10 E-M-A-N-C-I-P-A-T-E

E-M-A-N-C-I-P-A-T-E Zzzzz. At last, PeeGee WeeGee started to snooze. Snurf! "Phew. We lucked out. He fell asleep. Doesn't he look all cute when he's sleeping?" Judy whispered. "His eyes are moving. I think he's dreaming," said Stink. "Visions of cottage cheese are dancing in his head," said Judy. "Visions of elevators," said Stink. "Shh!" Judy warned. Jessica Finch could be right outside that door. It was almost four. Jessica might be coming back any minute. "No squealing about the ride on the You-Know

What!" said Judy, putting her finger to her lips. Knock knock! Judy jumped up and opened the door. Sure enough, it was Jessica Finch. And she had a bee painted on her face. A spelling bee. "How did the spelling bee—" Judy started to ask, but Jessica ran over to P.G. "Don't wake him up. I just got him—" Too late. Jessica had already scooped P.G. up in her arms and was giving him hugs and kisses. "P.G.!" she said. "I missed you, you little pig face." "PeeGee WeeGee!" squealed P.G. He curled his tail. "Aw, you missed me, too, didn't you, little guy?" Jessica cooed. Mr. and Mrs. Finch came up behind Jessica. They peered inside. The Moodys' hotel room was

a mess. The bed was a tornado. Socks and shoes littered the floor. Trays with empty bowls of cottage cheese were here, there, and everywhere. "What happened here?" Mr. Finch asked. "This place is a pigsty!" said Jessica, cackling. "Duh!" said Judy. "He's your pig. You know how he is." "I'm afraid we do," said Mrs. Finch.

Mom and Dad came out of the other room when they heard the commotion. "The kids really had a fun time with P.G.," said Dad. "We gave P.G. a bath," said Stink. "And I taught him to give kisses," said Judy. "And P.G. didn't escape or ride the elevator or anything," said Stink. Judy gave Stink the stink-eye. "Squealer!" she muttered under her breath. She quick-changed the subject. "Hurry up, Jessica. Tell us what happened at the spelling bee." "It was fine." "Fine?" Judy screeched. "That's it?" Judy wagged her finger at Jessica. "Wait a second. I get it. It's okay if you didn't win, you know." "Yeah, but, okay, um... I did win." "You WON?" said Judy. "As in won? As in

beat everybody? Even Sanjay Sharma? As in Class 3T and Virginia Dare School takes home the trophy for The Great Third-Grade Spelling Bee?" Jessica nodded. "See, told you you'd win! Even though I kabobbed your spelling list." "Can you believe it? Our girl won," said Mr. Finch. "We're so proud of her," said Mrs. Finch. "Congratulations, Jessica!" said Mom. "Way to go!" said Dad. "Where's the trophy?" Stink asked. "Then I don't get it," said Judy. "Why are you acting weird?" "I'm not acting weird," said Jessica. "Yes, you are. You should be going crazy and running laps around the room and

screaming 'I won, I won' and jumping up and down on furniture and stuff." "Go ahead, honey. Tell us all about it," said Mom. "Well, first I spelled cartoon and nightmare." "Easy-peasy," said Judy. "For you, I mean." "Then it got harder. I got flip-flops in my stomach when they said unbelievable because I couldn't remember if it was I before E or E before I." "Or E-I-E-I-O," said Stink. Everybody laughed. "Then it got down to just me and Sanjay. I thought for sure he was going to win. I was so nervous my teeth were chattering like it was the middle of winter." "What word did you win with?" Judy asked. "Was it titanic?" Stink asked.