Mostly Monty (7 page)

When Monty saw Joey Thomas walking down the street with his two dogs, he ran after him. He didn’t have to worry about dog hair outdoors. It was only inside a house that the hair might bother his asthma. Still, before he began speaking, he put his hand in his pocket and held on to his inhaler for support.

“Do you want to join a club?” Monty asked Joey.

“What kind of club?” Joey asked.

“A kangaroo club,” said Monty. He began to explain his plan.

Joey listened to Monty. He looked at the sheet of kangaroo information that Monty held up.

“This is just like school,” Joey complained. “You shouldn’t have to read this kind of stuff if it isn’t homework. Especially when it’s the weekend,” he added. One of Joey’s dogs pulled on his leash.

“Down, Jupiter!” shouted Joey.

The dog sat down. Monty was impressed.

“Kangaroos are very interesting,” Monty said.

Joey studied the sheet of paper. This is what it said:

Kangaroos come in different sizes. The littlest weigh one pound. The biggest weigh 175 pounds.

They have pouches for holding their babies.

A little kangaroo is called a joey.

They’re great at hopping.

Their tails help them keep their balance when they hop.

Kangaroos are vegetarian.

They live in Australia.

They also live in zoos.

“Where did you learn all this?” Joey asked. “I never knew my name was the same as a kangaroo.”

“I’ve been reading about them,” Monty explained. “If you join my club, we can learn more information. And my mom said she’d serve refreshments,” he added.

“Ice cream?”

“Maybe, or cookies. Something different at each meeting, I guess,” said Monty.

“How many meetings will there be?” asked Joey.

“It’s a club. So we’ll have to vote on it,” Monty explained. “I’m the president, but you can be vice president.”

Joey agreed to go to the first meeting of the Kangaroo Club at Monty’s house that afternoon after lunch.

“Who else will be there?” Joey asked as he turned to go off with his dogs.

“You’ll see at the meeting,” Monty said. At that moment, he didn’t know who else would be at the meeting himself.

“What’s the name of your other dog?” he shouted to Joey.

“Pluto” was the reply.

That was a surprise to Monty. He hadn’t known that his classmate was interested in astronomy.

Having gotten one new member, it was easier to get the others. The twins, Ilene, who was also in his class, and Arlene, lived at the other end of Monty’s street. They said that they would come. Their little cousin Evan was visiting from out of town. Monty told Evan that he could join too. So that meant that five kids were sitting in the sun porch of Monty’s house that afternoon for the very first meeting of the Kangaroo Club.

Monty gave out fact sheets about kangaroos for the members to study.

“Maybe we can take a trip to the zoo,” suggested Ilene. “Then we can go and look at real kangaroos.”

“That’s a great idea,” said Monty, beaming. “Do you think your mother would take us?”

“We can ask her,” Ilene said. “She’ll probably say yes because she wants Evan to have a good time while he’s visiting. Maybe we can go tomorrow.”

Evan was only four years old, and this was his first time away from home. “I like zoos,” he said.

“Do we have to look only at kangaroos?” Joey asked.

“Let’s vote on it,” said Monty. “That’s what clubs do.”

“All in favor of just looking at kangaroos at the zoo, raise your hand,” said Joey.

Monty raised his hand.

“All in favor of looking at all the other animals too, raise your hand,” said Joey.

Five hands went up into the air — because Evan raised both of his.

“Okay. Other animals win,” said Joey triumphantly.

“But we’ll look at the kangaroos first,” said Monty. “After all, this is the Kangaroo Club.”

“That’s fair,” said Ilene. Arlene agreed.

They planned to meet every week. Each member would try to have a new kangaroo fact to share with the others at every meeting. Dues would be five cents. They would contribute that money to the zoo for the upkeep of the kangaroos. “It won’t pay for much,” said Joey.

“Kangaroos are cheap to take care of. Remember, they eat grass and leaves. No meat,” said Monty.

At Arlene’s suggestion, the five club members took turns hopping around the sun porch, pretending to be kangaroos. Despite being the youngest, Evan was an excellent hopper.

“Are you ready for refreshments?” asked Mrs. Morris, coming out onto the sun porch with a large tray in her hands.

She put the tray down. If Joey, Ilene, and Arlene had been wondering whether they were going to be served salad, which would be similar to kangaroos’ food of grass and leaves, they needn’t have worried. On the tray was a container of vanilla ice cream, with bowls and spoons for everyone. There was also a choice of butterscotch or fudge sauce.

“Ice cream sundaes!” shouted Joey with delight. “I like this club. Can we make a rule that we always have the same refreshments?”

Everyone turned to look at the club president. Monty doubted that his mother would agree to serving butterscotch and fudge sauce at each meeting. He thought quickly.

“My mom bakes very good cakes,” he said.

“I vote that we be surprised each time,” said Arlene.

“All in favor?”

Six hands went up. (Evan raised both of his.)

“Poor kangaroos. They never get to eat ice cream,” said Ilene, licking butterscotch sauce off her fingers.

When the meeting of the Kangaroo Club was over for that day, Monty knew he’d found the best thing ever. He’d found three and a half new friends. (He only counted Evan as half a friend because he was so young and he’d be going home tomorrow evening.)

He helped his mother by drying the dishes from the club refreshments. Then he went to read one of his library books. Just before he started reading, he realized something. He was feeling pretty good. It wasn’t because his asthma hadn’t bothered him in many weeks. It wasn’t from eating ice cream with fudge sauce. It wasn’t even from having new friends. It was mostly because he was glad to be himself. He liked being Monty after all.

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