3 PIP

CHAPTER 3 PIP Sophie and I sat cross-legged in my garden with two open containers of ladybug larvae between us. "Whoa, look at the markings on this one!" Sophie held out her finger, and we oohed and aahed over the patterns on its back. Sophie didn't have any aphids at her house, but she really wanted some of the ladybug larvae. So our parents decided that we could release both sets of larvae on my poor kale plants. They needed as much help as they could get. A tiny orange paw darted toward one of the containers. "No way, buddy!" I scolded Sassafras. "I still wish she had let me buy the tomato hornworm." Sophie sighed. "But it's a PEST!" I reminded her. "Yeahhh, I know. But it was so pretty! And also

it grows into a moth." Sophie grinned. "I love moths." I shuddered a little. I loved looking at moths from a distance. But their creepy Velcro-like feet and hairy-looking bodies freaked me out. Nina had showed us what kind of moth the tomato hornworm turned into. I was secretly glad that Sophie wasn't going to have that thing in her bedroom. "Zoooeeyyy!" a little sing-songy voice called out. Sassafras bounded over to Pip who was walking out of the forest. "Oh, I didn't know you had company!" Pip walked over and stood right in front of Sophie. Then he stuck out his tongue and made googly eyes at her. Nothing. Next he did a little tap dance. Still nothing. Pip laughed. "Oh, humans. They miss so much!" I sighed. I kept hoping that one day Sophie would be able to see magical creatures. Of all of my friends, she'd be the one. But still only my mom and I could see them. That meant I couldn't say anything

to Pip with Sophie around, without seeming more than a little weird. "Ummm, Sophie?" I asked. "I'm a little hungry —are you?" "Oooh, snack time? Great idea!" "Ummm…" I looked around for some kind of excuse. Aha! "Uh, I'm worried Sassafras will try to eat our larvae again. Would you go ask my parents for a snack? That way I can keep an eye on him." "Oh, sure!" She set down the ladybug larva

she'd been holding and ran across the yard to the house. "Sorry about yesterday." Pip kicked at some dirt with his foot. "I guess I just had a really bad case of the grumplets." I waited until Sophie was inside the house to reply. "Grumplets? Wait, do you mean a bad case of the grumpies?" "What are grumpies?" asked Pip. "What are grumplets?" "I don't know—a grumpy forest creature?" Pip put a webbed finger to his chin. "It's a thing my mom and grandma used to say when I was little if I was too fussy." "Huh. I've heard people say 'a bad case of the grumpies' when someone's grumpy. But I don't think they were talking about a forest creature." Pip shrugged and peered into an open container of ladybug larvae. "Oooh, what are those?"

"Oh! They're baby ladybugs! I got them at the farmer's market. They're going to help by eating all those pesky aphids that are on my kale." Pip shook his head. "I'm glad those things taste good to someone. Blech."

The back door swung open. "Sophie's coming back. Don't worry about earlier. We're all grumpy sometimes!" "Thanks, Zoey." Pip gave my wrist a hug. "See you later!" But he didn't go quite yet. He waited until Sophie sat down with our snack. Then he started cartwheeling away. "BYYYYEEEE SOOOPPHHHIIIEEE!" he sang as he tumbled into the forest. I couldn't help but giggle. "What's so funny?" asked Sophie with a mouth full of strawberry. "Uhh, I was just thinking how hilarious a cartwheeling frog would be," I said, grabbing a handful of delicious berries.