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The Governor
Is Calling
Someone’s making prank calls—and Marie knows who!
What should she do now?
“May I speak with Marie Cantu?” the voice on the
phone asked.
“This is Marie,” answered Marie.
“Please hold for the governor.”
Marie looked at the phone. Why would the
governor be calling her? Marie waited for the governor to
speak. She did help out at the animal shelter every weekend.
And then there were her honors in English. Had she saved any-
one’s life lately?
She thought about these things as she waited . . . and
waited . . . and waited. Finally, she realized the truth. Someone
had played a trick on her!
She hung up the phone.
It rang again. Marie answered it. “Ha-ha-ha! Very
funny,” she said into the phone.
“Marie?” It was Noelle Dee, Marie’s best friend and
next-door neighbor. “I’ve been trying to call you for
fifteen minutes, but your line was busy.”
“Oh hi, Noelle. I just got a prank call. I thought it was the same
person trying to call me again.”
“The governor?”
“The governor,” said Marie. “She called you, too? I waited for
fifteen minutes before hanging up.”
“I waited twenty minutes. Beat you,” said Noelle. “Who do you think it was?”
“She disguised her voice, but now that I think about it, it sounded
like Megan.”
“I think we need to plan a little revenge. I’ll be right over.”
The girls discussed options, then headed over to Megan Brown’s house.
It had been snowing all morning, and when Marie and Noelle
reached Megan’s, a blanket of snow covered the lawn, the sidewalk,
everything. The girls walked up the sidewalk, making footprints in
the spotless snow.
Marie whispered to Noelle. Noelle nodded. Then they went to
work. Quietly they rolled snow into large balls. Together they pushed
and heaved the balls up onto Megan’s porch and built a large snow-
man, right in front of the door.
Then they rang the doorbell and ran to hide behind the neighbor’s bushes.
Megan opened the door. “What’s this?” she asked. She tried to
push the screen door open. It moved just a few inches, but then it hit
the snowman and would go no farther.
A few minutes later Megan emerged from behind the house.
She stomped onto the porch and began to dismantle the snowman.
“Hi, Megan!” said Noelle. She and Marie walked up Megan’s
sidewalk as though they had just arrived. “Why are you building a
snowman on your porch? Aren’t you afraid it will block your door?”
“Very funny,” said Megan. “I owe you one.”
“No, we’re even,” said Marie. “So, how’s the governor?”
“The governor? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Marie told her about the prank calls.
“You think I made them?” asked Megan. “I wish. But I didn’t.
I walked over to the library this morning to work on my research
report on Peru. I just got back ten minutes ago. Help me get this
snowman off the porch, and we can go inside and get some hot cocoa.”
Marie and Noelle helped Megan roll the rest of the snowman away from the door. Then the girls went in, sipped hot cocoa, and talked.
After a while, Marie stood up. “I’d better get going,” she said.
Noelle stood, too.
The girls started to leave. Then Marie turned back and said,
“So tell me, Megan, who else did you call? Just us?”
“I told you, I didn’t call you,” said Megan.
“Oh, I think you did,” said Marie. “You didn’t go to the library
today. I think you were here all morning being the governor’s
secretary.”
How did Marie know that Megan hadn’t gone to the library? Tap here for the answer.
Light
Housekeeping
A dragon banister and a creaking door—have Marie
and Noelle’s moneymaking plans gone too far?
“We’re going to Hawaii! We’re going to Hawaii!” Marie told Noelle,
a huge smile on her face.
“What a lucky family! I wish I could go,” said Noelle.
“No,”
