Fudge-A-Mania Read Online Free PDF

sang as loud as I could. "Who can explain it, who can tell you why?" Fudge started laughing.
    "Don't encourage him!" Sheila said.
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    I kept on singing. "Fools give you reasons, wise men never trrrrrryyyyyy ..." I learned that song last night, from Buzzy Senior and Grandma. It's called "Some Enchanted Evening."
    "This is too embarrassing for words!" Sheila said.
    I would have kept on singing, but Mrs. A called from her porch. "Yoo hoo... yoo hoo, boys..." She waved to us. "Did you find your uncle?"
    "He was at home," Fudge called back. "He was hiding."
    "That's a relief. I was worried."
    "What uncle?" Sheila asked.
    "Uncle Feather," Fudge said. "She thinks he's my real uncle."
    "Why would she think that?" Sheila said. "She just does," Fudge said. "Right, Pete?"
    "Yeah... right," I told him.
    "But that doesn't make any sense," Sheila said.
    "A lot of things don't make any sense," Fudge said.
    Like a bird breather, I thought.
    "Yoo hoo..." Mrs. A called again. "Come up and have a snack. Mitzi's here."
    Fudge took off and Sheila panicked. "Wait for me, Fudgie..." she called. She tried to lift the bucket. But the Perfect Baby-Sitter hadn't stopped to think about how much rocks weigh.
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    "Want some help?" I asked.
    "I don't need your help!" She dumped all the rocks out of the bucket, then turned it upside down over them.
    "Worried someone's going to steal your rocks?" I said. "These rocks are special."
    "Oh... I guess I didn't notice since there's about two zillion more exactly like them."
    "You're hopeless, Peter... really hopeless!"
    "That's better than what you are!" I called. But I don't think she heard me. She was already running up the beach after Fudge.
    I followed. Not that I wasn't perfectly happy on my own. But why miss out on one of Mrs. A's snacks?
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    Mitzi was smaller than Fudge, with long hair tied in a ponytail. She wore a baseball glove on her left hand. Mrs. A introduced us to her as soon as we got to the house.
    "This is Fudge Feather," she said. "And this is his big brother..." She put her finger to her mouth and paused.
    "Peter," I said, helping her out. I don't know why people can always remember Fudge's name but not mine.
    "Yes," Mrs. A said. "Peter Feather."
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    "Feather is a funny name," Mitzi said.
    "Actually, it's Hatcher," I told her, setting the record straight.
    "But I thought your uncle's name is Feather," Mrs. A said.
    "It is," Fudge told her.
    "His first name is Feather," I explained, before things got any more confused. "Feather Hatcher. Uncle Feather Hatcher."
    "Oh..." Mrs. A said, laughing. "I get it now. So you're the Hatcher boys... not the Feather boys." "That's right," I told her.
    "I like Feather better," Mitzi said. "And Fudge isn't a name... it's a candy."
    "It's a name too," Fudge told her. "Right, Pete?"
    "That's right," I said.
    "Doesn't he have another name?" Mitzi asked me. "A real name?"
    "It's Farley," Fudge said. He stuck out his chin, daring her to say anything more.
    "Farley?" Mitzi said, opening her eyes really wide. "That's a real name?"
    "Yes!" Fudge said.
    "Grandma..." Mitzi said, "is Farley a name?"
    "It's a beautiful name," Mrs. A said.
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    "There was once a handsome movie star named Farley Granger..." She closed her eyes and kind of sighed. Then she went into the house to get us a snack. Sheila went with her.
    As soon as they were gone Mitzi got shy. She looked at the floor of the porch. Then she looked at the ceiling. She socked her fist into her baseball glove to make the pocket deeper. But she didn't say a word.
    Fudge watched her and hummed a little tune. He didn't have anything to say either.
    I decided it was up to me to get things going between them. So I said, "That's a good-looking baseball glove."
    "I call it my mit t-sy," she said, hugging it to her chest. "Big gave it to me."
    "Who's Big?" Fudge asked.
    "My grandpa," Mitzi said. "Big Apfel."
    "Big who?" I asked, sure I'd misunderstood her.
    "Big Apfel," she said again.
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