A Winning Spirit. Valerie Tripp

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      As they walked home after school, they met Alison Hargate, who was one of their classmates. She asked, “What are you three going to be for Halloween?”

      “We can’t tell,” said Molly. “It’s a surprise.”

      “Oh,” said Alison.

      Linda said, “But it’s great. It’s really a great idea.”

      Susan chimed in, “Yes! It’s wonderful! We’re going to have the best Halloween costumes ever.”

      Alison looked impressed. Molly was a little worried. The girls hadn’t even agreed on what they were going to be. The mystery was making their costumes get a lot of attention. They were really going to have to make good costumes, or everyone would tease them.

      “What are you going to be, Alison?” Molly asked.

      “Oh, probably an angel,” said Alison. “My mother said I could wear her white satin dressing gown, and she’s already made me some gold wings and a halo.”

      Molly, Linda, and Susan were suddenly very quiet. Molly was jealous. She was sorry she had even asked Alison. An angel! What a great idea! Alison was sure to look wonderful with a halo over her golden hair.

      It was hard to have Alison for a friend. Alison was an only child, and her parents were rich and gave her everything that anyone could want. Alison didn’t mean to brag about the things she had, but just by telling the truth she managed to make everyone resent her.

      “My mother doesn’t even have a dressing gown, much less a white satin one,” said Linda glumly. “All she has is a brown terry cloth bathrobe. I know she’d never even let me wear that.”

      “Well,” said Molly to Alison, “all I can tell you is that our idea is much more…um…original than an angel.”

      “Yeah, I know an angel is kind of boring,” said Alison quickly. “It was my mother’s idea. She made the wings and all.”

      “Well, see you later, Alison,” said Molly as she and Linda and Susan hurried away. It made them uncomfortable when Alison started being so nice.

      When the girls got to Molly’s house, they went into the kitchen for a snack.

      “Hello, Mrs. Gilford,” they said together.

      “Hello, girls,” answered Mrs. Gilford. “There are some apples in the bowl on the table. Help yourselves, but take your apples outside, please. It’s too nice a day to be cooped up in the house.”

      “Thank you, Mrs. Gilford,” the girls said as they went to sit on the back steps in the sunshine. Ricky was out back, too, shooting baskets at the hoop on the side of the garage. He was trying to set a world record for making the most baskets without missing.

      As the girls munched their apples, Susan said, “Gee, I think an angel is a good idea. Why don’t we be angels, too?”

      “Absolutely not,” said Molly. “Do you want Alison to think we stole her idea?”

      “Alison wouldn’t mind,” said Susan.

      “I know,” said Molly. “But I would mind. We can think of something just as good.”

      “Like what?” asked Linda.

      “Well,” replied Molly slowly, as if she had just thought of it for the very first time. “How about Cinderella and the two ug—I mean, the two stepsisters?”

      “Oooooh,” said Susan. “Cinderella!”

      “Who gets to be Cinderella?” Linda asked.

      “We don’t have to decide that right away,” said Molly. “Let’s…uh…let’s wait and see who has the best ball dress, and that’s the one who will be Cinderella. The other two will be stepsisters.”

      “I don’t think it’s fair,” Linda stated. “Who wants to be an ugly stepsister?”

       “You’re all ugly step sitters today,” teased Ricky. “Get it?”

      “Cut it out, Ricky,” said Molly. Ricky went back to shooting baskets.

      “I think it’s a good idea,” said Susan. “My sister Gloria just gave me an old prom dress of hers. It’s sort of green, with a big petticoat and shiny gold threads at the bottom of the skirt. I’ll wear that.”

      “Sort of green,” Ricky mocked. “Lima bean green is what you mean.”

      “Ricky, go away,” said Molly. But she was thinking that Susan’s dress sounded perfect for Cinderella. And it had two very big advantages over Molly’s floaty pink dress with the white angora top. Susan’s dress really existed, and Susan already had it. Being an ugly stepsister was not at all what Molly had in mind.

      “Wait a minute,” she said. “Maybe Linda is right. Maybe it’s not fair. Maybe we should all be exactly the same thing, like the Three Musketeers.”

      “You’d be perfect as the Three Little Pigs,” said Ricky. “Or you could be the Three Bears. How about the Three Stooges? Or the Three Kings of Orient?” He began to sing in a loud, teasing voice:

      We three kings of Orient are,

      Tried to smoke a rubber cigar,

       It was loaded, it exploded…

      “STOP IT!” yelled Molly.

      And suddenly, Ricky did stop. His face turned red. He bounced the basketball under his legs, then behind his back. He leaned casually against the garage and twirled the ball on the tip of one finger.

      The girls turned around to see who he was showing off for. It wasn’t Mrs. Gilford or even Mrs. McIntire. Nobody was there except Jill and her new best friend Dolores. They were walking up the driveway, carrying their school books.

      Dolores was wearing a bright blue sweater just the color of her eyes. She had a wide, white smile, like a movie star in a toothpaste ad. She stopped and flashed her smile at Ricky.

      “Hi, Rich,” she said.

      “Rich!” snorted Molly. Lately, Ricky had been telling everybody to call him Rich because it sounded more like a soldier’s name than Ricky did.

      “Hi, Dolores,” he squeaked in a very odd voice. He turned quickly, jumped, and sent the basketball swishing through the basket just as Dolores went in the door.

      Molly, Linda, and Susan looked at one another and dissolved into giggles. It was crystal clear to them what Ricky’s problem was. Ricky-Rich had a crush on Dolores! The three girls started to chant:

      Ricky and Dolores up in a tree,

       K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

      First comes love,

      Then comes marriage,

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