2 | thought Kristy was still asleep w % (e y) < 3 <— Q — 0) = o =) = << you get dressed You camot do anything. it myself. | can do anything. She is. | did | can too. I'll prove it. 45
Okay, okay. Karen, you must be feeling better. | know one thing you can’t do. | bet you can’t use the can opener. | bet you can’t feed Boo-Boo. We’ll just see. 46
Well, that’s the only thing | can’t do. | can dress myself, | can brush my hair, | can eat... But | didn’t break my legs. Just my wrist.
No roller-skating. Not for a long time. If you Fell now, you could hurt your wrist even more. You have to go back to the hospital this morning anyway. Dr. Humphrey wants to check your cast. You might even need another X-ray. Back to the hospital? | don’t want to go!
It’s not going to be very Fun. We'll just be sitting and waiting. | want to see the hospital. Hospitals are instristing. _, STONEVBROOK GENERAL HOSPITAL 49
How Come we're going Because Dr. Humphrey doesn’t to the emergency room? I’m not have an of fice like your regular SA EMT GENCY SrYMOre. doctor does. He just fixes bones here at the hospital. Hey, let’s play hospital, Andrew. It will be a good waiting game. You be the sick person, and I'll be the doctor. You come to my hospital, and Ill Fix you up. 50
Ghee wetter witheme? Ooh, my leg is broken! Hmm, | think you need a cast. Whatever you want. Now | have a very, very, very, very sore throat. You need this medicine. It tastes yucky, but you have to take it seventeen times a day. Then your throat will feel better. 51
Now | have a big cut on my hand. It’s bleeding! Okay. First we put this goop on it. Then this Band-Aid. Then --
Okay. Sit right up here on the bed. Now just wait a few more minutes and Dr. Humphrey will be in. This is like a real doctor’s of fice! ee | see bandages and those funny scissors That medicine is and medicine for cuts. Called bacitracin. ree, al
E> Very Maybe you'll grow up E> to be a doctor, Karen Okay, let’s see. Does this hurt? Does this hurt? Karen, tell me, one more time, how you broke your wrist.
| was roller-skating on our sidewalk. | set up four coffee | cans, and | jumped over all of them. It was my best trick ever. I know that’s not | even twirled around in the air. what really happened. But | don’t want anyone to know | fell while turning. But just after | landed, | saw this big caterpillar on the sidewalk. 55
| didn’t want to squish it, so | tried to leap around it. But | lost my balance. My feet went out from under me. A caterpillar? Hmm, okay. Let’s take | put my hands out like this, a look at your X-rays landed on them... And, crunch, my wrist broke. There weren’t four cans... 56
Okay. For a couple of weeks, you'll come here every Wednesday for X-rays. In two weeks, we’ll swap this cast for a lighter one. And eight weeks from now, we'll take of f your cast for good. Then you'll only have X-rays every two weeks. Well, yes, it is. It’s two months.
| don’t want to wear this for two months. | want to go roller—skating! Will | be able to go to school? Oh, yes. In a Few days, your wrist won’t hurt at all. You'll be able to hold a pencil to write, even with the cast on.
| thought yesterday had been a bad day. But today is even worse. Darn. | was hoping for a vacation. No roller-skating for two months -- and | have to go to school anyway. 59
Look, Karen. There’s a boy with a cast just like yours. Only his is on his Foot. | know that boy! That’s Ricky. He’s in my class. 60
How did you break your ankle? | fell down the stairs. | was doing a roller-skating trick. | jumped over five cans lined up on the sidewalk. | did a double twist in the air. Then | landed. It was perfect.
It was perfect, And her baby except that | saw caterpillar... this caterpillar... Cool! What’s all this stuff on your cast? Who wrote it? 62
My friends and my mom and dad and brother and sister. ii ‘ot jf é =| : at But...when did you break your ankle? How did Ricky have time to show his cast to so many people and get so many signatures? | broke it on Friday. Right after school. 63
ot es Yup. Is he yours? Six weeks How about you? Eight weeks. My broken bone must be worse than yours. bone doctor < 2? have to wear your Cast ¢ fe) = é hw 2) aa) (ay c a6 5 = Q ke S ry) Yup. How long do you Oh. Ricky was able to show his cast around all day on Saturday
Boy, | can’t wait for school tomorrow. 2 > Y nO a 3 eee Ka) 35 C=; a2 34 aS AYE 8 <= 2 3 Y y 2 =aa sai Jd 6 ac v3 SS ee — o mW 9’ i= ks | have lots of signatures. But they'll want to see mine more. Mine is more interesting. 65 Mine, too! They'll want to see mine, too!
And you know what? By tomorrow morning, | will have Hubert Gregory's Signature. The baseball player?! He’s famous! How are you going to get him to sign your cast?
Well, we better be going. Karen, say good-bye to Ricky. Bye, Karen. | have to get people to sign my cast. | have to get lots ath of people to sign my cast. | can’t let Ricky go to school with a better cast than mine. — ae — Daddy, | am going to be But how will | get very busy this afternoon. a signature as good as Hubert Gregory's? | don’t know anyone famous. 67
Hey, everybody! Elizabet Kristy! Charlie! Sa-- Look, here’s a red pen. Oe ene Take this with you and go phe ad Pelee to Say CoS ae ~~ find them, Just calm down. Right now! ft. There’s no need to yell.
Look at that! You made me miss! Did not! Now come here. | want you to Sign my Cast. Can you write your name or something funny or draw a picture?
= Hee hee hee. cn David Michael?
Ow 2 ,e) = (0) qo a 9 9 =7)) ia) — Hey, do you kn 7 | U 2 know anyone famous ¢ do yo x (= me) c cv) 3 d By the way, Sign my cast
Thank you. Do you know anyone famous? | don’t think so, honey. Why? fe
A boy in my class broke his ankle. We saw him at the hospital, too. He already has a lot of Signatures on his cast. And he said that by tomorrow, he’ll have Hubert Gregory's signature. No one is going to care about my wrist, Come with me!
Boo-Boo isn’t famous, but this is a very special autograph. 74
And there’s Shannon’s autograph. These are good, but not good enough. | still need a really, really special autograph if | want to beat Ricky. But where .am | supposed to get that?
| CHAPTER 6 | Elizabeth? May | go over to Hannie’s? And then maybe to Amanda Delaney’s? | want some more autographs for my cast. | need to go visiting. Pll get lots of signatures from our neighbors. | can ask them if they know anyone famous. Sure. Just be careful. And come coor. home if your arm starts to hurt. eee | can’t wait to f "| show Hannie my cast. PR Okay. Thanks! ae LD Karen! What happened? { Hey, everyone! i _ Come here! 76
Karen! How did you break your wrist? Hmm. Five coffee cans doesn’t seem like enough for a broken wrist. What’s a really interesting story? | was showing Andrew a new trick. | lined up seven coffee cans on the sidewalk. Then | skated toward those cans so fast | was almost Flying. | was flying! | did a triple twist in the air. Then | landed.
And that’s bays! | Nope. | landed perfectly. But | saw a mother you Fell¢ caterpillar and her three caterpillar babies. | didn’t want to squish them, so | tried to jump over them, too. That’s when | fell. What? Oh. No. They were all safe. 78
Get one that isn’t red! you like to sign ll go get a pen! hits | need autographs on it. have signed Would all of my cast? Look, even Shannon and Boo-Boo U 2 S autograph. 4 Vv » D x 3 Vv (6) ° > ms) c= pb = Noodle SE oa & 33 $a 3 0 OFS =< 10) fa) a2 — WY 1) | guess Sari vx is too little to sign it, isn’t she? 79
Thank you very much, Noodle. ra By the way, does anyone > - ; here know a famous person? | know the dog catcher. | know the mayor. You do? Could he sign my cast? | need a famous autograph before tomorrow.
Oh, I’m sorry, Karen. Hey, Karen! How about He’s not in town this weekend. | a claw print? That would be cool! We'll get Myrtle to sign your cast. Want to come with me, Hannie? Thanks, everybody. | have to go now. I’m going to ask some more people to sign my cast. Where are you going first?
Karen Brewer! How could you do that to me? You know Amanda and | are VERY BIG ENEMIES! Over to Amanda Delaneus. eee | ’m sorry, Hannie. | need Amanda | Well, | am not going! to sign my cast. And Max and their mom and dad. 82
THs ll NOM! | a) s VZ | wish Hannie had @ rE A come with me. It’s silly of her not to W] like Amanda. And it’s silly for Amanda not to like Hannie. Hi, Shannon. Are you baby-sitting for Amanda and Max?
Karen, what happened to your arm? And when | broke my wrist, the police had to come. | | just love telling stories. This one is getting to be one of my best. Well. | was doing a trick for Andrew. | lined up ten coffee cans and skated toward them really fast. | jumped over them -- flew through the air -- and landed perfectly. ambulance! No one will ever know that | had fallen just by trying to turn around. 84
By the way, Shannon and Boo-Boo and Noodle put their paw prints on my cast. And Myrtle put her claw print on it. Maybe Priscilla could sign my cast, too. How did you get their paw prints? He = = Hey, do any of you With an ink pad. know someone famous? Ink? No way! | don’t want Priscilla’s paw to get dirty.
| need someone famous to sign my cast by tomorrow. It’s important. | don’t know anyone. This boy in my class? Well, he has And this hairdresser meee an aunt who has a friend who goes to cut Frances Morton's hair. this hairdresser. Who is Frances Morton? 86
Well, thank you. But your friend probably couldn't sign my cast before tomorrow. Besides, it would be better if Frances Morton could do it herself. Quess what! | hear bells! Mr. Tastee is coming!
Hooray! The ice-cream man! And | have some money with me!
Not really. Are you mad at me? ett ree i
my aren Brewer, what on a 1a earth did you do to yourself? : a And then, after the fire trucks got there, the helicopters...
Karen, are you sure that’s what happened? No, it is not! That is a very big story. There were only two coffee cans. And there were no caterpillars or police cars or fire engines or helicopters. Why don’t you tell us the truth, Karen? | only jumped over two Cans. | landed okay, too. But when | tried to turn, | fell and that’s when | broke my wrist.
Mr. Tastee, will you sign my cast?
Don’t you mean...isn’t your name Mr. Tastee? Roger acteee. ra sorry, Karen, . Can you maybe write Mr. Tastee Mr. Tastee is just the name of the { underneath your name? Just so people will know who Roger Jones is? ice-cream Company.
| can’t believe Mr. Tastee’s real name is Roger Jones! Boo. | still don’t What about Mr. Tastee’s? have a special autograph. ’m not sure. Ricky might have his, too. Darn, | forgot to ask if Mr, Tastee knew anyone famous.