08 Sour Balls

Sour Balls On GMD #4, aka Friday, the finger-knitting chain followed Judy out the door and down the sidewalk and all the way to the bus stop! "Look," said Stink. "You grew a tail!" Judy turned to look. Sure enough, a tail of yarn snaked down the sidewalk behind her. "Uh-oh. The end of my chain must have gotten caught on my backpack!" said Judy. "I gotta go back." "Hurry up or you'll miss the bus," said Stink. Judy ran back to the house, gathering up the yarn chain as she went. She tossed the whole thing inside the front door just as Mom and Dad

were leaving. The chain looped over Dad's shoe and around his ankle. Dad shook his foot free. "Judy. Mom and I want to talk to you about this knitting..." "Late! Miss bus! Later! Bye!" Judy called back. By the time Judy got back to the bus stop, her hair had escaped the bobby pins. She made two quick ponytails and asked, "Where's Rocky?" "You know he always gets a ride when it rains," said Stink. "But it's not raining." "It's gonna. I like when it rains. Rain means frogs." "Can this day get any worse?" she asked. "What do you mean?" "Mom and Dad were having a knit fit. That's

all." "You're going to have to stop all that knitting stuff, aren't you?" Stink said. "Never!" "Yah-huh. I heard Mom and Dad talking." "Don't pick a scab before it's time, Stink." "Huh?" "Never mind. Just tell me what they said." "They said you're going to have to stop all that knitting stuff. They said it's taking over the whole house." "No lie?" "No lie." "I can't stop now. I still have three more days to— I mean, if I stop now, I'll only have enough finger knitting to yarn bomb a

birdhouse." Judy could feel a snit fit coming on. A no-knit snit fit! She felt like stomping. But she could not stomp. She could not roar. She could not growl. Or even meow.

It was only Friday. She had to keep up her good-mood streak for three more days. That meant getting through one whole day of school without a String-Cheese Incident or an Interrupting Chicken episode. Without even thinking that Jessica Finch was a fink-face. Otherwise, she'd be shivering in bunny boots and seeing sundogs from her own personal iceberg in the back of the room. Frostbite city! But she'd made it this far, and Judy was determined, now more than ever, not to go anywhere near Antarctica. Not even close. Not even New Zealand. She wiped the sour-ball look off her face. She put on a big fat fake smile. She tried to sound smart and know-it-all, like Jessica Finch. "When life gives you lemons,

Stink, make lemonade." That's what grown-ups were always saying. "Wha?" "It's a saying. When life gives you sour balls, make SweetTARTS." "Huh?" "When bad stuff happens, try to think of something good instead. Always look for the sweetness in the Sour Ball of Life." "You sound like a birthday card," said Stink. "Mom and Dad might make me stop finger knitting, right? That puts me in a bad mood. But they said I could paint my room this weekend. And that's a good thing." Just then, a dark cloud passed overhead. Judy heard a rumble of thunder. All of a sudden, the sky opened up and it started to pour.