Ratz: Part 6

By PAT QUINN


Dad took one hand off the steering wheel and patted my head. "You can make it happen, Lorrie. You can be anything you want."

"You think so?"

"I do."

He drove towards the shopping centre. "And right now you can be my shopping assistant. I have to get something for dinner."

"Can I have McDonald's?"

"No. I need to get groceries."


"Please, Dad?" I jiggled in the seat and nodded my head up and down at him so that he'd nod too. "Please get me McDonalds. For being a great toy soldier?"

His head moved, but it went left-right-left in a 'no'.

"If the twins see you've got McDonald's they'll make a fuss," he said.

"That's not fair!" I cried. "They weren't soldiers! They don't deserve McDonald's!"

"Life isn't fair, Lorrie," he said, "but life isn't fair for everyone --'

"-- so that makes life fair," I finished for him. "You always say that."

Publisher: Scholastic

Price: $13.95

Age group: 8-13 years