Zucchini Out West Read online

  “Play in your jug,” said Billy when he set him down.

  Zucchini climbed in through one of the holes in the side, turned around several times within the den of plastic, then popped his head out the top and stared at Billy.

  Don’t ever leave me, he thought. You’re my truest friend.

  Billy lay down on his bed and opened his blue loose-leaf notebook. He had to finish his report. He stared at the first page, but he couldn’t concentrate. Thoughts of leaving Zucchini filled his mind.

  Just then Emma opened the door. She wore her kangaroo suit and carried her stuffed stegosaurus. “What do you think?” she asked.

  “I can’t talk now,” said Billy.

  Emma sat on the bed. “Dad’s in the basement and I’m doing stickers and coloring. Do you get the picture?”

  “I’m working,” said Billy.

  “Suddenly, right off the bat, I hear him and guess what?”

  “Who said you could come in here?” Billy asked.

  “There’s mice!”

  Mice? thought Zucchini.

  “Can you beat it?” asked Emma.

  Billy looked up from his notebook.

  “I’m telling you,” said Emma. “The ones that squeak, with tails and teeny feet?”

  “I know what they are,” said Billy.

  That’s all we need, thought Zucchini.

  Emma sat cross-legged on the comforter. She held her stegosaurus tight. “I go in and suddenly, right off the bat, I see Dad in the basement and he’s holding a Cross-Your-Heart trap.”

  “Have-a-Heart,” said Billy.

  “I know,” said Emma. “It’s this trap that’s metal with shutting end doors, and you put food inside like peanut butter or maybe cheese, but it doesn’t have a squashing bar to squash the mouse, just the shutting doors, and so the mouse heads for the food, and this thing goes pop, and the end doors shut, bang, and the mouse is trapped and scared, but it isn’t hurt.”

  “I know how they work,” said Billy.

  “There’s a mouse!” said Emma. “I’m telling you. It’s brown and shaking with pop-out eyes.”

  Zucchini pulled his head back in through the hole in his plastic jug.

  “Want to see it?” asked Emma.

  Billy set down his notebook. “O.K.,” he said, “but then I have to work.”

  “You have to look fast because we’re taking it to Gedney Park.”

  Good! thought Zucchini.

  “It has to be far enough so it doesn’t know the way back, but close enough so I can visit,” Emma continued.

  “You’ll never find it,” said Billy.

  “I have my ways,” said Emma. She climbed down off the bed. “I’ll bring some cheese and then I’ll use a certain calling voice and the mouse will know it’s me with cheese. We can play in the park, or I can bring it home for parties.”

  “What parties?”

  “Different ones. I have it planned.”

  “It won’t work,” said Billy.

  Let’s hope not, thought Zucchini.

  School

  Billy’s teacher was interested in ecology. Her name was Ms. Crystal and Billy liked her a lot. The first project after he arrived at the new school in January was to make the room look like a jungle in Brazil. They studied the rain forest. They painted murals of many of the plants and animals to be found there. Trees painted on heavy brown paper surrounded the class. Vines hung like streamers from the ceiling. Parrots and toucans were painted on the windows. A mural of a waterfall covered the wall behind Ms. Crystal’s desk.

  Billy loved the room. He found it comforting to read, or write, or work on math, surrounded by the animals and the foliage, listening to the Sounds of the Jungle tape Ms. Crystal often played.

  Ms. Crystal was concerned about the destruction of the rain forest. She said trees were needed to help sustain the lives of all the creatures on the earth. The class was planning an Earth Day Fair to raise money to buy some of the rain forest. They wanted to save what little part of it they could.

  The day Billy’s report was due, Ms. Crystal made an announcement. She stood in front of her desk, her long brown hair pulled back with a silver clasp. “Before you hand in your reports, I’d like you to read them aloud,” she said.

  Billy’s heart pounded in his chest.

  I can’t do that! he thought.

  “Some of you will read your reports today and some tomorrow,” Ms. Crystal continued.

  Let my turn be tomorrow! thought Billy. I’ll stay home!

  “The students on the left side of the room will read their reports today.”

  Billy’s heart skipped a beat. His desk was on the left!

  Oh, no! he thought. I’ll mess it up. They’ll laugh at me. They’ll think I’m dumb.

  “Kristen is first,” Ms. Crystal continued.

  Kristen was blond and tidy. Stopping in front of Ms. Crystal’s desk, she clasped her hands in front of her gray wool skirt. “My report is on my aunt, Stephanie Notion,” she began. “Ms. Notion is an assistant buyer for the May Company department store.”

  Billy’s heart was racing now. His hands were cold. Two other students followed. Mike’s report was on the baseball player Cal Ripken. Kenneth told about his father, who sold insurance.

  When Billy was called, he felt hot and cold all at once. When he stood up, his knees felt weak. Holding his report, he moved to the front of the class. His heart was pounding. His shirt was wet under the arms because he was sweating already. He turned to face the class. Instead of looking into the faces of his classmates, he looked straight to the back of the room at the mural on the rear wall. It showed an alligator dozing in a swamp, eyes bulging beneath closed lids. Billy swallowed, then looked down and began to read. “My report is on Tim Clark,” he read. His voice was small and hard to hear. “Tim Clark is a doctor of zoology. One of the things he does is look for animals that are getting extinct. He studies their habits and he thinks up ways to save them.”

  “I can’t hear you,” said Bruce. He sat near the windows, drawing pictures of explosions on the cover of his notebook.

  “Can you speak louder, Billy?” Ms. Crystal asked. “Your subject is fascinating. I want us all to hear.”

  Billy tried to clear his throat. It felt like his voice was trapped inside.

  I can’t do this, he thought.

  He forced himself to continue. That was when he mixed up some of the words. He said “engainjured” instead of endangered and “peachees” instead of species. Several kids laughed when he said that. He wished he could disappear.

  “One animal Dr. Clark studied for many years was the black-footed ferret,” Billy continued. “They live on prairie dogs. A lot of ranchers poison prairie dogs because they don’t want them to eat their grass and make holes. When the prairie dogs are poisoned, the ferrets have no food, so they die.”

  Billy tried to take a deep breath, but he couldn’t relax enough to get much air. “Tim Clark didn’t see any ferrets for eight years,” he continued, “but he kept looking. Other biologists looked too. Finally they found ninety ferrets in Wyoming. They took pictures and made maps.”

  Billy’s heart still pounded, but at least he wasn’t getting the words mixed up anymore and no one said they couldn’t hear.

  “In a few years the ferrets began to disappear,” Billy went on. “Dr. Clark said they should take some ferrets into captivity. Some people thought this was a good idea, but some people didn’t. Soon there were only fourteen ferrets left. They took six ferrets into captivity, but they died.”

  At this point Billy noticed the class was quiet. A few kids looked bored, but the others seemed to be listening. He kept going. “When they looked again, there were only six ferrets in the wild. They took them to a building and kept them in different rooms so they all wouldn’t catch a bad disease if one of the ferrets had it. Dr. Clark said they should breed the ferrets. He said when new babies came and grew up, they should put some back on the prairie. That’s what they’re doing now.”


  Ms. Crystal was smiling. This made Billy feel a little better. He read Dr. Clark’s letter, the questions he had asked, and the answers Dr. Clark had given. “Question number one,” Billy read. “‘Do you think there are any more black-footed ferrets in the wild that we don’t know about?’ Answer: ‘Some days I think there might be, other days not.’ Question number two: ‘Do you think black-footed ferrets can be saved?’ Answer: ‘The chances are good, but it will take many years.’ ”

  I’m almost finished! Billy thought.

  “I admire Tim Clark’s work,” he read, “because I think it’s important to save the earth and all the animals before it’s too late. I would like to follow in his footsteps because I love animals and I want to help save them. It would be hard because people have almost ruined the earth, so it’s a big job to fix it. It would be rewarding because I would be doing something to save the animals and all of nature so we can go on living. The end.”

  Billy looked up from his report. He stared at the alligator dozing in the swamp and the toucan in the tree. The class was quiet.

  Lima Beans

  When school was over, Ms. Crystal stopped Billy on his way out. “Your report was excellent,” she said.

  “I messed it up,” said Billy.

  “No, you didn’t.” Ms. Crystal was at her desk, putting papers into her large purple woven bag. “You have a wonderful feeling for your subject.”

  “Thank you,” said Billy. He was glad she’d liked it, even if the kids hadn’t. He could still hear their laughter when he had mixed up the words, their silence when he had finished.

  Ms. Crystal picked up her keys, along with a small plastic bottle of carrot juice. “Have you always been interested in conservation?” she asked.

  “Yes,” said Billy.

  “We need people like you.”

  “Thanks,” said Billy.

  “You’re welcome,” said Ms. Crystal. “The planet could use some help.”

  When Billy got home from school, his mother was in her studio room working on some sketches. She gave Billy a hug and asked how things had gone at school.

  “I messed up my report,” Billy told her.

  “How?” his mother asked.

  “We had to read them and I couldn’t talk loud enough and I mixed up the words and the kids laughed. They thought it was stupid.”

  “I doubt that,” his mother said. “A few kids may have laughed, but that doesn’t mean they thought it was stupid. What did your teacher say?”

  “She said it was good.”

  “There, you see,” said his mother. “I’ll bet it was good.”

  “It was a good report,” said Billy, “but I stank it up when I read it.”

  “I’m sure it went better than you think,” his mother said. “I made you some cookies.”

  “Thanks,” said Billy. Then he left the room.

  A little later Billy sat at the kitchen table holding Zucchini and eating the ginger cookies his mother had made. A breeze blew in through the open window above the sink, moving the yellow curtains.

  This is nice, thought Zucchini. I wish it could always be like this, without One-Day Service making a racket all the time. I have to do something about that mouse.

  When Billy finished the cookies, he picked up Zucchini and went to the refrigerator to see if there were any leftover lima beans. Billy didn’t like lima beans, but Zucchini did, especially the soft centers. He stored the skins under the living-room couch.

  Billy’s mother came into the kitchen. She told Billy she had to pick Emma up at ballet class. “Feel better?” she asked.

  “I guess so,” said Billy.

  “I’ll be back in half an hour,” his mother said. Then she left.

  Billy opened the refrigerator. On the top shelf was a bowl of lima beans. He opened the plastic lid and took out a lima bean.

  Lima beans! thought Zucchini. My favorite!

  Zucchini took the bean gently from Billy’s fingers, chewed, then spit the skin on the floor.

  The phone rang. It was Billy’s father calling from the movie set in Florida. When Billy told him about his report and how the kids had laughed, his father said, “So what?” Billy’s father was like that. He was blunt and honest and not at all interested in what other people thought. “Next time talk louder,” he added.

  “I can’t,” said Billy.

  “Sure you can,” said his father. “It’s scary talking in front of people. You have to get used to it. Listen, I have a great idea. Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” said Billy.

  “We’re going to Wyoming.”

  “Wyoming?”

  “We’ll see the ferrets. Like you said in your report. We’ll see where they breed them. We’ll talk to the biologists. We’ll hike in the Tetons. They have the Tetons over there.”

  “I know,” said Billy.

  “We’ll take an extra week. Make it two. Ask Mom to talk to the school.”

  “O.K.,” said Billy.

  “It’s educational,” his father added. “Anyway, I haven’t seen you in months. We need some time.”

  Billy was excited. A chance to see the prairies, to meet the biologists, to see the only black-footed ferrets in the world, the ones that looked like Zucchini.

  Zucchini!

  “So what do you say?” Billy’s father asked.

  Billy was quiet.

  “Are you there?”

  “I can’t go,” said Billy.

  “What?” his father asked.

  “I can’t go.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t leave Zucchini.”

  Oppermans Pond

  “We’ll take him,” said Billy’s father.

  Billy’s heart raced with excitement. “Could we do that?”

  “Why not? We’re driving. It’s perfect.”

  “That’s great!”

  “I have to go,” said Billy’s father. “They need me for a shot.”

  “O.K.,” said Billy.

  “See if it’s all right with Mom and ask her to talk to the school.”

  “I will.”

  “I love you,” said his father. And he hung up.

  Billy put the receiver back down on the hook. For a moment he was unable to move. He could hardly believe it was true. A trip to Wyoming! And he could take Zucchini! He wished his mother was there so he could tell her the news. He was pretty sure she would let him go. She would know how much the trip meant to him. She had to say yes!

  Zucchini stared at Billy with bright and questioning eyes. He could sense Billy’s excitement.

  “We’re going to the pond,” said Billy. “I have something to tell you.”

  What is it? thought Zucchini.

  “I want to tell you at our special place.”

  Billy gave Zucchini a final lima bean. Then he set him down. He moved to the phone table and wrote his mother a note.

  Gone to Oppermans Pond.

  Took Zucchini. Back soon.

  Billy

  Zucchini followed Billy into his room and watched as Billy put on his blue sweatshirt with the hood. Billy had taught Zucchini to ride in the hood as it hung down his back. There was nothing Zucchini liked more than to curl up there and watch the sights as Billy hiked along the road past his house and down the dirt path toward Oppermans Pond.

  The sun was low in the sky as they set out. The breeze was strong. The oak tree stood firm in the yard, but the smaller trees bent in the wind. In the meadow to the right, just past Billy’s house, a group of Canada geese selected blades of grass near the side of the road. Unhurried, they searched, necks curved, beaks to the ground. A woodpecker tapped at the trunk of the dead tree at the edge of the pine woods.

  What will he tell me? thought Zucchini. Maybe One-Day Service is going to live with a friend. Maybe she’s going to visit the other mouse at Gedney Park. Maybe she’s going to live in the basement.

  Billy was quiet as he walked. Thoughts tumbled, one upon the next. The black-footed fer
rets, the only ones in all the world, all in one building, close enough to touch! Maybe he could meet Tom Thorne, who was in charge of breeding the ferrets, or Tom Campbell, who studied them. Tom Campbell had worked with Tim Clark. Billy had read about them all.

  Billy turned down the path into the pine woods.

  The path wound through the woods until it reached the pond. The water was still and black as the late-afternoon sun slanted through the trees on the far side. Billy reached the edge of the pond, where the moss was green. There he sat on his favorite rock, the large one past the open space. Billy and Zucchini spent many afternoons just quietly on that rock. Even in the snow they sat, Billy in his heaviest jacket, with sweaters underneath and a wool cap.

  Billy reached back and took Zucchini out of the hood. With one hand he held Zucchini’s narrow leash. The leash was attached to a tiny halter that fit securely on Zucchini’s body. Billy didn’t think Zucchini would run away, but he thought he might chase after a squirrel and get lost, or get hurt by another animal, and he didn’t want to take the chance. He put Zucchini on his lap and stroked him gently.

  “We’re going to the prairie,” Billy said.

  The prairie! thought Zucchini. Can it be true?

  “Dad wants to take us,” Billy went on. “If Mom says it’s O.K., we’re going. We’ll see other ferrets. We’ll see the sagebrush and the open spaces. We’ll walk together, just the two of us. I’ll take off your leash so you can run. We’ll see the mountains in the distance and the ones behind with snow.”

  Zucchini’s tiny body was flooded with joy.

  The prairie! he thought. My dream come true!

  Drugstore Teeth

  Mrs. Ferguson thought the trip was a wonderful idea, but Mr. Ferguson wasn’t sure. Billy sat on the couch, holding Zucchini, while they discussed the situation.

  “Billy should be making new friends,” Mr. Ferguson was saying. “He should have a chance to get involved in the sports program.”