Cool Zone with the Pain and the Great One Read online

  Published by Delacorte Press

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

  a division of Random House, Inc.

  New York

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2008 by P&G Trust

  Illustrations copyright © 2008 by James Stevenson

  All rights reserved.

  Delacorte Press and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Blume, Judy.

  Cool zone with the Pain and the Great One / Judy Blume;

  illustrations by James Stevenson—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: More adventures at school and at home with Jake, a first-grader, and his older sister, Abigail, known to each other as the Pain and the Great One.

  [1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Family life—Fiction.]

  I. Stevenson, James, ill.

  II. Title.

  PZ7. B6265Co 2008

  [Fic]—dc22 2007017126

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  eISBN: 978-0-375-84801-8

  v3.0_r1

  CONTENTS

  Copyright

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Meet the Pain

  Meet the Great One

  One: Fifty-Fifty

  Two: The Soggy Egg Roll

  Three: Chasing Lucas

  Four: Bruno’s Ear

  Five: Two Flowers

  Six: The Breaf-kast Café

  Seven: Fluzzy Forever

  Also by Judy Blume

  About the Authors

  About the Illustrator

  To Levi and Reed Cooper

  Two Cool Guys

  —J.B.

  To the schoolchildren of Block Island

  and to their teachers

  —J.S.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  With many thanks to Mary Weaver and her

  first-grade class for inspiring “The Breaf-kast Café”

  and to

  Leila Sachner for telling me the story of Lucy,

  the inspiration for “Bruno’s Ear.”

  Meet the Pain

  My sister’s name is Abigail. I call her the Great One because she thinks she’s so great. She says, “I don’t think it, I know it!” When she says that I laugh like crazy. Then she gets mad. It’s fun to make her mad. Who cares if she’s in third grade and I’m just in first? That doesn’t make her faster. Or stronger. Or even smarter. I don’t get why Mom and Dad act like she’s so special. Sometimes I think they love her more than me.

  Meet the Great One

  My brother’s name is Jacob but everyone calls him Jake. Everyone but me. I call him the Pain because that’s what he is. He’s a first-grade pain. And he will always be a pain—even if he lives to be a hundred. Even then, I’ll be two years older than him. I’ll still know more about everything. And I’ll always know exactly what he’s thinking. That’s just the way it is. I don’t get why Mom and Dad act like he’s so special. Sometimes I think they love him more than me.

  FIFTY-FIFTY

  The Pain has a loose tooth. He wiggles it all day long. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. You’d think it was the first loose tooth in the history of the world.

  Today at the school bus stop he opened his mouth. “Look at this!” he called proudly. The tooth was hanging by a thread. I could have reminded him that by the time I was in first grade I’d already lost three teeth. But I didn’t.

  Instead, when we got on the school bus, I offered to finish the job for him.

  But he shut his mouth and shook his head. “Okay . . . fine,” I told him. “But don’t come crying to me if you swallow it.”

  Just as the bus pulled up to school, the Pain yelled, “Look . . . it fell out!” And he held up his tooth. Everyone cheered.

  When we got off the bus, he tried to give it to me. “I don’t want your yucky tooth,” I told him.

  “But I’ll lose it,” he cried.

  “Not if you’re careful.”

  “But I lose everything.”

  “Too bad.”

  “I’ll give you half of whatever the Tooth Fairy brings,” he said.

  Hmmm . . . half of whatever the Tooth Fairy brings, I thought. Since it’s his first tooth, that could mean more loot than usual.

  “Come on, Abigail . . .” the Pain said, shoving his tooth in my face.

  “We split it fifty-fifty?” I asked.

  “Is that half?”

  “Yes,” I told him. “Exactly half.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Deal.” We shook on it. Then I took his tooth. The Pain gave me a silly smile. He looked like a mini-dragon with that gap between his teeth.

  As soon as he walked away, I started to worry. What if I lose his tooth? Think how disappointed he’ll be.

  All day at school I worried. During recess I wanted to jump rope with Kaylee. But I was too scared I’d lose the tooth. Kaylee told me to put it in my pocket. “What if it falls out?” I asked.

  “Give it to me,” she said. “I’ll hold it while you jump.”

  In art class I drew pictures of teeth.

  At lunch I kept the tooth next to my sandwich as if it was a piece of candy.

  During science I checked it under the microscope. Ms. Valdez was impressed. She thought it was my tooth. “It’s my brother’s,” I explained. “His first. And I’m responsible for it.”

  Ms. Valdez gave me an envelope. “Put it in here,” she said. I dropped the tooth inside. Ms. Valdez licked the flap and pressed it closed. Then I wrote on the front: The Pain’s Tooth. Handle With Care.

  Finally, the school day ended. It was the longest school day in the history of the world. On the bus going home the Pain asked to have his tooth back. I was so glad to give him the envelope. Now my worries were over.

  That night, after his bath, the Pain couldn’t find his tooth. He still had the envelope but it was empty. “I took care of your tooth all day at school!”

  I shouted. “I didn’t let it out of my sight for one minute. And now look—you lose everything!”

  “I told you, didn’t I?”

  So we started looking. We looked everywhere. In his pockets. In his underwear. In his lunch box. Even in his ears, just in case. But there was no tooth. “Why did you open the envelope?” I asked.

  “Because Dylan wanted to see my tooth up close.”

  “Well, maybe Dylan has your tooth,” I said.

  “No, because he passed it to Justin.”

  “Okay, let’s call Justin and see if he has it.”

  “But after Justin I let Miranda hold it,” he told me. “And then Riley wanted to smell it. “And Kamu—”

  “Stop!” I shouted, covering my ears.

  So he stopped. “What’ll I put under my pillow?” he asked in a small voice. Any second now he was going to cry.

  “A note to the Tooth Fairy,” I told him.

  “Will she understand?”

  “Maybe. But it will have to be a very good note.”

  “You write it,” he said.

  “Write it yourself. It’s not my probl
em.”

  “Please,” he begged. “I’m only in first grade.”

  Suddenly, I remembered that I get half of whatever he gets. “Okay, I’ll write it.”

  “Make it good,” he said.

  So I wrote to the Tooth Fairy. I told her how the Greatest Sister in the History of the World watched over the Pain’s tooth all day. I told her if she didn’t believe the note she should look inside his mouth.

  “Should I sleep with my mouth open so the Tooth Fairy can see?” the Pain asked.

  “No,” I said. “The Tooth Fairy has X-ray vision.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I know everything.” I gave him one of my best looks. It’s so easy to make him believe me. Then I shoved the note at him. “Sign your name.”

  “Not until you take out that line about the greatest sister in the history of the world.”

  “But I am the greatest sister in the history of the world.”

  “Who says?” he asked.

  “Who says I’m not?”

  “Abigail . . . Jake . . .” Mom called. “Time for bed.”

  The Pain printed his name on the bottom of the note. He put it under his pillow. Fluzzy jumped onto his bed and curled up in a ball. “Keep a lookout for the Tooth Fairy,” I told Fluzzy.

  Fluzzy yawned. What does he care about Tooth Fairies?

  In the morning the note to the Tooth Fairy was gone and the Pain found a new dollar bill under his pillow. I was hoping for more, but a deal’s a deal. So I reminded him, “Fifty-fifty.”

  He grabbed a pair of scissors, and before I could stop him he cut the dollar bill down the middle. “Fifty-fifty,” he sang, handing me half.

  I yelled so loud I scared Fluzzy. “You won’t get away with this!”

  Fluzzy jumped off the bed and hid in the closet. But the Pain just stood there smiling his dragon smile, holding his half of the loot.

  THE SOGGY EGG ROLL

  Grandma gave me a magnifying glass for my birthday. It comes from the science museum. It makes everything look twenty times bigger. “Watch this,” I said to the Great One. I held the magnifying glass close to a dried leaf. When the sun came through, the leaf sizzled.

  “Stop!” the Great One yelled. “That’s dangerous.”

  I held up the leaf. My magnifying glass is so strong it burned a hole right through it.

  “Grandma never should have given you that magnifying glass,” the Great One said. “You’re way too young.”

  “Am not!”

  “Are too!”

  The next time Grandma came to visit, the Great One said, “I don’t think Jake is old enough to have his own magnifying glass.”

  “I do,” Grandma said. “He’s interested in science.”

  “Ha ha,” I said to the Great One. “I’m interested in science.”

  “I’m interested in science too,” the Great One said. “Ms. Valdez is my favorite teacher and she teaches science.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Grandma said.

  “But no one ever gave me a magnifying glass from the science museum,” the Great One told her.

  “Did you ever ask for one?” Grandma said.

  “No.”

  “Well, that explains it,” Grandma said. “Now I know what you’d like for your next birthday.”

  That night the Great One came into the bathroom while I was brushing my teeth. “Did you ask for a magnifying glass for your birthday?” she said.

  “Maybe,” I said, spitting out toothpaste. I didn’t have to tell her it was a surprise.

  “It was a surprise, wasn’t it?” the Great One said. “Admit it. You never asked for a magnifying glass.”

  “How did you know?” I said.

  “I can read your mind,” she told me.

  “No, you can’t!”

  “Yes, I can! I always know what you’re thinking.”

  The next day I took my magnifying glass to school for sharing. On the bus I showed it to my friends, Justin and Dylan. They looked at each other’s tongues through it. Then they looked up each other’s noses.

  When the bus pulled up in front of school, I stood to get off. That’s when Roger Culley grabbed my magnifying glass. That fifth grader grabbed it right out of my hand and jumped off the bus with it!

  I tugged at the Great One’s sleeve. “Roger Culley . . . Roger Culley . . .” I couldn’t get the words out.

  “Roger Culley what?” the Great One said.

  Finally I cried, “Roger Culley stole my magnifying glass!”

  “What!” The Great One elbowed her way to the door of the bus and flew out. “Stop!” she shouted at Roger Culley. Roger Culley is big. Roger Culley is mean. He didn’t stop.

  The Great One chased him, yelling, “You can’t do that to my brother! You give him back his magnifying glass right now.” She leaped onto Roger’s back. Roger fell to the ground. The Great One tried to wrestle the magnifying glass away from him.

  Ms. Valdez came out of school. “What’s going on here?” she asked. She pulled the Great One off Roger. “Abigail Porter—I’m surprised at you!”

  “But Ms. Valdez . . .” the Great One said, breathing hard. “Roger took my brother’s magnifying glass.”

  Roger said, “I didn’t take it. The kid gave it to me.”

  “Liar!” the Great One shouted.

  “That’s enough, Abigail,” Ms. Valdez said. She held out her hand. “Roger, give me the magnifying glass.” Roger handed it to her. Then Ms. Valdez looked at me. She said, “Jake . . . did you give Roger your magnifying glass?”

  “No,” I said. “I didn’t give it to him. He took it.”

  Ms. Valdez handed me my magnifying glass. Then she said, “Let’s go, Roger.” She marched him into school.

  Roger turned and called over his shoulder, “You’re burnt toast, Abigail!” Then he looked right at me. “You too—you little crumb! You’re both going to be sorry you messed with me.”

  “Roger!” Ms. Valdez snapped. “Not another word.”

  I grabbed the Great One’s arm. “I want to go home.”

  “And miss sharing because of that big bully?” she asked. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your classroom.”

  I held on to her until I was safe inside room 101, with my teacher, Mary.

  When it was time for sharing, I was so excited I could hardly sit still. I almost forgot about Roger Culley. I couldn’t wait until it was my turn. Finally, Mary called on me.

  I stood up and told my class that my magnifying glass is a real one, from the science museum. I explained how when the sun comes through the glass, it makes enough heat to sizzle a leaf.

  Mary said, “Let’s think of other things you can do with a magnifying glass, Jake.”

  So I told her you can use it the same way you’d use a microscope. “You can see things up close,” I said. “Like little bugs, and toenails, and the hairs inside your nose.”

  “That’s right,” Mary said. “And you have to be old enough to use a real magnifying glass in a safe way.”

  Grandma thinks I’m old enough, I thought.

  Then Mary asked if everyone could have a turn looking through my magnifying glass. I said, “Sure.” So we stood around the science table and checked out rocks and sand and creatures.

  Mary thanked me for bringing it to school. She said she would keep it safe until the end of the day.

  That afternoon, Justin stuffed my magnifying glass into the bottom of his backpack. He shoved his jacket and a bunch of crumpled papers on top of it. That way it would be safe from Roger Culley on the bus.

  But Roger wasn’t on the bus.

  At dinner the Great One told Mom and Dad how she saved me from Roger Culley. “That fifth-grade bully tried to steal from a first grader.”

  “It was very brave of you to defend Jake,” Dad said.

  “Yes, it was,” Mom said. “But . . .”

  “But what?” the Great One asked.

  “But sometimes the best way to deal with a bully is to tell
a grown-up you can trust,” Mom said.

  “Sometimes grown-ups don’t do anything when you tell them,” the Great One said.

  “But Dad and I would always help,” Mom said.

  Dad nodded.

  “I’ll bet you wouldn’t jump on the bully’s back, like Abigail,” I said. “You should have seen her. She ran so fast I thought she’d take off and fly. She could have been Superman’s sister.”

  “Does Superman have a sister?” the Great One asked.

  “I don’t know,” I told her. “But he should.”

  “Let’s talk about what to do if this happens again,” Mom said.

  “It’s not going to happen again,” the Great One said. “Because I taught that bully a lesson.”

  “Honey . . .” Mom said to the Great One. “Sometimes it’s not that easy.”

  “Are you trying to scare me?” the Great One asked.

  “No, of course not,” Mom said. “I just want you to be prepared. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help if you need it.” She looked at Dad.

  He nodded. “Mom is right. You can’t always handle everything on your own.”

  “You’ll remember that, won’t you?” Mom asked the Great One.

  The Great One nodded.

  How come nobody said anything to me? It was my magnifying glass.

  The next day at school when the first graders were on the playground, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I thought it was one of my friends. But when I turned I got a big surprise—and not a good one. It was Roger Culley! “Hello, Jake,” he said. Then he lifted me straight up and held me so my face was right up close to his. “You’re burnt toast, just like your sister, unless I get that magnifying glass.”

  “Put me down!” I told him, trying not to sound scared.

  “Or what?” he asked. Then he laughed and dropped me to the ground.

  Justin and Dylan ran for Mrs. Fisher, the teacher on playground duty. Mrs. Fisher said, “What are you doing out of class, Roger?”