10 Blue Betsy

CHAPTER TEN BLUE BETSY "I HAVE NO idea about the blue thing," Dad said. "But June eleventh is the day before your birthday." Mom asked, "But what rhymes with five day?" Dad made lots of guesses—lots of bad guesses. "Strive clay?" "Dive spray?" "Thrive pay?" "Jive gray?" I had a feeling this would take a while, so I nodded toward the front window.

Our bikes were in the driveway. So was my very first bike. It looked really small next to my bike now. It was blue. When I first learned to ride it, I named it Blue Betsy for some reason. When I was little I liked to name stuff. "Is that your first bike in the driveway?" Mom asked. "Blue Betsy?" I nodded. "Driveway!" Dad exclaimed and pointed at his head in a goofy way. "I'm a genius! I got it on the first try." "Yeah, Dad. First try. Sure," I said, but he knew I was just kidding. "Do you guys remember when you

taught me how to ride Blue Betsy when I was five years old? Because I didn't want to be six and still not know how to ride?" "We remember," Mom said and messed up my hair a little bit. "We were out in the driveway all day," Dad said and laughed. "You would not give up." "I thought we could go on a bike ride together today," I said. "That's the second prize!" And that's what we did. We rode almost every trail through Picasso Park—even the one that goes way down by the creek. When we got back, it was almost lunchtime. "The trails at Picasso Park are the best," I said. "The absolute best!" Mom and Dad agreed. "I'm starving," Dad said after we put our bikes back into the garage. "That's perfect," I said and pulled the next clue

out of my pocket. I handed it to Mom. "You're going to like the next prize." clue #3 A. It's lunchtime. B. Let's make a big circle. C. And put little circles on it. D. And cut it into triangles.