Ivy and Bean

She looked a little scared.
    “No. She just talks, but it’s worse than throwing rocks.” Bean sighed. “Maybe she’s not home.”
    But Mrs. Trantz was home. They were halfway across her perfect yard when she came outside. She stood on her patio and glared at them. “Bernice,” she said in a high voice. “Come here.”
    Bean took a few steps toward the patio.
    “Closer, please, Bernice. It seems that we need to have another one of our little talks.”
    Ivy came and stood beside Bean next to the patio.
    “Who are you?” said Mrs. Trantz, frowning at Ivy’s white witch face.
    “My name is Ivy,” said Ivy.
    “Well, Ivy, children are not allowed in my garden. Maybe you can teach your friend Bernice that.” Mrs. Trantz gave a short, dry laugh. “Because Bernice does not seem to be able to remember it by herself. Do you, Bernice?”

    “I remember, Mrs. Trantz, but it was just sort of an emergency,” said Bean. “I’m sorry.”
    Usually when you say you’re sorry, people say something nice back to you. Not Mrs. Trantz. She said, “I don’t think you’re sorry, Bernice. If you were sorry, you wouldn’t keep coming into my garden when I have asked you not to. Do I need to call your mother again?” She smiled in an unfriendly way.
    Bean heard Ivy sucking in her breath. She’s about to do something, thought Bean.

    “I’m going to throw up,” Ivy said loudly.
    Yuck! thought Bean, whirling around to see. Ivy looked at her and crossed one eye a tiny bit. Bean looked closely at Ivy. Then she said, “That’s the emergency I was telling you about, Mrs. Trantz.”
    Mrs. Trantz looked worried.
    Ivy burped. It sounded horrible.
    Mrs. Trantz jumped back. “Go! Go home! Run!”
    “That’s what we were trying to do, Mrs. Trantz,” Bean said sweetly. She was having a good time watching Mrs. Trantz’s face.
    “Go! Now!” yelled Mrs. Trantz.
    Ivy gagged.

    Mrs. Trantz ran inside her house and looked at them through a window. She waggled her hand to shoo them away.
    “We’ll be going now, Mrs. Trantz!” called Bean.
    She waved good-bye as she and Ivy walked away. Ivy gave one more disgusting burp, just for fun. Bean tried to hold her laughs in, but they came out her nose. And then Ivy couldn’t hold her laughs in either. It was a good thing they were in the next yard by then.
    It really was easy-peasy after that. They went across Kalia’s yard. Kalia was in her high chair at the kitchen window. She waved her spoon at Bean. Bean waved back and then put her finger to her lips. “Shhh,” she whispered.
    Finally they came to Bean’s own yard.

BEAN’S BACKYARD
    “You peek over. See if Nancy’s there,” said Bean. “She might be in the yard looking for me.”
    Ivy nodded and stood up. She could just see over the fence. “I don’t see anyone,” she said.
    “Then they’re probably out looking for me,” said Bean. She pictured her mom and Nancy with worried faces. “I’ve been gone for a long time.”
    “Let’s go get the worms,” said Ivy, pulling herself over the fence.
    Bean’s backyard was a big rectangle. There was a nice part, with flowers and neat grass. And then there was a messy part, with lumpy grass and a trampoline and a playhouse that Bean had had since she was little. She could barely fit inside it anymore. There was stuff lying all over the messy part: hula hoops, balls, arrows, shovels, buckets, and a broken stilt (Bean had really hurt herself that time). The worms were in the messy part, over next to the playhouse, where the ground was wet.

    Ivy and Bean grabbed shovels and a bucket and got to work. At first, there was just a lot of mud. Then there was mud and a few worms. But the more they dug, the more worms they found. Six. Ten. Thirteen worms. The worms oozed and curled through the mud. Bean liked the way they were fat one second and stretched out and skinny the next. She and Ivy dug deeper and deeper, until they had made a big muddy pit in the ground. It was almost two feet across, and water dribbled down the sides. Worms were squirming at the bottom of the pit, trying to get away. Bean felt a little sorry for them. But Ivy just picked them up and dumped them into the bucket. Bean thought of Nancy kicking and waggling, and she began dumping them into the bucket, too.

    “How many do we need?” asked Bean. The worms were piled on top of one another on the bottom of the bucket.
    Ivy looked “Only ten. But the more worms we have, the harder she’ll