never seen a tele-veezion box like Old Lady Suri.
But when Lucy jumped out of the wagon, and Mrs. Buckworth grabbed my orange bag, and Mr. Buckworth opened my wagon door, I thought that maybe Auntie Moo was right. At least about the Melons’ houses. The Buckworths’ house was pretty, very pretty, and a whole lot bigger than the lion cage, but it definitely didn’t have a hundred rooms. I was glad. It sounded awfully lonely getting lost in a hundred rooms with Melon ghosts flying around.
“This is it,” said Mr. Buckworth as he picked me up in his hairy bear arms. “Home sweet home.”
And that’s when the tour of my new life started.
WELCOME BETTI!
Big lopsided letters were draped across the whole room when I walked inside.
There were also colorful balls hanging from the ceiling. “Balloons!” cried Lucy. She poked one and it exploded and I nearly flew out of my flip-flops.
“I made that myself!” Lucy pointed at the banner, which looked very useful for scaring off hungry scavengers from the bean fields. “Now come on, Betti! I wanna show you everything!” Lucy grabbed my hand and started pointing at all sorts of other things.
Mikroo-wave.
It makes things really hot really fast.
Lucy pushed a button. Ding.
I looked on top of it and underneath it and behind it. No waves at all. No firewood. Not even a teeny red spark of fire. Weird.
Ree-frigger-ater.
“For food,” said Mrs. Buckworth.
Ree-frigger-ater is cold. Stove. To cook food.
“It’s hot, Betti. Never touch the stove when it’s hot.”
Cold. Hot.
Kichin. Dineeng Rooom. Bath Rooom. The Living Rooom had funny painted pictures hanging on the walls. And funny pictures of a baby with red hair. And then ... I saw it! It looked exactly like Old Lady Suri said. A huge tele-veezion staring out from the wall! My good eye got big.
“TV,” said Lucy pointing at the tele-veezion.
“TV?” I repeated.
She pushed a button in her hand and the tele-veezion magically came alive. I jumped back and gasped. I was afraid to move. There were two real live people talking to each other on the tele-veezion TV!
Lucy giggled. “You’ve never seen a TV, Betti?”
I shook my head. My knees were shaking too.
Lucy pushed the button over and over—flash flash flash—and the magic TV flashed with new people every second. The trapped TV people must’ve done something very horrible. That’s when Mrs. Buckworth came into the living room and took the thing out of Lucy’s hand and made the TV people disappear. The box turned black.
“No TV right now, Lucy,” said Mrs. Buckworth. “Maybe you can show Betti some TV later. Maybe tomorrow.”
Lucy’s lip jutted out for about a second, but then she ran to another door and swung it open. “BASEMENT!”
Base Mint? Mint was green and cured hiccups and hives.
But this was no plant. It was a huge black dog that suddenly appeared and leaped right over to me!
“DOG!” shouted Lucy as she laughed and barked.
“DOG!” I screamed back and jumped on top of one of the fluffy chairs. My heart practically flew right out of my chest.
“Sit, Rooney!” hollered Lucy. But Rooney didn’t want to sit. He wanted to stare at me with his mouth open and his black tail flying back and forth. Big teeth and bad breath.
Lucy climbed on his back. “Giddyup! Giddyup!” She kissed his runny nose.
Mr. Buckworth held on to Rooney by a purple thing around his neck. Then Mr. Buckworth held out his other hand and helped me down from the chair. “Don’t worry, Betti,” he said in a voice that was way too calm. “He’s a nice dog.”
I wasn’t sure about that. Not sure at all.
In my village, I always ran away from packs of tired, hungry dogs. Once, I hid for an hour, but a leftover dog had waited and peed on me like I was a tree.
But I had to be nice to the fat American dog, or the Buckworths would make me disappear in their TV box or their microwave. That’s when Mrs. Buckworth told us to sit at the eating table.
But when Lucy jumped out of the wagon, and Mrs. Buckworth grabbed my orange bag, and Mr. Buckworth opened my wagon door, I thought that maybe Auntie Moo was right. At least about the Melons’ houses. The Buckworths’ house was pretty, very pretty, and a whole lot bigger than the lion cage, but it definitely didn’t have a hundred rooms. I was glad. It sounded awfully lonely getting lost in a hundred rooms with Melon ghosts flying around.
“This is it,” said Mr. Buckworth as he picked me up in his hairy bear arms. “Home sweet home.”
And that’s when the tour of my new life started.
WELCOME BETTI!
Big lopsided letters were draped across the whole room when I walked inside.
There were also colorful balls hanging from the ceiling. “Balloons!” cried Lucy. She poked one and it exploded and I nearly flew out of my flip-flops.
“I made that myself!” Lucy pointed at the banner, which looked very useful for scaring off hungry scavengers from the bean fields. “Now come on, Betti! I wanna show you everything!” Lucy grabbed my hand and started pointing at all sorts of other things.
Mikroo-wave.
It makes things really hot really fast.
Lucy pushed a button. Ding.
I looked on top of it and underneath it and behind it. No waves at all. No firewood. Not even a teeny red spark of fire. Weird.
Ree-frigger-ater.
“For food,” said Mrs. Buckworth.
Ree-frigger-ater is cold. Stove. To cook food.
“It’s hot, Betti. Never touch the stove when it’s hot.”
Cold. Hot.
Kichin. Dineeng Rooom. Bath Rooom. The Living Rooom had funny painted pictures hanging on the walls. And funny pictures of a baby with red hair. And then ... I saw it! It looked exactly like Old Lady Suri said. A huge tele-veezion staring out from the wall! My good eye got big.
“TV,” said Lucy pointing at the tele-veezion.
“TV?” I repeated.
She pushed a button in her hand and the tele-veezion magically came alive. I jumped back and gasped. I was afraid to move. There were two real live people talking to each other on the tele-veezion TV!
Lucy giggled. “You’ve never seen a TV, Betti?”
I shook my head. My knees were shaking too.
Lucy pushed the button over and over—flash flash flash—and the magic TV flashed with new people every second. The trapped TV people must’ve done something very horrible. That’s when Mrs. Buckworth came into the living room and took the thing out of Lucy’s hand and made the TV people disappear. The box turned black.
“No TV right now, Lucy,” said Mrs. Buckworth. “Maybe you can show Betti some TV later. Maybe tomorrow.”
Lucy’s lip jutted out for about a second, but then she ran to another door and swung it open. “BASEMENT!”
Base Mint? Mint was green and cured hiccups and hives.
But this was no plant. It was a huge black dog that suddenly appeared and leaped right over to me!
“DOG!” shouted Lucy as she laughed and barked.
“DOG!” I screamed back and jumped on top of one of the fluffy chairs. My heart practically flew right out of my chest.
“Sit, Rooney!” hollered Lucy. But Rooney didn’t want to sit. He wanted to stare at me with his mouth open and his black tail flying back and forth. Big teeth and bad breath.
Lucy climbed on his back. “Giddyup! Giddyup!” She kissed his runny nose.
Mr. Buckworth held on to Rooney by a purple thing around his neck. Then Mr. Buckworth held out his other hand and helped me down from the chair. “Don’t worry, Betti,” he said in a voice that was way too calm. “He’s a nice dog.”
I wasn’t sure about that. Not sure at all.
In my village, I always ran away from packs of tired, hungry dogs. Once, I hid for an hour, but a leftover dog had waited and peed on me like I was a tree.
But I had to be nice to the fat American dog, or the Buckworths would make me disappear in their TV box or their microwave. That’s when Mrs. Buckworth told us to sit at the eating table.
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