A Big Box of Memories Read Online Free Page B

wouldn’t have found the dictionary!”
    Molly was relieved. When she got home, she’d put her name and address and the year in the little book. She would get it ready to take to Mrs. Peters’s house the next day. Ready for the time capsule. It was no diary, but it was definitely second best.
    Molly wished she had a prize to give all the Pee Wees for trying so hard to help her. But she couldn’t waste time on that now. She had to get home and get the dictionary ready. It was almost Tuesday. Almost the deadline for the time capsule. Molly had never been a last-minute person. But now she was just under the wire.
    She ran all the way home. She opened the door and ran in to pick up the book from the hall table where she had left it.
    But it wasn’t there! The table was empty. It was shiny and clean, and there was nothing on it. Nothing at all.

    Skippy was curled up in Mr. Duff’s chair. He was chewing on something. When Molly got closer, she saw what it was. Molly’s dictionary! Skippy was eating her time-capsule treasure!

CHAPTER 8
Night Visitors
    W hy was Molly the only one to have lost two treasures? Why couldn’t Skippy have eaten a different book? A scary book, or a boring book that nobody wanted? Why did Skippy have to eat a book at all? He had dog food in his dish that would have tasted much better.
    “It was the leather cover,” said Mrs. Duff when she heard the news. “Dogs like leather. They make dog bones out ofleather. Skippy thought it was a dog bone.”
    Molly was sure Skippy was smarter than that. A dictionary didn’t look like a bone. But it probably smelled like one.
    Molly wanted to scold Skippy. But he had such an innocent look on his face. It wasn’t his fault the dictionary smelled like a bone.
    “What am I going to do?” she cried. “There’s no time to find something else now!”
    “You’re going to have to settle for something not quite as good as what you wanted,” said Mr. Duff.
    Never, thought Molly. She would not settle. She would go to the meeting and hope Mrs. Peters would have a good idea. And hope that she could have an extra day to find the perfect thing. Theperfect thing was out there somewhere, but Molly had no idea what it was or where it was.
    Molly hardly slept that night. When she did, she dreamed that Skippy followed her to the Pee Wee Scout meeting and ate up the time capsule with all the Pee Wees’ things in it! Skippy became a time capsule himself!
    When she woke up, she was glad to find out it was only a dream.
    At the Pee Wee meeting, Molly told her sad story.
    “Rat’s knees,” said Mary Beth. “You better just take my barrette like I told you to.”
    “I wish there was some way you could put your diary in after all,” said Jody thoughtfully. “But it’s just too big.”
    “I think the time capsule should be bigger,”said Tim. “I want to put in my Snoopy alarm clock. It doesn’t work anymore.”
    Mrs. Peters shook her head.
    “It can’t be bigger,” she said. “The box has to fit into the space in the cornerstone.”
    “Why did they make the space so small?” asked Sonny. “That’s dumb.”
    “You aren’t supposed to put your whole house in it!” said Lisa. “Just a memento.”
    Tim looked as if he was thinking very hard.
    Jody looked as if a lightbulb had gone on over his head. He looked as if he had a brilliant idea. But he didn’t say anything.
    “Well, Molly,” said Mrs. Peters, “I can only give you until tomorrow afternoon to come up with something. We have toget our capsule to the courthouse in time for the ceremony.”
    When Molly got home, she threw herself into a chair on the porch. Suddenly she saw Tim walking by. He was walking fast. And he was carrying a shovel.
    Molly went to her room. When she came down an hour later, Tim walked by again. This time his shovel had dirt on it. So did his jeans and T-shirt. He looked tired.
    Then, after supper, he returned with the same shovel.
    “Where are you going?” Molly called to