Carla x Monty- Holiday Heartbreak

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH

The last thing I wanted to do was take Penny to the Kandy Kingdom playland at the mall. But Mom had invited some ladies over for her book club and asked a certain someone to take Penny out so she wouldn't wreak havoc at home.

This 'someone' agreed to do it, but his secret plan was to hang out with his friends at the bowling alley and dump Penny at the mall with her poor, unsuspecting older brother.

Of course, I totally lost it and yelled, "DAD, THAT WAS A REALLY JERKY THING TO DO TO ME!! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!" But I just said it inside my head, so no one else heard it but me.

I sat on a bench in front of Kandy Kingdom and tried to write in my diary. I watched Penny slide down from the castle tower, jump into the moat filled with balls and bounce in the royal dungeon until my eyes glazed over.

OMG! I was SO bored I wanted to grab one of the giant plastic lollipops and knock myself unconscious to put an end to my suffering . . .

To make matters worse, the place was decorated with zillions of HEARTS!

Which, unfortunately, reminded me that the Sweetheart Dance was ONLY a week away and I STILL needed to get up the courage to ask Carla to go.

JUST GREAT 😟!

I was about to go and grab that giant lollipop, when I saw our neighbor lady, Mrs Cookies.

"Hello, Monty, dear!" She said cheerfully. "What a pleasent surprise to see you here! How are your parents?"

"Hi, Mrs Cookies. BOTH of my parents are doing fine. How about YOU?"

Mrs Cookies' smile quickly faded. "You say they BOTH have the FLU? Goodness gracious!" She shook her head in pity. "I hear there's a nasty bug going around right now."

In spite of her hearing aid, Mrs Cookies was still VERY hard of hearing. She usually misunderstood about 90% of everything I said.

So most of the time I just went along with whatever she said and didn't try to correct her. Although she's a bit eccentric and very feisty, she's basically a nice person.

"Well, you tell your mother I'm going to bring over some of my famous chicken soup, alright, dear?"

"Uh . . . okay," I answered awkwardly.

"Oh! And before I forget, I want to introduce you and Penny to my grandson," She said.

That's when I noticed the cutest little boy standing behind her. He was about the same age as Penny.

He saw me looking at him and bashfully hid his face . . .

"Penny!" I motioned for her to join us. "Come say hello to Mrs Cookies' grandson."

"What grandson?" She asked, looking around. "Is he invisible?"

"I want you two to meet Dayl," Mrs Cookies said. "Don't be shy, Dayl. Monty and Penny won't bite.

I grabbed Penny firmly by her shoulders. I don't bite. But with her, you can never be too careful. Dayl saw Penny and came out of hiding.

"Hi there, Mrs Cookies' grandson!" Penny said excitedly. She gave him a toothy grin and held out her hand to shake his.

But he just looked at her and stared at her hand in amazement. Suddenly he pulled something out of his pocket and placed it over his hand. It was a tattered gym sock. It had several small holes and was covered with dirt stains. An oversized pair of googly eyes had been sewn onto the sock, and a large button nose was dangling by a loose thread.