think we need to set them free.â
I got nervous. Kim had a lot of ideas. In third grade I got grounded because Kim had decided to put gelatin in all the toilets.
âWhat do you want to do?â
She smiled. âItâs going to be epic,â she said.
âWhat?â
âTrust me,â she said.
I sighed.
So we got a bunch of trash bags and gathered all the animals in the house. My room, the rec room, we even went into Joeâs secret area of his closet and filled two bags.
âHeâs going to kill us,â I said.
âHe canât kill us,â she said. âHeâs a baby.â
And she was right. Joe was a baby.
We lugged them all out to the curb, making four trips.
âYour grandma is insane,â Kim said.
âI know.â
Then we started sticking the animals to the light pole with duct tape.
âWhy are we doing this?â
âBecause itâs important,â Kim said, taping my Elmo on first.
I watched her. Then I said, âWe should do it by color.â
âWhat?â
âBy color.â
I figured if we were going to do something like this, might as well be organized about it.
Kim shrugged. âOkay.â
So she taped and I handed her toys.
We started with Mr. Polar Bear and Joeâs pair of bunnies and then we moved from white to gray with Hippy Hippo and a couple of elephants we got from the San Diego Zoo one time.
An hour later we had stacked two chairs on my dadâs folding table.
âIâm almost out of tape,â Kim said. âMaybe you should go ask Gabby for some?â
We both looked across the street. Gabby Forster lived in the biggest house on the block. Gabby always wore bikinis, she never rode bikes or played night games, and one time she told us that her familyâs beach house sometimes got rented by Jean-Claude Van Damme.
So she was way cooler than us.
Right then, while we were staring at her house, Gabby walked out.
She was wearing a hot pink bikini, and she looked like a model.
âWhat are you guys doing?â She yelled across the street, which was shocking. Like she cared.
Kim taped a tiger next to Winnie-the-Pooh. âWeâre protesting stuffed animal cruelty,â she yelled back.
I tried not to laugh. Gabby scared me. Nobody scared Kim.
Gabby walked over. âWhat are you doing?â
I held a leopard up to Kim.
âWeâre making a statement,â Kim said.
âYeah, we wanted to make a statement,â I said, which was exactly what Kim just said.
Gabby stared at the pole. âYou guys are strange,â she said.
I wanted to say something like
this was Kimâs idea
. I would never do this. I was not strange, I was normal. I am normal and cool, too. But instead I didnât say anything.
Then Gabby said, âWhy are you doing this again?â
âTell her, Emmy,â Kim said.
I looked at her. âWhat?â
âTell her why weâre doing this.â
âUh.â I hated when Kim put me on the spot. âUh.â
âDonât hold back,â Kim said. âWe want the people to know.â
âUh,â I said again. âWe are concerned that stuffed animals are being . . .
âUh . . .
â¢
âStuffed animals are being treated unfairly?â I said. This was so dumb. We were so dumb.
But Kim said, âExactly. Itâs atrocious.â
âOh yeah,â Gabby said, a hand on her bony hip.
Kim stopped taping. âFor example, Gabby, where are your stuffed animals?â
âWhat?â
âLike right now.â
âUh, I donât have any stuffed animals.â
Kim pointed a leopard at her and said, âNow thatâs a lie. That is a horrible horrible lie. Statistics show that ninety-eight percent of the population has at least one stuffed animal in their bedroom. If not in their bedroom, within twenty feet of their bedroom.â
Where did she come up with this