Guinea Pigs Don't Talk (5 page)

"Yeah, what do you want?" Joe echoed. He stood beside Angel.

Lisa took a deep breath. It was now or never. "Let's call a truce," she said firmly.

"A truce?" Joe asked. "What's that?"

"It means that we don't trick you anymore, and you don't trick us," Lisa explained. "No more revenge."

Joe stared at Lisa and Traci. He looked at Angel, then back at Lisa. "Yeah, sure," he said. "Like we can trust you."

Angel said nothing.

"I mean it," Lisa said. She knew it was time. She stuck her hand in the bag and carefully pulled out the secret ingredient. She held it out for Joe. He looked at her hand as if she were holding a precious jewel.

"Yummy Tummy Cream Cakes?" he exclaimed.

"It's a peace offering," Lisa said. "There are two in the package. One for you, and one for Angel."

"What'd you do to it?" Joe asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Lisa said. "Honest. I let Bruiser eat Angel's Yummy Tummy Cream Cake, so I'm replacing it."

Angel still hadn't said a word.

Joe smiled. "Maybe you're not so bad after all."

He took the package, then turned toward Angel. "Angel, it's Yummy Tummy Cream Cakes, your favorite."

"I see what it is," she said. Her eyes were on the creamy cakes.

Joe ripped the package open with his teeth. He pulled out one of the creamy rolls, and bit off the end. Then he held the other roll out for Angel. She didn't move.

Lisa held her breath. Joe had agreed to the plan. But Angel was tougher. Angel's eyes traveled from Joe to Traci to Lisa. They stopped on Lisa. It was those piercing eyes again. Lisa stared back, determined not to back down. The Yummy Tummy Cream Cake stood between them in Joe's hand. This was the moment of truth.

Angel blinked. She took the Yummy Tummy Cream Cake.

"Good," Lisa said. She quickly opened the second package and handed a creamy cake to Traci. "Three cheers for the truce," she said, jabbing her cake into the air. "Hip hip hooray!"

Angel and Traci did the same. Joe held up his half-eaten cake and the four cakes touched.

"Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!" they yelled.

They lowered their cakes and ate them.

"Mmmmmmmm," Angel said with white cream oozing from her lips. "I love these."

Lisa smiled. She was making friends. She glanced at Angel. Well, maybe not
friends.
Angel was more like a non-enemy. But that was okay. It was a start.

Joe shoved the rest of his creamy cake into his mouth and then wiped his hands on his shorts. "Now, how did you get your voice to come out of Squeaky's cage?"

"It's easy." Lisa smiled. "Come over to my house after school and I'll show you." She eyed Angel.

"I'd like to see how it works," Angel said. She added quickly, "Of course I knew all along it was a trick."

"You have to admit, it did sound like Squeaky," Joe said.

The other three looked at him.

"I mean
if
Squeaky could talk he would sound like that."

"But we all know..." Lisa began. And the other three joined in, "Guinea pigs don't talk!"

Laurie Myers comes from a writing family: both her mother, Betsy Byars, and her sister, Betsy Duffey, write children's books.
Earthquake in the Third Grade,
illustrated by Karen Ritz, was her first book for Clarion. She lives in Augusta, Georgia, with her husband, Michael, and their three children, Amy, Alan, and Paul.

Cheryl Taylor makes her Clarion debut with the pictures for
Guinea Pigs Don't Talk.
She lives in New York City.