Frogs' Legs for Dinner? (2 page)

The next day after school, Katie Lynn and Tina and Grandma were in the kitchen baking their famous Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies for the Katie Lynn Cookie Company. Mr. Chesterfield would need his cookie delivery soon for his restaurant. They were almost done, but Tina's little brother, Gerald, kept trying to steal the cookies.

Right now, Gerald was sitting on the floor. He was licking cookie dough off a wooden spoon.

Mrs. Cooke came to the kitchen door.

“
Bonjour
, everyone!” she said. “Katie Lynn, my cooking show is on television. I thought you and I could watch it. Maybe the French Chef will have a new recipe that we can make together.”

Katie Lynn turned to Grandma. “Can you and Tina double up while I'm gone?” she asked.

“Certainly, dear, if you take Gerald with you!” said Grandma.

Katie Lynn and Gerald followed Mrs. Cooke back into the living room. The French Chef's face filled the television screen. He had a big droopy mustache and was wearing a tall chef's hat.

Mrs. Cooke beamed at the TV. “Isn't he wonderful?” she asked.

“I think he looks goofy,” Gerald said.

Katie Lynn silently agreed.

“Zee secret to good cooking eez using your imagination,” said the French Chef. “Today, we are going to cook snails.”

Katie Lynn gasped. “Did he say snails?”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Cooke. She had a dreamy look on her face. “The French eat a lot of snails.”

Suddenly, Katie Lynn's stomach felt funny.

The television camera zoomed in on the snails. They were climbing up the sides of a big glass bowl. Katie Lynn was sure they were trying to escape.

“Oh, wow!” Gerald said. “This is neat!” He was staring at the TV with bug eyes. But Katie Lynn closed hers. She couldn't watch anymore.

Finally, Mrs. Cooke said, “That's what we're going to eat tonight!”

Katie Lynn opened her eyes.
“What?”
she said.

“Snails,” said Mrs. Cooke.

Mrs. Cooke left for the market, and Katie Lynn went back to the kitchen.

She didn't feel so good.

“Well, what are we having for dinner?” asked Grandma.

“Snails,” Katie Lynn replied weakly.

“Oh, no!” Grandma gasped.

“Oh, yes,” said Katie Lynn. “Mom's gone to the market to get them.”

Watch Out for Snails!

Katie Lynn ate some cookies to take her mind off the snails. Then she went back to baking with Grandma and Tina. Gerald was still in the living room, watching reruns of
The French Chef.

Finally, Katie Lynn said, “We only need one more batch and Mr. Chesterfield's cookies will be ready.”

Just then, Mrs. Cooke burst into the kitchen. “I'm back!” she announced. She
held up a paper bag. “They had some
wonderful
snails at the market!”

“They're alive!” screamed Tina.

“Of course they're alive, Tina,” said Mrs. Cooke. “They're
supposed
to be alive.”

“Mom!” cried Katie Lynn. “Some of them are crawling on your dress!”

Mrs. Cooke looked down. “Oh, my goodness! You're right. How in the world did they get out?” She plucked the snails off her dress and put them back inside the paper bag.

Katie Lynn shivered. She hoped no snails ever crawled on
her
clothes!

Mrs. Cooke took a big bowl out of the cupboard and dumped the snails into it.

The snails started crawling up the sides.

They're trying to escape
, Katie Lynn thought,
just like the ones on television.

Katie Lynn went back to mixing together the cookie ingredients while Mrs. Cooke got the snails ready to cook.

Suddenly, Tina screamed, “There's a snail in my cookie dough!”

Katie Lynn looked at Tina's dough. “No, there isn't, Tina. That's just a chocolate chunk.”

“But there are some on the floor,” said Grandma. “Be careful not to step on them.”

Tina started jumping up and down. “I don't want them crawling on me!” she screamed.

“Stop it, Tina!” shouted Katie Lynn. “You just squashed two of them!”

“Oh! Oh! My new shoes!” cried Tina. Now she was hopping around even more. “They're ruined! They're ruined!”

Mrs. Cooke reached down and picked up the snails that hadn't been squashed. She washed them off and put them in a skillet. “That should solve the problem,” she said.

“I can't watch this,” Tina whispered to Katie Lynn.

“Me neither,” said Katie Lynn.

They dropped their cookie dough onto the cookie sheets and put them into the oven. They tried not to look at the skillet with the snails in it.

When the cookies were done, Katie Lynn and Tina took them out of the oven.

“I hope you girls checked your cookie dough carefully,” said Mrs. Cooke. “I think some of the snails are missing.”

Katie Lynn and Tina looked at each other in horror.

Frogs' Legs for Dinner

The next morning, Katie Lynn was double-checking the last batch of cookies for snails when the telephone rang.

“Katie Lynn,
ma chérie!
Please answer that!” called Mrs. Cooke. “I'm watching the French Chef and I don't want to be disturbed!”

Katie Lynn grabbed the receiver. “Hello!” she said.

It was Mr. Chesterfield.

“We just ran out of cookies!” he said.

“Don't worry, Mr. Chesterfield. Grandma's on her way with the first half of the order,” Katie Lynn said. “We'll deliver the rest of them as soon as possible.”

“Great!” said Mr. Chesterfield. He paused. “Have you ever thought about baking other kinds of cookies?” he asked.

“No, not really,” said Katie Lynn. “Why?”

“I'm in charge of the Zoo Benefit this year,” said Mr. Chesterfield. “And I want to auction off some special cookies to raise money for a new Ape House.”

“A new Ape House!” Katie Lynn cried. “That's a great idea!” Katie Lynn thought the animals in the zoo sometimes looked a little sad. She wished they could do something like this for all of them.

“I think so, too, Katie Lynn,” said Mr.
Chesterfield. “They need a home that feels more like a jungle.”

“Well, I'm sure we can figure out something that will work,” said Katie Lynn.

“Good. Let's talk about it later,” said Mr. Chesterfield. “Your grandmother just arrived with the cookies.”

Mrs. Cooke came into the kitchen as Katie Lynn hung up the receiver. “We're having frogs' legs tonight!” she announced. “The French Chef showed me how to cook them.”

“Frogs' legs?”
Katie Lynn said.

Mrs. Cooke nodded. “Yes. The French Chef says their flavor leaps right out of the frying pan. He's a food genius!”

Katie Lynn pictured frogs' legs leaping all over their kitchen floor. She tried to think about the new cookie. But all she
could think about was cookies with frogs' legs sticking out of them.

She ran next door to Tina's house. Tina was sitting on her front porch, watching Gerald dig in the dirt.

Katie Lynn told her about Mr. Chesterfield's telephone call.

“What kind of cookies would be special?” Tina asked.

Katie Lynn shrugged. “That's what we have to figure out.”

“Well, let's not add any chocolate chunks to them,” said Tina. “You can't tell those from snails.”

“We don't have to worry about snails anymore,” said Katie Lynn. “Now it's frogs' legs.”

“Frogs' legs?”
Tina exclaimed.

Katie Lynn nodded. “That's French
cooking, too. Mom went to the market to buy some.”

“I thought frogs were pets,” said Tina. She looked next door to where Jonathan Wilbarger was sitting on his front porch. He looked upset. “Hey, Jonathan!” she shouted. “Don't you have a pet frog?”

“I used to,” Jonathan said sadly. “But Burt disappeared this morning.” He sniffled. “I really miss him.”

“Katie Lynn's family is eating frogs' legs for dinner tonight,” Tina said.

Jonathan's eyes went wide. He jumped up and ran inside his house.

“Why did you tell him that?” demanded Katie Lynn.

Tina shrugged. “It just came out.”

“Well, I don't want to talk about frogs anymore. I want to talk about our new cookie,” said Katie Lynn. “Come on.
Grandma should be home by now. Maybe she'll have some ideas.”