Who's Afraid of Fourth Grade? by Nancy Krulik Read Free Book Online

head slightly, trying to figure out what had just happened. “I kind of remember something about Timmy knocking over the sauce. But I’m not really sure. It’s like I was there, but I wasn’t.” She groaned and put her hand to her forehead. “Oh, I don’t even know what I mean.”
    Katie sighed. She understood exactly what Emma meant.
    â€œI’d better finish cleaning up before my mom sees this,” Emma said, picking up a sponge. “I can’t believe Timmy did that. Where are the twins, anyway?”
    â€œI think they’re trying to hide from bath time,” Katie told her.
    â€œThey’re going to be cranky soon,” Emma thought out loud, looking at the clock over the stove. “If they don’t eat dinner on time, they get horrible.”
    Get horrible? Katie thought. How much worse could they be?
    â€œI guess I’d better call my mom on her cell phone and tell her to get more sauce for dinner. I hope she hasn’t left the supermarket already,” Emma said as she headed for the phone.
    Katie had a better idea. “Don’t call her,” she said.
    â€œBut she’ll need the sauce to make dinner.”
    â€œHow about we make the dinner?” Katie suggested excitedly.
    â€œI don’t how to cook anything,” Emma said.
    â€œI do,” Katie said proudly. “I’ve learned lots of recipes in my cooking class.”
    â€œI’m not allowed to use the stove or the oven unless there’s a grown-up around,” Emma told her.
    â€œMe neither,” Katie said. “But we can make plenty of food without them. Like ants on a log.”
    â€œWe’re going to eat ants ?” Emma asked.
    â€œNo. We’re going to use raisins. They look like ants.”
    Emma laughed. “This sounds like something Mr. Guthrie would make us eat.”
    â€œIt’s delicious,” Katie promised. “You’ll see. You get the celery. I’ll get the raisins and the peanut butter.”
    Katie showed Emma how to fill the inside of each of the celery stalks with creamy peanut butter. Then she placed four raisins on each stalk.
    â€œTada!” Katie exclaimed once she’d finished. “Perfect ants on a log!”
    â€œThat looks good,” Emma said. “But it’s not enough for a whole dinner.”
    â€œWell, what other ingredients do you have?” Katie asked.
    Emma peeked into the refrigerator. “We’ve got lettuce, red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, tuna, bananas, and chocolate sauce. Oh, and we also have this package of raw meat my mom took out of the freezer.”
    â€œWe can’t serve raw meat,” Katie reminded her.
    â€œI don’t think tuna and chocolate sauce sounds very good, either,” Emma added. She wrinkled up her nose at the thought of it.
    â€œNo, but we could make a salad and put tuna in it.”
    â€œOh, that sounds yummy,” Emma agreed.
    â€œAnd we could slice the bananas and pour chocolate sauce on them for dessert,” Katie continued.
    â€œIs that one of the recipes from your cooking class?” Emma asked.

    Katie shook her head. “I made that one up myself,” she said proudly.
    Katie began to chop the vegetables and put them in a big glass bowl. Emma sliced the bananas and covered them with a thin drizzle of chocolate sauce. They finished just as Mrs. Weber came home.
    Emma’s mom stopped and stared at the kitchen in amazement. The table was set beautifully. There was an ants on a log appetizer at each place. The salad was in the middle of the table. “What’s all this?” Mrs. Weber asked, surprised.
    â€œEmma thought you would like it if someone else made dinner for you tonight,” Katie told her.
    Emma smiled gratefully at her. It had really been Katie’s idea, after all. Katie winked back at her.
    â€œWow!” Mrs. Weber seemed really pleased. “Thank you, girls!”
    Just then, Lacey came