9 A Leopard Can Change Its Spots

A Leopard CAN Change Its Spots

Stink got to school early and slipped the letter inside Webster's desk. He watched Webster read it. Webster looked up. He looked over at Stink. "You mean you didn't miss my birthday on purpose?" "No way," said Stink. "Just like I didn't suckerpunch you on purpose. You gotta believe me." Webster grinned from ear to ear. "Friends?" asked Stink. "Friends," said Webster. "So what's the big surprise, huh? What's C.G.? C'mon! Tell me! I can't wait!" "My lips are sealed," said Stink, zippering his lips. "Does it stand for Card Game?" asked Webster. "Cinderella's Glass slipper?" asked Sophie of the Elves.

"Cucumbers and Grapes?" asked Webster. "Crazy Glue?" "No, no, and nope," said Stink. "You just have to wait. My dad's bringing it. But Mrs. D. said not until the end of the day." Waiting was harder than writing letters. Harder than punctuation. Harder than spelling sincerely. At the end of the day, Mrs. D. read eleven pages from Sophie of the Elves' favorite chapter book about a brave mouse and an evil rat. Finally! At last! An announcement over the PA system. "Special Delivery for Class 2D! Stink Moody to the front office!"

"Wow! Cool! Hey! What? Huh?" everybody buzzed. Stink walked-not-ran down to the office and came back to class with Dad, a rainbow-bright rooster pi.ata, and 21,280 jawbreakers. Not to mention all sorts of candy bars, microbots, and monkey pencils. "Candy-Gram!" Stink announced. "I repeat. Candy-Gram for Webster Gomez."

Webster was already at the door. He had never ever seen so much candy in his whole entire life. "For me? WOWEE!" "To celebrate your birthday," said Stink. "With the whole class!"

"Pi.ata party!" everybody was saying. "A Candy-Gram!" said Sophie of the Elves. "C.G. is for Candy-Gram!" "I never got a Candy-Gram before. It's like a telegram, only better." "Where'd you get all the candy and stuff?" asked Sophie. "I got it FREE. Sort of by mistake on purpose." Dad and Mrs. D. filled the pi.ata with candy and goodies. Dad got to stand on the teacher's desk! He hung the pi.ata from the ceiling. "Who wants to go first?" asked Dad, pointing to the bright red rooster. "Webster!" called Stink. Dad asked Webster to close his eyes and handed him the stick. "Stand back, everybody," Dad called. "On the count of three!" said Mrs. D. Webster swung the stick. It sliced the air, this way and that. Whoosh! Swoosh!