Minerva Clark Gets a Clue Read Online Free

and isgirly but not in an obnoxious way. She is also always pretty hot. Like my cousin Jordan.
    Pansy Burrows was talking nonstop about some dress that Jordan wore to the assembly where they named her Montgomery High Ambassador. I noticed sweat had popped out on the bridge of her nose. Clearly Pansy was a cling-on, high school division. I thought they only had cling-ons in middle school.
    Dwight drummed the top of the cash register. Then he rearranged a collection of glittery sea-blue eyeglass cases that sat on the counter in a clear plastic tub. Some of the eyeglass cases had lemon-yellow happy faces on them, some pink peace symbols. They shone deeply, like a collection of well-polished cars.
    My heart was going to stop beating out of boredom if Pansy Burrows did not stop nattering. The glittery eyeglass cases gave me an idea. I reached inside the pocket of my hoodie and gave Jupiter a nudge.
    You may not know this about ferrets, but they love anything that gleams and sparkles. Jupiter could have the best time with a balled-up piece of aluminum foil. The other thing about ferrets is that they’re either dead asleep or wide awake and in need of immediate entertainment.
    Suddenly, his little white face poked out from the other side of my pocket and in a split second he jumped out, scooted across the counter, jumped over the stack of
Bad Hair
books, and dove straight for the plastic tub of glittery eyeglass cases.
    â€œAck!” shrieked Pansy Burrows. “It’s a rat!”
    â€œYou still got that thing?” asked Jordan, rolling her eyes.
    Fast as could be Jupiter tugged the top eyeglass case out of the plastic tub and commenced to give it a good gnawing. For some reason, I noticed that this case was more purple than sea blue. Jupiter held the case between his two white paws and chewed like a little ferret maniac. But Dwight was quick. He scooped up Jupiter by his middle and looked him in the eye. “I used to have one of these guys!”
    â€œSorry about the case,” I said. I really hadn’t expected him to chew on it.
    â€œThat’s okay,” said Dwight. He stuck the case behind the counter. “My guy was named Toob Sock. Spelled T-O-O-B. He was black-footed, looked like a little raccoon. I miss ol’ Toobie.”
    â€œI love the black-footed ones! They’re so cute. I wouldn’t even have a white one, except Jupiter’s a dark-eyed white. I would never have, like, an albino white. They creep me out a little.” I felt the campfire blaze in my cheeks. Yammer yammer yammer. I was as bad as this Pansy Burrows person.
    But Dwight just nodded, as if he’d had the samethought. “Have you seen the panda ferrets? Those are cool. Half white, half black.”
    â€œCool,” I said, making an effort to just
shut up
.
    â€œDid you know ferret is from the old Latin? ‘Fur’ is thief. ‘Furet’ is the diminutive. It means little thief. Toobie used to steal things all the time.”
    He petted the top of Jupiter’s head for a minute or two. I took Jupiter back and threaded him inside my pocket again. Dwight was an okay guy in my book. I bet he would like my rebuses.
    Jordan and I drove up Broadway in the rain. A boy dragged a skateboard across the street in front of us and Jordan slammed on the brakes, even though it was obvious that if she’d continued driving at the same speed he would have passed safely in front of us.
    â€œJeez! People are insane!” She turned on the CD player. Then she turned it off. Looking back, I realize that Jordan was jittery and upset, but at the time I thought she was just irritated from having run into Cling-On Pansy Burrows.
    I don’t know much about driving except the basics, like stopping at a red light. You can also turn right at a red light, but only after you stop. You can’t just slow down and glide around the corner, which is exactly what Jordan did at the corner of 39th and