2. Bradley Has an Idea

Chapter 2 Bradley Has an Idea The next day was July 1. Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy were in the Pintos' barn, where it was cool. They were sitting on bales of hay. Pigeons made cooing noises in the roof rafters over their heads. The four kids were best buddies. The twins' older brother, Josh, was friends with Nate's sister, Ruth Rose, and Lucy's cousin Dink Duncan. Lucy was visiting from California. She was staying with Dink's family while her parents were helping to build a Native American school in Arizona.

Bradley had a pad of paper and a pencil. "Okay, we need some ideas for how to dress Pal," he said. "I want to be mayor for a day!" Pal was licking the edge of the pad. Lucy was sitting next to Pal. "Do you want to be in the July Fourth parade?" she asked him. Pal woofed a doggy yes. "Are you going to win first prize?" Brian asked his dog. Pal woofed twice as loud. "Come on, guys, we need ideas," Bradley said. Pal had long, droopy ears, sad brown eyes, and short legs. "How about making Pal a moose?" Nate asked. "I have some antlers from a Halloween costume." "That would look silly," Lucy said. "Besides, moose have long legs." "We could dress Pal as a cowboy and have him ride Polly in the parade," Brian suggested. "Like Roy Rogers and Trigger." Polly, the Pintos' pony, was in her stall at the other end of the barn. Bradley laughed at his brother's suggestion. "They'd both hate it," he said. "But you gave me

an idea!" "I did?" asked Brian. Bradley nodded. "Yep. Just think, if we entered both Pal and Polly, we'd have two chances to win," he said. "That's what I just said," Brian stated. "Pal can be a cowboy riding on Polly. Perfect!" "But it's a July Fourth parade," Bradley said. "They didn't have cowboys in 1776." "What did they have?" Nate asked. "They had dinosaurs!" Brian yelled. "We can dress Pal as a stegosaurus and Polly as a pterodactyl!" The other kids laughed, and Bradley threw some hay at his brother. "They did not have dinosaurs in 1776," Bradley said. "Besides, if we want to win, we need the costumes to have something to do with Independence Day," Lucy said. "Lucy's right," Bradley said. "So we dress Polly as King George?" Nate asked. He started laughing and rolled over in the hay.

"My idea," Bradley said, "is to dress Polly as Thomas Jefferson. And Pal goes as the Declaration of Independence." Brian stared at his brother. "I don't get it," he said. "Bri, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence," Bradley said. "Pal and Polly will be perfect, and it stays with the theme of the parade! We could win!"

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Lucy looked at Pal. "I think that's a great idea!" she said. "But how do we make Pal look like a sheet of paper?" "I know!" Nate said. "I'll ask my sister to find a copy of the Declaration of Independence on our computer and print it out. Then we tie it on Pal's back, like a cape." Brian grinned. "What about Polly?" he asked. "Thomas Jefferson had only two legs, and he wore pants. How do we make Polly look like him?" "Easy," Bradley said. "We forget her hind legs. We put a wig on her head, with one of those funny hats with three corners.…" "Like Mr. Vooray was wearing yesterday," Lucy put in. "Right," Bradley said. "We can make some buckles and tape them to Polly's front hooves. It'll be so cool! Everyone will know who she's supposed to be, and we'll win the prize. I'll be mayor for a day!" "No, we will," Brian said. "We can each be half a mayor." "Not so fast," Nate said. "There are four of us here, so we each get to be a fourth of a mayor. I