The Kids of Cattywampus Street by Lisa Jahn-Clough

Author:Lisa Jahn-Clough [Jahn-Clough, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2021-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

And sometimes at night when Rodney got scared, he was pretty sure that he could hear his rock whisper, “Don’t be afraid,” and Rodney always felt better.

Zzzzzz….

Like a lot of kids, Mateo did many things. In fact, he did more than most. He played the ukulele, the drums, and the piccolo. He played soccer, practiced ballet, and ran track. He was in the chess club, the math club, and the drama club. He knew thirteen different card games, read all kinds of books, and drew comics. He rode his bike, went to the zoo, and hung out with friends in the park. He told jokes, mixed potions, and built model rockets that he bought from the Waddlebee Toy Store. Phew! That’s a lot of things.

But do you know what his favorite thing was? Well, I happen to know that Mateo’s favorite thing to do was nothing. Unfortunately, he had very little time to do nothing because he was so busy doing all those other things.

Finally, one day he told his father, “I am going to do nothing all day!”

At first his father was upset because he didn’t want Mateo to miss ballet practice, math club, or Lindalee’s birthday party.

But Mateo begged and begged. “Please. I really, really, really want to do nothing!”

So his father said okay.

Now, where was Mateo going to do nothing?

First he went to his room. But there were so many things there—books, toys, puzzles, games—that Mateo knew he couldn’t possibly do nothing with all that stuff around.

So he went outside. He saw his friends Emmett and Rodney riding their bikes. They each had a present in their basket. They stopped when they saw Mateo.

“We’re going to Lindalee’s party,” Emmett told him.

“Are you going?” asked Rodney.

Mateo almost hopped on his bike to go with them, but then he remembered he was busy. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m doing nothing today.”

“Have fun!” Emmett and Rodney called as they rode off.

Mateo crossed Cattywampus Street and went into the park. He had lived across from the park his entire life, so he knew just where to go. At the farthest edge, near the railroad tracks, under the willow tree was a huge rock. This was Mateo’s favorite rock. It was twice as big as him and it was very smooth, with a curve that made the perfect comfortable spot to stretch out on his back.

Mateo lay on that rock and did nothing. It was so much fun!

But after a while of doing nothing, Mateo’s stomach grumbled. He was hungry. It was almost lunchtime.

I wish I had a banana, he thought. Bananas were his favorite food. Everybody loves bananas.

Just then something swished in the willow tree above him. Mateo looked up. You will never believe what he saw. There was a little brown monkey with a long, stripy tail. It held something in its hands, but was jumping so fast Mateo couldn’t see what it was.

“Wowza!” said Mateo, sitting upright. “You look like a monkey!” He sniffed. “And you smell like one, too.

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