Stirring It Up! Read online

  “The McEtroys!”

  Justin McElroy’s house was on fire!

  chapter 10

  Now Amanda thought she could smell smoke. Or was it just her imagination?

  “Okay, Nathan, let’s skip!” said Amanda. “Or gallop like a horsie!”

  The sirens were coming closer.

  Nathan wasn’t going anywhere. “Fire twuck! Where fire twuck?” he shouted happily. “I wanna see fire twuck!”

  “Um, your mommy will take you to see it,” said Amanda, clutching Nathan’s hand. Inside, she was screaming, Justin’s house is on fire! Justin’s house is on fire!

  Just then, Molly and Shawn walked out the front door and looked at Amanda with expressions that said, what’s going on? Obviously, they’d heard the sirens.

  “It’s the McElroy’s house!” cried Amanda. Then she remembered that she shouldn’t scare Nathan. “Come on now, Nathan!” she said, breathing fast. Nathan seemed to suddenly weigh a ton. Even with Amanda pulling him, his feet weren’t leaving the ground. So—ooof!-she picked him up, which made him scream, “FIRE TWUCK!” She walked quickly over to the Brewsters’ and banged on the door.

  It took Mrs. Brewster forever to open the door. “Hi, Nate- Hate!” she cooed, propping the door open.

  Nathan began to bawl. “Whaaaaaaaa!’

  “Here,” said Amanda, handing Nathan to Mrs. Brewster. “There’s a fire down the block!”

  “What?” asked Mrs. Brewster, but Amanda was already off to catch up with Molly and Shawn, who were running down the street. Other neighbors were opening their doors and looking in the direction of the sirens. Matthew and Ben came running out of Ben’s front door and joined the girls.

  “I don’t see a fire,” commented Shawn, as they got closer to the McElroy’s house. Everything looked normal, except for the huge fire truck that was coming up Taft Street.

  “There’s Justin!” cried Amanda. “And Ian!”

  Justin and his sixteen year-old brother, Ian, were standing on the sidewalk down from the house. Ian was covering one ear and talking on a cell phone. Justin and Mrs. Tortelli, his next-door neighbor, were watching the fire engine as it came to a stop.

  “I hope everybody is okay,” Amanda said to her friends.

  Four firefighters jumped out of the truck. One talked briefly with Justin and Ian, then went inside.

  “Stay back,” called a firefighter to the friends.

  “I guess we can’t go any farther than this,” said Shawn to the girls, as the firefighters attached a hose to a fire hydrant.

  “That’s the engine company,” said Matthew, pointing at the truck. “Their truck has the hoses.”

  “Yeah,” added Ben, “and I think the guy that just went in is checking out the fire. Then he’ll come out and tell the chief what’s going on inside.”

  How do boys know thissluff? wondered Molly. More sirens were blaring. In seconds, a police car and three more fire trucks appeared, along with a car that said “Chief.”

  Molly squinted to see Justin better. “I don’t think Justin and his brother look too worried, do you?” she asked Amanda.

  “No. I guess their parents are at work. But they must be pretty bummed out,” Amanda replied.

  “There’s the ladder company!” said Matthew, pointing to another truck. “That truck has the ladders and tools and stuff. Wow! Here comes another engine company truck, and-look! There’s another engine. This must be a big fire. Aw, man, I wish I could see if!”

  “Matthew!” cried Amanda.

  “What’s the matter with you?” added Molly. “The fire isn’t for your-your entertainment!”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean it that way,” said Matthew. “I just wish I could watch them put the fire out. We can’t see anything from here.”

  A police officer came up to the little crowd that was forming. “Move back, please,” she called out. She had to shout over the noise of the sirens and the firefighfers’ radios. She placed a barricade between herself and the crowd. The barricade looked like a wooden sawhorse, painted blue. “NYPD,” the initials of the Hew York Police Department, were painted on it in white lettering.

  “What’s happening?” Matthew asked the police officer.

  “A small kitchen fire, but everything’s under control,” she replied, as she put up the rest of the police barricade.

  “Is anybody hurt?” asked Shawn.

  “No, everything is under control,” replied the police officer as she walked away. Another police officer was heading down the street to block it off to cars.

  “The fire’s out!” said Ben. “I just heard someone say it over a radio.”

  More firefighters headed into the house. Some of them had axes.

  “What are the axes for?” asked Amanda.

  “Oh, that’s to open up the walls,” replied Ben. “They have to do that.”

  “Yeah, so that they can check to see if there are fires hidden behind the walls,” added Matthew.

  “Yipes!” exclaimed Amanda. “So even if the fire is a small one. I guess there’s still a lot of damage.”

  “Look, there’s Mrs. McElroy,” said Molly, pointing down the street. “Oh, she looks so upset.”

  The girls watched Mrs. McElroy walk quickly up the street. She was wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, so she must have come from work. She put her arms around Justin and Ian and pulled them close. It looked as if they were all talking at once, then Mrs. McElroy quickly looked down. She was crying.

  “It must be horrible to see a million fire trucks in front of your house,” said Amanda sadly. She watched Mrs. Tortelli touch Mrs. McElroy on the shoulder and speak to her. A moment later, Mrs. McElroy and the boys followed Mrs. Tortelli into her house.

  The friends stood around for a while with some other neighbors and watched the firefighters’ comings and goings. Mrs. Brewster had brought little Nathan. He was excited by all the fire trucks and firefighters.

  “I wish we could do something,” said Amanda when Mom came home from work. “I feel so bad for the McElroys.”

  “There is something you can do,” said Mom. “I ran into Peichi and her mom, Song, at the supermarket after work.” Mom and Mrs. Cheng knew each other from working at school events together. “They’d heard about the McElroys, too. They figured that the McElroys are going to need a place to stay for a few weeks until they can live in their house again. So Song is going to offer them an apartment in the building they own on Garden Street. It’s not far from the McElroy’s house, which is perfect, since Justin’s parents will have to be there a lot for the contractors.” Mom smiled and added, “Song will let them rent it as long as they need it.”

  “Wow! That’s good,” said Amanda.

  “So,” Mom continued, “I think it would really help the McElroys if they didn’t have to cook. They probably lost a lot of their kitchen stuff in the fire, and I’m not sure what the rental will have for them to use. They’ll need to buy new things, but they’ll have enough on their mind in these next few weeks. Let’s spend tomorrow cooking up a lot of food that they can just heat and serve.”

  “That would be fun!” said Amanda. She pictured a table full of food that she had made: pies, cakes, a turkey with all the trimmings. And Justin would be standing there, amazed that she had done it all just for him and his family.

  “We can call Shawn,” suggested Molly. “I bet she’d love to help us.”

  “And Peichi!” added Amanda. “Yeah! Now, what should we make?”

  “Casseroles are good,” suggested Mom. “And a pasta sauce. And pesto. And pasta salad. And a bean salad. We could even roast a couple of chickens that they can use for sandwiches! And we can bake some cookies and a cobbler.

  “This will be so much fun,” Mom continued. “I have some vacation days left, so I can take the day off tomorrow.” She put her arms around her daughters and pulled them in for a hug. “Cooking with my girls!”

  chapter 11

  To:qtpie490

  From:mooretimes2
>
  mooretimes2: wuzzup, Shawn? Give us the

  dish!

  qtpie490: hi. What do u mean, the dish?

  mooretimes2: “the dish” means “what’s new?”

  So, what’s the dish?

  qtpie490: nothing to “dish” about! Bored

  2nite. Wuzzup with you?

  mooretimes2: we’re on a mission! We need u!

  Peichi too.

  qtpie490: name the mission, Agents Moore

  mooretimes2: Mission McElroy!

  qtpie490: name the purpose of Mission McElroy

  mooretimes2: feed cute Justin and his

  family. Ya cookin’ with us?

  qtpie490: :-@ :-@ :-@

  mooretimes2: we’d knew you’d scream!

  We are the fabulous Chef Girls!

  qtpie490: GMTA. What will we make?

  mooretimes2: everything!

  qtpie490: LOL

  mooretimes2: Mom’s gonna help big time

  qtpie490: whew!

  mooretimes2: what’s Peichi’s sn?

  qtpie490: don’t know, sry

  mooretimes2: sry?

  qtpie490: sorry

  mooretimes2: oh, duh! G2G. Come by 2morrow,

  and cook!!!

  qtpie490: b-b

  mooretimes2: L8R! mwa***

  qtpie490: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

  (hearts, get it? My cousin showed me.)

  “I just had a weird idea,” Molly told Amanda that night, after they’d insfanf-messaged Shawn, and were brushing their teeth.

  Amanda looked up into the mirror. “What’s that? she asked, the toothbrush still in her mouth.

  “We could invite Natasha over to cook with us.”

  Amanda’s mouth dropped open. Blue toothpaste gushed out of her mouth and down her chin.

  “Whoops!” she said. The twins began to laugh so hard that they had to spit out all their toothpaste.

  “That’s big, Molly!” exclaimed Amanda. “To actually invite Natasha over here?”

  “Well,” said Molly, “what do you think?”

  “She’d never come. She wasn’t even in class the other day.”

  Molly shrugged. “Let’s call her tomorrow and find out.”

  The next morning, Molly and Amanda called Peichi.

  “Hi, Peichi! It’s Molly and Amanda. Did we wake you up?”

  “Oh! Hi!” exclaimed Peichi. She sounded surprised to hear from the twins. Even though she’d known them forever, they didn’t call each other or hang out too often. “I’ve been up for a while,” said Peichi. “I’ve already practiced my flute!”

  “What are you doing today?” Amanda asked her.

  “Not much,” replied Peichi. “We’re building a pool in our backyard and it’s almost ready, but I still can’t go swimming in it yet! Maybe tomorrow, though! So I really don’t have anything to do today! How boring!”

  “You’re going to have a pool? That’s so cool,” said Amanda.

  “A cool pool!” joked Molly.

  “Yeah!” said Peichi. “I can’t wait! Anyway, what are you doing?”

  “Operation Feed the McElroys!” replied the twins.

  “Wow! What’s that?” asked Peichi.

  “We’re going to cook all day until we fall over,” replied Molly.

  “For the McElroys,” added Amanda. “We heard that your mom and dad helped them with the apartment.”

  “Yeah!” said Peichi. “They have one that’s empty right now.

  “Anyway,” continued Amanda, “We wanted to do something, too. Mom’s helping us. She took the day off. Do you want to come over and cook with us?”

  “Oh!” said Peichi, “that’s great! I’d like to help Justin’s family, too! Okay! I’ll be over. What time? Do you want me to bring anything? What are we going to make?”

  Molly and Amanda looked at each other and giggled. Peichi was so funny.

  “We’ll call you when we get back from the store.” replied Amanda. “Okay? Oh, but there’s one other little thing.”

  “What?” asked Peichi.

  “Well.” began Amanda.

  “Natasha Ross might come over, too,” blurted Molly.

  “Natasha Ross!”

  “Yeah, it’s a long story.” said Amanda with a giggle. “We haven’t called her yet. She probably won’t come anyway.”

  “Whafever!” said Peichi. “I don’t care. She doesn’t bother me.”

  “Okay. good,” said Molly and Amanda. “We’ll call you when we get home. Bye!”

  “Okay great!” said Peichi. “Bye!”

  Molly hung up the phone. “Well,” she said. “Should we call Natasha now?”

  Amanda hesitated. “Maybe we should wait until we get back from the store,” she suggested.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know...because I want to put off calling her as long as possible, that’s why!” replied Amanda with a giggle.

  “It’s now or never,” said Molly firmly. “Do or die.” She looked up the number in the Park Terrace phone book. “Let’s see, R-0-S-S. There are lots of Posses, but I know she lives on Garden Street... she and Justin will be neighbors. Here goes!” she said, dialing the number.

  Natasha’s mother answered the phone.

  “Hello, is Natasha there?” asked Molly.

  There was a pause. “Who’s calling, please?”

  Molly cleared her throat. “This is Amelia Moore,” she answered. Amanda shot her a look that said, Why did you say Amelia?

  There was another pause. “Just a moment.”

  It took a while for Natasha to answer the phone. “Hello?” She sounded weirded out.

  “Hi. Natasha, it’s Molly and Amanda.” Molly was hoping she sounded nice, nice, nice.

  “Oh, hi! Uh, how are you guys? Er—did you have fun at the boardwalk?”

  “Oh, yeah, it was fun. So was class this week.

  Natasha didn’t say anything.

  “Um,” Molly went on, “do you know Justin McFlroy?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, he’s this new kid on our block. He’s in our grade. Anyway, they had a small fire, and they can’t live in their house until they fix up the kitchen and get rid of the smoky smell, and he’s actually going to be living on your street for a few weeks until the kitchen is fixed... we’re going to cook some food for them today. Do you want to come over?”

  “Um. let me check.” replied Natasha.

  The twins heard muffled voices. Natasha had put her hand over the speaker. She must have been talking with her mom.

  “Hello?” said Natasha. “No, I can’t. But-um, thanks for asking me. Bye.”

  Click.

  She’d hung up.

  Molly looked at the phone receiver. “Buh-bye,” she said to it. “Well, that was weird.”

  “I told you she wouldn’t come,” said Amanda. “But—we tried!”

  “Ready, girls?” Mom called up from the kitchen.

  Molly and Amanda ran downstairs. They hopped into Mom’s old car and headed to the store.

  Choice Foods was empty because it was early in the morning.

  “I love coming here in the morning, said Mom. She and the twins got everything they needed in no time. Two whole chickens. A cantaloupe. Bananas. Pork chops. Sliced cheese for sandwiches. Fresh basil. Romaine lettuce. Penne pasta. Two loaves of bread. Blueberries. Nectarines. Canned plum tomatoes. Mustard, mayonnaise, butter, since the McElroys needed everything. Salt. Pepper. And a lot more.

  “Whew!” said Amanda as she lugged in a heavy bag of groceries from the car.

  “We practically bought out the store,” said Molly.

  “What should we do first?” asked Amanda, eyeing all the grocery bags on the kitchen floor.

  “First,” said Mom, “we have to prepare everything. Molly, please get the salad spinner to rinse the basil. Amanda, you can put the blueberries in the colander and rinse them off. I’ll rinse the nectarines and cut them up.”

  “I’ll give Peichi and Shawn a call to let them know we’re
home,” said Molly.

  By the time Peichi and Shawn got to the Moores’ house, the twins and Mom were on a roll. They’d almost finished making their first dish.

  “That looks good,” Shawn said.

  “What is it, Mrs. Moore?” asked Peichi.

  “Blueberry-and-nectarine cobbler,” said Mom. “Its my favorite summer dessert.”

  “Mine, too, Mom,” Amanda reminded her.

  “Everything’s your favorite summer dessert!” Molly teased Amanda.

  “The uncooked fruit is on the bottom.” Mom told Peichi and Shawn. “For the top, I just make an easy sugar cookie batter that I spoon on. Now I’ll chill it, and the McElroys can bake it. I’ll have a nice crust when it comes out of the oven.”

  By lunchtime, Mom had helped the girls make pesto, an easy pasta sauce out of fresh basil, olive oil, and pine nuts. And they’d used Carmen’s recipe, the one they made in class, for the pasta sauce made from plum tomatoes.

  They took a break and ate sandwiches and lemonade in the garden while Kitty dozed in the shade.

  “Where’s Matthew?” asked Amanda.

  “At Ben’s, of course,” said Mom with a laugh. “He’s eating dinner over there. I think that the four of us will go out for dinner.”

  Suddenly Molly sat straight up and said “Hey!”

  “Hey what?” asked Amanda.

  “I just had an idea,” replied Molly. “We are the Chef Girls, and the Chef Girls need to write a cookbook that they can give to all their friends and fans!”

  “What would be in the cookbook?” Peichi wanted to know.

  “Everything we’ve ever made!” replied Molly.

  Amanda nudged Shawn. “You’re the artist, Shawn,” she said. “You’ve got really pretty handwriting, too. You could write the recipes! I have a big blank book upstairs that we can use.”

  “Actually,” said Shawn, “we could all write the recipes. And we could all draw little pictures and put glitter on the pages, too.”

  Molly cried, “We can call it The Dish!”’

  “Or just ‘Dish,”’ suggested Amanda. “It sounds a little cooler.”

  “Yeah!” cried all the girls.

  “That’s a great idea!” said Mom. “Well, Chef Girls, it’s time to get back into the kitchen.”