug hit the floor. No, wait. It was a fuzzy sock stuck to a sucker. Macy plopped down next to it. A very glad breath blew out of her. She pulled the sock off the candy and licked her fingers.
Right then Mama came in the room. “Time for break— Macy Joy Mills! What on earth are you doing?”
“I’m Super Pancake Girl trying to solve a mystery called the missing ticket. Macy slid the sucker back under her bed to see what else might stick to it. When she pulled it out, a little red paper was hanging on. “Yay! I found it!”
She yanked the paper off. Too bad some of it stayed on the candy. Now she just had part of a ticket. Oh, well. It would probably still count. She waved it in the air. “Miss Snow gave me this yesterday for being a good listener. That’s how it works in kindergarten when you’re almost ready for first grade. I just need twenty tickets so I can be a teacher helper. I’m going to help teach art because drawing is my very best talent.” She threw the piece of ticket in the air and spun herself around.
“I’m glad you’re a good listener at school.” Mama placed her hands on Macy’s shoulders and leaned down so their noses almost touched. “Now, listen to this. It’s time for breakfast.”
“Okay! I just need to find the chickens I drew so I can show them to my class.” She would even show the pictures to Smarty-Pants Samantha. Maybe Miss Snow would give her two good-choice-tickets for being nice to that girl.
Mama put her hands on her hips. “Well, you can’t show anybody anything if you miss the bus.”
“Hey, I have an idea!” Macy jumped up and started toward the door. “I’ll take a real chicken to school. I know just the one.”
Mama held up her hand. That meant stop. “Oh, no, you don’t. You can’t take a live chicken to school, Macy. Come on, now. It’s time to eat.”
“I’ll just eat this.” Macy waved the sucker in the air.
Mama put one hand on her hip. She opened her other hand and wiggled her fingers in front of Macy. “Give me that nasty thing.”
Macy started to take one big lick first. Just in time she saw there was a lot of fuzz on there plus some glitter. She handed over the sucker.
“Now, hurry!” Mama said, on her way out the door. “I made a surprise for breakfast. And pick that sticky sock up off the floor.
Macy picked up the sock. She’d worn it yesterday and two lucky things happened. First, Miss Snow said they were getting a brand-new student named Bella. Second, Daddy brought home some pet chickens. Now, Mama had a surprise. Plus, she’d found a sucker. Well, she didn’t have the sucker anymore. But the sock was still lucky. She took off one shoe and changed her sock to the lucky one. Then she tucked her torn ticket in the sock so she would not lose it.
“Macy Joy!” Mama called from the kitchen. When Mama used both her names she was not kidding.
Macy ran to her desk and grabbed her markers. She could draw more chickens on the way to school. A purple notebook slid to the floor. It was her thinking book! Hurray! She threw the markers in the air, grabbed her book, and turned pages until she found the chicken pictures. She sat down and picked up a brown marker. She wanted to add one more picture of her favorite chicken, Flappy, laying an egg. The eggs! She jumped up. She had to hurry and get them.
“I have to get the eggs!” Macy flew to the kitchen and slid to the table on her lucky-sock-foot. She knocked over a cup of milk.
“Where’s the surprise? Where’s the surprise?” She hopped back and forth across the spilled milk from her sock foot to her shoe foot.
“Can’t have it until you’re wearing two shoes.” Mama handed Macy a dishrag.
Macy wiped up the milk and raced to her room. She put on her shoe, then raced back to the table to get her surprise.