3. Pet Dress-Up

Chapter 3 Pet Dress-Up The kids spent the next few days gathering what they would need to turn Polly and Pal into Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. On the morning of July Fourth they met on Bradley and Brian's back porch. Pal lay under a small table with his eyes closed. It was a sunny, warm day. Nate had brought cardboard and a large sheet of paper. Printed on it was a copy of the Declaration of Independence. "Ruth Rose printed it out," he told the others. "She's going to enter her cat,

Tiger, in the pet parade. She wants to be mayor for a day, too!" "No way!" Brian yelled. He handed Nate some string and a small bottle of glue. "Pal will hate this," Brian said. "I tried to dress him as Superman for Halloween once, and he chewed on his costume." Hearing his name, Pal opened one eye, yawned, then closed it again. Lucy showed them a fluffy white wig. "Dink lent it to us," she said. "He said he was George Washington in a school play once. He told me he's entering Loretta, his guinea pig. Dink wants to be mayor, too!" "There are hundreds of people with pets in Green Lawn," Brian said. "They'll all try to win!" "So we have to make sure Pal and Polly are the best," Bradley said. "Look what I found in our attic," Brian said. He flopped an old-timey hat on his head. "I think it was my grandfather Pinto's." "Dude, it needs to have three corners," Nate said. "This one is round."

"It will have corners when I'm done with it!" Brian said. He showed them his mother's sewing scissors. "I'll make corners." "What else do we need?" Bradley asked. "A ribbon for Thomas Jefferson's ponytail," Lucy said. "I looked him up, and he always wore one." She pulled a black ribbon from her pocket. "My aunt gave it to me." "And we need buckles for his shoes," Nate said. "Easy!" Brian said. He ran into the kitchen and came back with a roll of tinfoil. "I figure we can cut buckles from some of this cardboard, then cover them with tinfoil." "How do we keep them on Polly's feet?" Nate asked.

Bradley showed them a roll of tape. "Duct tape. It sticks forever." "Duck tape?" Nate said. "Why do ducks need tape?" "I think they're two different words," Bradley said. "Listen," Lucy said. "I hear drums!" "It must be the high school band practicing. The parade starts in an hour," Bradley said. "Let's get this stuff ready!" Bradley started cutting two squares from Nate's cardboard. They sort of looked like buckles. Lucy made a ponytail on the back of the white wig and tied the ribbon on to it. Brian started snipping off pieces of the hat, trying to make it look like Mr. Vooray's. Nate poked two holes at the top of his copy of the Declaration, and two more near the bottom. "What're the holes for?" Brian asked. "For the string, so we can tie the paper to Pal's collar and around his tail." Brian shook his head. "I don't know if Pal will like that, Nate," he said.

"Maybe we shouldn't try to put it on him until the parade starts," Lucy suggested. "Good idea," Bradley said. "Okay, let's go show Polly her Thomas Jefferson wig!"