Hokey Pokey Read Online Free

yells, and yanks his finger away. The runt staggers backward, falls on his butt as if hit by a gust of wind. The runt is getting ready to cry but sees LaJo is laughing—LaJo can’t help it—so the runt joins in. He pops up. He starts skipping along, pulling the big finger, piping to the world: “LaJo! … LaJo! …”
    The runt points. “LaJo—what’s that?”
    “Cartoons.”
    “What’s Cartoons?”
    “Pictures.”
    “What’s—”
    “Don’t ask.” Up on the big screen Road Runner is chasing Wile E. Coyote. By law LaJo is supposed to stay with the runt the whole first day. And do everything the runt wants. But who’s going to know if he sneaks off while the runt is staring gaga at some cartoon? “Why don’t you stay here and see for yourself,” he says to the runt.
    The runt thinks about it for two seconds. “No!” he blurts, and lurches off, dragging LaJo.
    It’s LaJo’s ordinary world but it’s all new to the runt. “What’s that? … What’s that? …” It’s not enough just to see. The runt has to touch everything, try everything.
    Trucks. “You can drive them.” The runt does, his tiny legs churning pedals. Garbage truck. Semi. Tanker.
    Doll Farm. “For girls,” LaJo says, but the runt goes and digs up his own anyway.
    Tantrums. “It’s where you go bananas,” LaJo tells him.
    “What’s bananas?” says the runt.
    Hippodrome. The runt makes LaJo join him in the mouth of the green hippo. Then the pink one.
    Snuggle Stop. LaJo waits outside while the runt goes in. When the runt comes out, he shocks LaJo, cuddles LaJo’s leg. LaJo shakes him off.
    Jailhouse. Thousand Puddles. Playground.
    LaJo is getting desperate. Every step along the grand tour of Hokey Pokey, he’s on the lookout for a chance to ditch the runt. And finally it happens. Halfway between the DON’T sign and The Wall he spots a herd of puppies—followed, as always, by a herd of Newbies. “Look,” he says, stuffing excitement into his voice, “
puppies
!”
    The runt is already taking off when LaJo remembersthe Four Nevers. He has to give them to the runt. It’s the law. He grabs the runt. “Wait.”
    The runt wails, “Puppies!”
    “Just a sec. I gotta tell you something.” With the runt squirming in his hands, LaJo recites: “Never pass a puddle without stomping it. Never go to sleep until the last minute. Never go near Forbidden Hut. Never kiss a girl. OK, go.”
    William the runt runs screaming after the puppies.
    LaJo scuffs dust, walks. He sees something in the distance, on Great Plains. He shades his eyes. It’s a dustpuff, rolling across the shimmering vastness. Too small to be the mustang herd. And now he hears it, a mere speck of sound riding the morning breeze off the Mountains. His boy’s ear identifies it instantly:
Girl … whoop … happy
.

JUBILEE
    R IDES !

DESTROYER
    I F EVERYBODY WASN ’ T ALREADY AWAKE , they sure are now thanks to the racket from the kid in Socks. The kid is heaving and screaming, “Help! Help!” as if he’s drowning. All the dumbo has to do is stay calm, hold his nose and roll himself down the slope and onto flat land. But of course he’s too panicked to think of that. He is, after all, just a Newbie.
    Destroyer removes the clothespin from his nose, takes a sniff test. He’s a good five frog flings away and still the reek is strong. He replaces the clothespin. He climbs out of the cab and sits on the roof. Good place to enjoy the show.
    Little kids are coming from all directions, attracted by the racket. None get any closer than Destroyer. They’re holding their noses, turning blue some of them. “Don’t go no closer!” a voice honks. Other voices call: “Hang on, Henry!” “Breathe through yer mouth, Henry!”
    What impresses Destroyer is this: so many. So many kids come running. Newbies and Snotsippers and Sillynillies and Gappergums. They’re forming a giant circle around Socks. Around Henry. Where were they when the Big Kids came for