Nanny X by Madelyn Rosenberg Read Free Book Online Page B

you happen to see what direction it came from?” Nanny X asked.
    â€œNo,” Stinky said. “I was looking toward the stage, not away from it. And my sign was kind of blocking my vision.”
    â€œCould it have come out of a tree?” asked Nanny X.
    â€œMaybe. Why not? You’re going to explain all of this to the mayor, aren’t you? Maybe he’ll believe an adult.”
    â€œHe believes what he believes,” Nanny X said. “But don’t worry. When we get all of our facts, he’ll have to see it our way. And when he does, he’ll stop this ridiculous nonsense and drop the charges.”
    â€œI hope it’s soon,” Stinky said. “The planning commission is supposed to make its decision tonight, and I want to be there with my sign.” He let out a breath, like he’d been holding it all afternoon. “It’s a lucky thing you guys were at the park.”
    â€œIt’s a lucky thing Nanny X was there, too,” Jake said. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was starting to agree with him.

10. Jake
Nanny X Goes Bananas

    Nanny X thought we should go to Nolan’s Market. That seemed like an okay idea because we’d found that banana peel in the park, plus, we needed more secret-agent supplies. Like food. I had a jar of plain, un-anchovied peanut butter under my bed from when Ethan and I were getting prepared for the zombie invasion. If we had a chance to go home I could get it, but we weren’t going home.
    Ali and I did odds and evens to see who got to go into the grocery store and who had to stay outside with Yeti. I picked odds, so I was the one who got hit by the fried-chicken smell when the automatic doors opened up. But Nanny X didn’t care about the fried chicken. She went straight to the manager, who was in a little glass office where she could watch over the whole store. “I want to talk to you about your banana situation,” Nanny X said.
    â€œYes, we have no bananas,” the manager said, which sounded like the song. She had a name tag that saidRosalita. “The truck comes tomorrow. You will have to wait until then.”
    â€œYes, but
why
do you have no bananas?” asked Nanny X. “Is there a shortage?”
    â€œNo shortage,” said Rosalita. “Big customer. He came in this morning and bought every banana in the whole place.”
    â€œCan you tell me his name?” Nanny X asked. “Or what he was planning on doing with all of those bananas?”
    â€œI cannot,” Rosalita said. “To tell you would not be respecting the privacy of my customers.”
    â€œDid he say
why
he wanted the bananas?” I asked. Sometimes you have to ask the same question different ways to get an answer. I learned that from my mom, who did it in the lawyer business, and from my Super Snot sister, who didn’t usually answer me the first time I asked her something.
    â€œWell, they are
very good
bananas,” Rosalita said. “But all he said to me was that he had a hungry crew. I will tell you this one other thing: He said it was a
small
crew. And yet he bought 864 bananas.”
    â€œEight hundred—” Nanny X said.
    â€œEight hundred sixty-four.”
    Who would eat 864 bananas?
I thought. And then I answered:
I would
. Because right then I was feeling like I could eat 864 bananas all by myself. “Nanny X,” I said, “as long as we’re here, could we please get some food? Ali and I are kind of starving.”
    She raised that same eyebrow and looked at me. “You didn’t eat your sandwich,” she said.
    â€œNo,” I said. “It was . . . no.”
    â€œYou’ll grow to love it,” Nanny X said. “But for now, go wait outside with Alison. Eliza and I will round up another snack.”
    â€œAhm!” Eliza shook her head so that her red curls bounced all around.
    I’m counting on you, kid
, I thought to Eliza.
Bring us