CHAPTER FOUR

When Nicole came into the house, she heard Mom laughing in the family room. She followed Todd in and saw Jason standing in front of Mom with a note pad in his hand.

"That's the one," said Jason, and drew a circle around something on the paper.

"Mine's done," yelled Todd, running into the room. "I made Mrs. Griffin laugh."

Mom raised her eyebrows. "That was fast," she said. "I'm impressed."

"Way to go Todd-o," said Jason, as he stuck out his palm. "How'd you do it?"

Todd grinned and slapped Jason's fingers.

"He used Avery," said Nicole. She didn't want to be left out.

"Let me tell it," said Todd, scowling at her. "I used the yarn and got Avery to chase it."

"He had Mrs. Griffin in stitches," Nicole added. "I mean Todd the Great had her in stitches." She bowed at Todd, then noticed the notepad Jason was holding. "What are you guys doing?"

"I called all my friends to get their favorite jokes," said Jason. "I was just trying them out on Mom. I'm going to use the best one on Mrs. Blake tomorrow."

~<><>~

Nicole walked home from school, slowly. She was working on a new poem and didn't notice her brothers until Jason yelled "Hurry up."

The boys started across the street to Mrs. Blake's house. Nicole dropped her backpack in the front yard and ran to catch up with them.

Jason rang the bell. The other two stayed back a ways -- close enough to hear what was going on, but far enough to avoid direct contact. When Mrs. Blake answered the door, frowning, Jason said they were working on a project, and asked Mrs. Blake if he could tell her a joke, to see if she'd like it. She said to make it a short one. She didn't have time for kids. Jason thanked her and began:

"A man was driving around town with a bunch of penguins in his car, when he was stopped by a policeman."

Mrs. Blake stopped frowning and looked interested.

"The officer told the man he had to take the penguins to the zoo. The man said okay. The next day, the same policeman stopped the same man. The penguins were there, too. The policeman said 'I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo.' The man answered, 'I did take them to the zoo, Officer. We had so much fun I decided to take them to the beach, today.'"

Mrs. Blake laughed out loud. "I love penguins," she said. "Mr. Blake and I used to watch them at the San Diego zoo." She looked happy and started to say something else, but her phone rang, so she chased the kids away and closed the door. Jason grinned and swaggered back across the street, with Todd right behind him, chanting "Jason The Great, Jason The Great". Nicole stayed outside for awhile, trying to come up with an idea for her own challenge.

CHAPTER FIVE

Mom had started the Christmas Secret Monday. By Tuesday night, only Nicole was left to complete her challenge. Christmas Eve was a week away. No rules had been laid down about copying and Nicole couldn't think of anything else, so she decided to try Todd's game with Avery to make Dad laugh.

Dad almost always came home late and tired. On school nights, Nicole and the boys were in bed early. It was Saturday before Nicole had a chance to try her plan.

Dad was in the family room, reading the newspaper, when Nicole came through with the yarn. Avery was right behind her. She ran up to her father, pulled the yarn up high over her head, and yelled "Dad, look!"

Dad had dozed off behind the paper. He gave a short "Huh?" and jerked awake as Avery came crashing through the headlines and landed on his lap.

Todd and Jason started laughing from the hallway. "Oops," said Nicole.

"Ow," yelled Dad, as Avery dug in, to get better traction for his leap to the table behind. Avery landed, skidded on the slick surface and knocked over a vase of flowers. The spilled water ran across the table, over the back of the leather couch, and down Dad's neck.

Dad jumped up. "Hey, what the . . .?" He grabbed at his wet back, spun around to see the cause of the mishap and yelled again.

"Nicole, get something to clean up this mess. Boys, go find something constructive to do before I decide the garage needs cleaning. And somebody get that darn cat out of here."

The boys scattered. Dad wadded up the newspaper, threw it at the waste basket, and stormed out. Avery sat in a corner, washing and shaking his wet feet while Nicole cleaned up the mess.

Nicole spent the rest of the day in her room, making up sad poems and writing them in her journal. Christmas was one day closer, but Nicole was just as far as ever from making her father laugh.