Judy Moody Saves the World! (6 page)

“Goodbye, Toadster!” said Rocky.

“Watch out for acid rain!” said Frank. Toady blinked once, then
bloomp!
He plopped into the water. In one, two, three bubbles, Toady was gone.

“Nice sendoff,” said Frank.

“It’s for a good cause,” said Rocky.

“Toadly awesome!” said Judy.

Rocky and Frank went home. She, Judy Moody, was on her way to making the world a better place. The Toad Pee Club had taken one small step for toadkind and one giant leapfrog for humankind.

It took Stink one hour and twenty-eight minutes to notice that Toady was missing. Endangered, as in G-O-N-E, gone.

“Toady’s gone?” asked Stink. “Oh, no! What if he got swallowed by a snake? Or gobbled by a giant hawk? It’s all my fault for leaving him in the tent. Why didn’t you
do
something?”

“I did,” said Judy, and she broke the good news about letting Toady go to make the planet a better place.

If Stink were a poison dart frog, he would have spit poison at Judy. If Stink were a volcano, he would have spewed lava.

“It’s not fair!” Stink moaned. “Toady was my pet!”

“Toady belonged to all the members of the Toad Pee Club.”

“But I took care of him mostly,” said Stink. “How can letting him go make the world a better place? It makes it a worse place if you ask me.”

“Stink, you’d be pond scum if you kept Toady locked up in that aquarium,” said Judy. “That aquarium is like being in jail.”

“You’re
gonna be in jail as soon as I tell Mom and Dad.”

“Look at it this way. Toady gets to be free and now there will be even more toads. Don’t you get it?”

“I get that you stole my toad.”

Sometimes Stink could be as stubborn as a hard-headed hornbill.

“Now we don’t even have a mascot for our club,” said Stink.

Judy grabbed Mouse. “Mouse could be our new mascot!”

“The Mouse Pee Club? I don’t think so,” said Stink. “See? If it wasn’t for Toady, there wouldn’t even be a Toad Pee Club.”

“There will be other toads to pee on us, Stink. I promise.”

“I’m still telling,” said Stink.

The next day, Judy came home from school and climbed a tree.

She, Judy Moody, was in Trouble with a capital T. Why was her whole family mad at her for letting a toad go free? She was just doing her part to save the world.

Stink saw her up in the tree. “Hey. No fair! Mom and Dad said you had to go straight to your room!”

“This
is
my room,” Judy said. “I’m going to live up here now. Like Julia Butterfly Hill.”

“Who?”

“The girl who lived in a tree for two years. Mr. Todd told us. They were going to cut down some ancient redwoods in California. So Julia Butterfly Hill climbed one of the trees and stayed there. They couldn’t cut down a tree with a person in it. She even named the tree Luna.”

“You can’t just live in a tree, Judy,” said Stink.

“Judy Monarch Moody to you.”

“Oh, brother,” said Stink.

“If I live in this tree, newspapers will come. And TV people. Everybody will learn how important trees are. I’ll call my tree Luna Two.”

“How about luna-tic,” said Stink.

“Hardee-har-har,” said Judy. “Stink, you will have to be the gofer.”

“Gopher? A gopher sounds like a rat.”

“An
important
rat,” said Judy. “Go get me my walkie-talkies. It will be like Julia Butterfly Hill’s solar-powered cell phone. That’s how I’ll talk to people.”

Stink came back with the walkie-talkies. Judy climbed down to a lower branch and Stink stood on a milk crate to pass them up to her.

“Now get me a flashlight. It’s going to get dark up here.”

Stink went and got the flashlight.

“Now can you get me a glass of water?” asked Judy.

“Water? What’s the water for?” asked Stink.

“I’m thirsty!”

“Forget it,” said Stink.

“I’ll pay you fifty cents.”

“How long are you going to be up there?” Stink asked, thinking of all the money he could make.

“Julia Butterfly Hill was in her tree for seven hundred and thirty-eight days. Sooner or later, Stink, you’re going to have to get me some water. And lentils. Julia Butterfly Hill ate lentils.”

“Lentils! You never ate a lentil in your life!” Stink said. He got a bottle of water. “You owe me fifty cents,” said Stink. “We’re all out of lentils. I forgot I used them to make my Empire State Building in Social Studies.”

“I guess I’ll learn to like lima beans,” said Judy. “Ick.”

“Rocky’s on his way over,” said Stink. “He called and I told him you live in a tree now. I told him you are going to be in big trouble when Mom and Dad find out you didn’t go straight to your room.”

“This
is
my room.”

“Then can I have your room inside the house?”

Rocky raced around the corner into the backyard. “What’s up, Judy? Besides you, I mean?” He cracked himself up.

Judy didn’t laugh. Judy didn’t say a word.

“You have to call her Judy Monarch Moody,” said Stink.

“Oh, I get it,” said Rocky. “Like that girl who lived in the tree. What are you going to do if it rains?”

“I’ll stay under the leaves,” said Judy.

“What about when it gets dark?” asked Rocky.

“I have a flashlight,” said Judy.

“See what I mean?” said Stink. “First she went crazy over some trash. Then it was a weird beetle. She’s driving
me
up a tree!”

“Oh, no! Not you too?” Rocky and Stink fell on the ground laughing.

“How are we going to get her to come down?” Stink asked Rocky.

“Mr. Todd said the tree cutters tried playing loud music and shining bright lights at Julia Butterfly Hill all night to make her come down,” said Rocky.

“Time for Operation Boom Box,” said Stink.

They blasted loud music to annoy Judy into coming down. She just put her hands over her ears and hummed, “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.”

“What else did they try on Julia?” asked Stink.

“Lawsuits,” said Rocky.

“I’ll sue you if you don’t come down!” yelled Stink.

“For what?” asked Judy.

“For staying up in a tree and getting out of your punishment or something.”

“Or something,” said Judy.

“Let’s try shaking the tree,” said Rocky. They put their hands around the tree and shook, but the tree did not budge one leaf.

“Tree bark is worse than bug bites,” Stink said, showing his scraped-up arm. “Hey, Judy, I need a doctor. For real. Go get your doctor kit.”

“Nice try,” said Judy Monarch Moody.

Just then, Mouse came outside and bolted up the tree.

“Thanks for the company,” called Judy. “Now I won’t get lonely up here.”

“Great,” said Stink. “Now Mouse won’t come down either. And we’ll have to call her Mouse Swallowtail Moody or something.”

“I have to stay up here,” said Judy. “For the sake of all trees. And owls and flying squirrels and all the things that need trees. Even people. And toads.”

“Let’s just leave her up there,” said Stink. “Who cares if she falls? Who cares if she gets in big trouble?”

“Even Judy Monarch Moody can’t stay up there forever. You have to go to school,” called Rocky.

“Julia Butterfly Hill got a Ph.D. from a college while she was up in the tree,” Judy called back.

“Maybe if we ignore her she’ll come down,” said Rocky.

“Operation Ignore Judy,” said Stink.

Stink and Rocky went inside. Mouse leaped down from a branch and followed them. “Traitor!” Judy yelled after her cat.

Living in a tree was a little lonely. Judy wondered if Julia Butterfly Hill got lonely, too. Seven hundred and thirty-eight days was a long time. Judy had hardly lasted seven hundred and thirty-eight seconds.