Cookies and Crutches by Judy Delton Page B

Wee Pledge.

    We love our country
And our home,
Our school and neighbors too.
    As Pee Wee Scouts
We pledge our best
In everything we do.
    Then they put their coats on to leave.
    “Let’s make our cookies now,” said Mary Beth on the way home.
    “No, they’ll be stale by next Tuesday,” said Molly. “Let’s make them Monday after school.”
    The next day was Wednesday. During recess Mary Beth walked up to Sonny.
    “We’re making our cookies together,” she told him.
    “We are too,” said Sonny. “Aren’t we, Roger?”
    “I s’pose,” said Roger.
    He was thinking of how warm and soft those cookies were.
    He remembered that Mrs. Peters said if boys could eat, boys could cook.
    It made sense.
    At three o’clock the next Monday the girls hurried to Mary Beth’s house.
    When they got there, Mary Beth’s mother had chocolate chips ready.
    She had flour and sugar and eggs out.
    “The oven is on,” Mrs. Kelly said. “I’ll be upstairs. Call me if you need me.”
    “We will,” said Mary Beth.
    Molly took the paper out of her pocket.
    It had the cookie recipe on it.
    “Measure the flour,” she said.
    Mary Beth measured the flour.
    She poured it into the bowl.
    Molly measured the butter into another bowl.
    She put an egg in too.
    They both did just what it said on the paper.
    First Mary Beth stirred it, and then Molly.
    “There is something the matter,” said Mary Beth.
    Molly looked into the bowl.
    “It should be brown,” said Mary Beth. “Mrs. Peters’s cookies were brown.”
    “Maybe the chips will make it brown,” said Molly.
    She dumped the chips in.
    It still was not brown.
    It was almost white, like flour.
    “We need something brown,” said Mary Beth, opening the refrigerator.
    She reached for a bottle of root beer. It was brown.
    “Let’s put some of this in,” she said.
    Molly looked doubtful. It was brown, though.
    And the cookie dough did look too white.
    She poured some of the root beer into the batter.
    Fizzzzz!
    Little bubbles were all over.
    Molly stirred it.

    “It’s too runny now,” she said. “We need something to make it thick.”
    Mary Beth looked in the cupboard. She reached for a package of something that had a brown picture on the box.
    “What does this say?” she asked.
    “Gravy mix,” read Molly. “That’s good! My mom uses it to make gravy thick when it’s too runny. So it would make this thick too.”
    Mary Beth dumped the box of gravy mix into the cookie dough.
    “Perfect!” said Molly. “It’s real thick now.”
    “Thick and brown!” said Mary Beth. “It looks like Mrs. Peters’s cookies.”
    “Now there is more dough,” said Molly.
    “But not enough chocolate chips!” added Mary Beth.
    “I like lots of chocolate chips,” said Molly.
    “So do I,” said Mary Beth. “That’s the best part.”
    The girls looked in the cupboards and in the refrigerator. There were no more chips.
    “We need something!” said Mary Beth, stamping her foot.
    “These look like chips,” said Molly, picking up a plastic bag.
    “Dump them in!” said Mary Beth.
    The girls stirred and stirred. Then they put the cookies on the pan one at a time, as Mrs. Peters had shown them.
    “Terrific!” said Molly. “They look yummy!”
    * * *
    Mary Beth popped the pan into the oven.
    She set the timer for twelve minutes.
    “Now all we do is wait,” she said. “Wait for our yummy yummy cookies.”

CHAPTER 4

Baked Frisbees
    “W ash the dishes when you’re through,” called Mary Beth’s mother from upstairs.
    The girls sighed. Cookies were more work than Mrs. Peters had said.
    They washed the dishes and then went to Mary Beth’s room to wait.
    Pretty soon Mary Beth’s mother called out, “What is that smell?”
    The girls sniffed the air.
    “It smells like turkey roasting,” said Mrs. Kelly.
    “Our cookies!” Molly shouted.
    The cookies were not white now.
    They were very very brown.
    And they were huge.
    “They look like hamburgers!” said Molly.
    “But