Chapter 11

Chapter eleven, We had exactly forty-five minutes to complete our dishes. Judith Ann got right to work. As she chopped her vegetables, I could see sweat forming on her forehead. "Maybe you should take it easy on that poor little eggplant," I whispered to her. "I thought I just heard it screaming." "This is no time for jokes," she said. "As I told you, this means everything to me." I hadn't forgotten that. I was just trying to help her relax. I knew it wasn't going to take the whole time to make my Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie with Surprise Ingredients. But i wanted to look busy, so I took my time tearing

the peanut butter and jelly sandwich into bite- size bits. That took about ten seconds, so I tried to go even slower with the banana. After I peeled it one tiny section at a time, I waved to Frankie and Ashley sitting in the audience. They waved back with big smiles. Judith Ann had finished the vegetables and was rolling them into three plump meatless meatballs. "Look at you go, Judy," I said. "Those meatballs look really round." She glanced up at me like she was going to say something. Just then, one of the meatballs she was working on rolled out of her hand and onto the floor. "Oh no!" she screamed. "Look what you made me do!" "I didn't mean for that to happen. Honest." "I know, Hank. It wasn't your fault. I'm just so nervous." I turned back to my blender and started to crumble the cookies into the jar.

Judith Ann put her two meatballs into the frying pan and rolled them around with a wooden spoon. Suddenly, I heard her shout. "Oh no! What is wrong with me today?" she said. "My meatball is crumbling." I looked over into her frying pan and saw that one of the meatballs had come apart. It looked like a vegetable pancake. "I am such a loser," she went on, sounding like she was going to cry. "I practice and I practice, and I can't do anything right." "Hey, do I ever know that feeling," I said. "I practice my spelling words all night long, and when I get to class, I have no idea where they are. They're sure not in my head." "I wish I were making your Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie," she said. "It seems so easy." She definitely had a point. She was chopping and rolling and frying and doing all kinds of complicated cooking stuff. All I was doing was filling a blender and flipping a switch.

As I reached into my bag to get the carton of chocolate milk, I smelled the pickle at the bottom. I looked over at Judith Ann. She was concentrating very hard on her last meatball, rolling it around to make sure it was fully cooked. It was then that I knew what I had to do. I reached into my bag and pulled out Papa Pete's dill pickle. When no one was watching, I dropped it into the blender and put on the top. Then I flipped the switch. I smiled to myself. Hank's Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie with Surprise Ingredients was sure going to have one big surprise ingredient now. By the time the forty-five minutes were up, I had poured my smoothie into a glass and decorated it with the gummy bears I brought

with me in my pocket. Then I popped in a redand- white-striped straw. Judith Ann had placed her one lonely meatball on top of the pancake one, and dripped some red sauce over both of them. It actually looked pretty good. She had turned her mistake into her own surprise. Chuck Hall picked up his microphone and stood between us. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said to the same seven people in the audience. "The Junior Chef Cook-Off is now over, and all that's left to do is the tasting. I'm going to take one taste of each dish, and decide who will appear with me on Country Cooking for the City." Chuck picked up Judith Ann's plate, took a big sniff, then popped a bite of the meatball into his mouth.

"Mmmm very tasty," he said. "And I love the creative way you designed your plate. A meatless meatball on a meatless pancake. So creative." Then he turned to me, picked up the glass, and smiled. "This looks yummy," he said. "I love a good smoothie." He raised the glass to his lips and took a big sip through the straw. I waited, but not for long. He spit the smoothie out of his mouth like he was a fire truck hose.