Girls Rule! by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Read Free Book Online Page B

he had the best job of all, Wally thought.
That
was a change. Usually he got the worst of things. How did he get to be traffic cop all of a sudden?
    Wally walked to the end of the wide driveway and stood by the car wash sign. It was two or three minutes before any car passed at all. Finally a tow truck appeared in the distance. Wally decided that a tow truck would be unlikely to use a car wash, and he was right. Even though he motioned for it to turn into the Malloys’ driveway, it sped on past.
    Wally stood on one foot, then the other. He countedto a hundred by fives, then by fours and threes. Another car came by, tooted its horn, and drove on. The third car, however, slowed down and turned in.
    “Do you guys do a good job?” the driver asked.
    “Oh, yeah!” said Wally, and directed him toward the clearing. There was space for four cars at once.
    He wished he were wearing a traffic cop’s orange vest. That would be neat—standing out here directing traffic, making the cars stop. Holding out the flat of his hand to stop cars in one direction, motioning the other cars right up the driveway. He’d even use his whistle. He would back them up all the way to the bridge just to let a car turn in at the car wash.
    Wally tried counting to a hundred by sixes and sevens and eights. Another car came by and slowed.
    “For four dollars, that’s a bargain!” the woman said, and took her place in line.
    Wally had just started to count by nines when he heard somebody yell, “Hey!” He turned around.
    There were two boys from school walking toward him. Big boys. Probably fifth or sixth graders, and one was as big as a washing machine.
    “You stole our idea!” said the washing machine.
    “What?” said Wally.
    The other boy pointed toward Eddie’s sign. “Car wash. We did it first.”
    Wally shrugged. “I don’t know anything about your car wash, but so what? Anybody can wash cars. I’m just helping the Malloys out.”
    “Well, you’d better stop. You’d better close up, because you’re taking customers away from us,” said the first boy.
    “Where do you live?” asked Wally.
    The boys pointed far down Island Avenue.
    “What are you charging?” Wally asked, curious.
    “Five dollars. Six to wash and vacuum. You’re stealing our business.”
    “You’d better talk to Eddie Malloy, then. She’s the one with the hose,” Wally said, pointing her out.
    The boys looked up the driveway to where Josh and Jake and Eddie and Beth and Caroline and Peter were all hard at work.
    “We don’t want to talk to Eddie, we’re talking to you,” said the washing machine. “And you’d better tell her to close up shop, or we’ll come back and clean your clock.”
    “Yeah,” said the other boy. “We’ll clear your deck.”
    “Punch out your lights,” said the washing machine, and they went off down the road. One of them turned and waved his fist in the air before he started on across the road bridge.
    Wally waited a minute, then walked up the drive toward the twins, who were polishing the hood of a car.
    “Somebody’s going to come back here and punch out my lights if we don’t close the car wash,” he said.
    “They’re going to do
what
?” asked Eddie.
    “Clean my clock and clear my deck,” said Wally.
    “Who were they?” asked Josh.
    “Fifth or sixth graders, I think. One was as big as a washing machine.”
    “Gus Bradley,” said Jake. “I’ll bet that’s who it was. He just goes around talking big.”
    “He
is
big!” said Wally.
    “Well, you just go out there like you belong by that sign,” said Jake. “And if they come back and start anything, you tell them you’ll clean
their
clocks!"
    “What?” said Wally. He had never won a fight in his life. He’d never even been in one, except with his brothers.
    “You’re not afraid of them, are you?” asked Beth.
    “Heck, no!” said Wally. He was terrified.
    “So just go right back out there and keep directing cars up the driveway. If they come