The Ghost and the McGee Twins

The Don't-Gooder

Molly convinced me to help her out with our school's recycling program. Well, she actually lied to me and told me that there was a book signing in town. "We did it, guys!" Molly exclaimed. "Brighton Middle School's recycling program is officially a go! It is my honor to kick off Volunteer Week by recycling the very first can." Scratch finished his can of soda and belched. "Consider the week kicked." Scratch said, about to recycle his can, but he was crushed by one of the doors to the school, which was opened by none other than Andrea Davenport. "Happy Volunteer Week, Fan-dreas!" Andrea exclaimed on her live stream, recycling her paper cup. "Be like me and give Mother Nature a perfectly manicured hand by recycling!" Suddenly, the rest of the school ran to Andrea as her mom picked her up and drove off. "Typical." I grunted. "That someone was us!" Scratch complained. "Who does this Andrea think she is? She's gonna just roll it in, take all the credit?" "She did get people to recycle." Molly said. "And that's what matters." "Really?" Scratch and I asked. "Yes." Molly replied. "So, you know, what if she's got the adoration of thousands of online followers? We have grimy fingers from a job well done." "Gross." I mumbled.

Molly, Scratch, and I headed to the dog park to clean up after the dogs. "There! Brighton's Bark Park is clean again!" Molly sighed with relief. "Let the puppy kisses commence." "Uh, Moll, you might want to see this." I said, turning her attention to Andrea, getting recognized by the local news. "I love what you've done here, Andrea!" Joanie Pataky of the local news station complimented. ""Local do-gooder proves that anything is paw-sible!"" "I don't mind getting a little dirty to help our furry friends." Andrea said, gently pushing a dog aside. "Okay, that's enough." "Clearly, she's a friend to all animals." I rolled my eyes. "My puppy kisses." Molly whimpered. "That should be your face covered in dog slobber!" Scratch snapped. "Nah. No, I mean, Andrea gets the fancy photo ops and beagle smooches." Molly said in denial. "But we got... uh..." "Grimy fingers?" I asked. "I'm thinking. Give me a minute." Molly replied. "Mm-hmm." I nodded.

Our next stop was picking up trash by the Brighton River. Gotta say, that was not pleasant. I helped Molly pile up the filled trash bags. "Done! Now we can officially downgrade the Brighton River from health nightmare to health hazard." Molly said. "Uh, you've got something on your head there." Scratch pointed out as an opossum was laying on Molly's head. I couldn't believe it. I wasn't the victim for once. I tried my best to help Molly deal with the opossum, just as Andrea was getting interviewed again. "I'm here with hometown do-gooder, Andrea Davenport." Joanie announced on camera. "How does it feel to be Volunteer of the Week of Volunteer Week?" "They named her what?!" Scratch snapped, trying to get his revenge, but Molly and I pulled him back. "No, Scratch! Stop it!" Molly exclaimed. "Look, Andrea's getting an award, and of course she is! Why not since she has everything else she wants? But you know what she doesn't have?" "Your extreme capacity for delusion?" Scratch and I asked. "Yeah, probably." Molly sighed. "Just let me give her one pin!" Scratch shouted. "We can't let you do that!" Molly exclaimed. "Let's just go home." "You got some real nerve taking credit for my sister's work, Davenport." I mumbled as I caught up with Molly and Scratch.

Back at the house, Molly insisted that we watched the news. She knew Andrea was going to be on TV, and she was likely going to get humiliated. "Volunteer of the Week of Volunteer Week? Ugh. Wow! I'm just doing my part to "enhappify" Brighton." Andrea lied. "That's just a silly little word I came up with. And trademarked." "No she didn't!" I gasped. "Are you insane, Davenport?" "What?!" Molly snapped. "Enhappify is my word!" "Yes! It is your word, Molly." Scratch repeated. "And Fraud-drea just used your word on the hyper local news for the whole world to see! Destroy her." "Molly volunteers for the right reasons. Helping others." Dad said. "Right. You don't need to be on TV." Mom added. "Hey, look! Molly and Amber are on TV!" Darryl pointed out as we saw ourselves trying to get an opossum away from Molly. "Mom, let's not send this to Grandma Nin, okay?" Molly begged. "I second that." I added. "Uh, whoops." Dad said, accidentally sending Grandma Nin the news coverage.