05 Uck Bluck Luck

Uck Blue Luck As soon as Judy got home, she looked for a place to hide her P.U. un-lucky penny. She zoomed around the house. Where-o-where? Stink's room! Stink liked smelly stuff, and he was not afraid of cooties. She looked all around. Under Stink's pillow. Perfecto! Good riddance to bad luck. Cheese Louise. Now she had NO luck at all. If she was going to keep her good-luck streak going, she needed a brand-new, un-P.U. good- luck charm for sure. Judy grabbed the magnifying glass from her detective kit. She ran outside. Crawling on all fours, she peered closely at the grass, searching

for a four-leaf clover for what felt like an hour. Or longer. All of a sudden, the back door banged. "Whatcha doing?" Stink asked. "Something," she said without looking up. "Something what?" Stink asked, nose-tonose with the grass now, too. "I'm looking for good luck," said Judy, still not looking up. "I had some good luck. Just now," said Stink. He blew a bubble-gum bubble and popped it. "I found three whole pieces of Yubba Dubba gum in my desk that I didn't even know I had. Lucky, huh? The fortune in the comic says You will soon take a trip."

Judy looked up. A trip! As in Washington, D.C.? If only she had gotten that fortune. No such luck. She went back to her search. "Is that lucky grass or something?" Stink asked. "Or something. If you must know, Stinker,

I'm looking for a lucky four-leaf clover." So far she had found one rock, three dandelions, and about ten-hundred un-lucky three-leaf clovers. Not one single clover with four leaves. Not even a lucky ladybug. "Did you know the odds of finding a four- leaf clover are like ten-thousand to one? That means you have to look through nine-thousand nine-hundred and ninety-nine three-leaf clovers to find one." "Thanks a lot," said Judy. "It's possible," said Stink. "A guy in Alaska found 111,060 four-leaf clovers." "Maybe I should move to Alaska," said Judy. Just then, something landed on Stink's arm. "Hey, a ladybug!" said Stink. "Aren't they good luck?"

Judy popped up. "Just my luck. A ladybug landed on you!" "Cool! Three lucky things have happened to me since I got home from school," said Stink. "I found that bubble gum I didn't know I had. And now this ladybug landed on me." "That's two things. What's the third thing?" "The third thing was really the first thing, which is why the second and third things must have happened." "Is this a riddle?" Judy asked. "Look what I found under my pillow." Stink held up the lucky penny. "And I didn't even lose

a tooth! It's my lucky penny now. That's the third lucky thing that was really the first lucky thing." Yikes. Maybe Judy had ditched the penny too soon. "Fine. But just so you know... it's a bad-luck penny now." "Is not!" Stink held it right up to his face and planted a kiss on it. "Mine o mine o mine!" he sang. "GROSS!" yelled Judy, making an uckyblucky face. "What?" "Oh, nothing," said Judy. Stink eyed the penny suspiciously now. "Tell me." "It's just that— the penny has cooties." "You're just saying that," said Stink. "Stink, do you want to know why it's a bad