Philip and the Girl Who Couldn't Lose (9781619501072) Read Online Free

pencil—the one he’d gotten a hundred with on the math
test—and had to use an orange pencil.
    “ I lost my pencil today. Can I buy
another one? A green one.”
    “ Green? It has to be
green?”
    “ It has to be green.”
    “ Sure. Sure.” His father found a space
in the giant parking lot, and the two of them walked to the
mall.
    “ Can you find your way to the arcade
on your own, Flipper?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out
his change. “You’re lucky. Five quarters.”
    Philip took the quarters from his father.
“Pencils,” he said.
    Philip’s father looked at his watch. “Okay,
let’s get them. Then I’ll go get my paint and meet you in the
arcade.”
    “ And we can stop at the Chocolate Shop
on the way out, right? You said.”
    “ You don’t forget a thing, do
you?”
    Philip led his father to the stationery store
and bought five green pencils, already sharp and ready to use.
    “ I’ll hold onto the pencils for you and
meet you in the arcade in about fifteen minutes,” his father said,
and he walked off to the paint store.
    “Okay, Dad. Take your time.” Philip wanted to visit
the fountain with the dancing colored water before he went to the
arcade. People threw money into the water from the second floor,
and sometimes they missed. Philip often found a nickel or dime in a
corner near the fountain.
    As Philip walked through the mall
toward the fountain, he let his eyes roam through all the store
windows. There were two toy stores in the mall and two book shops,
one with a Going Out Of Business sign plastered in its big front window. These were the only
places, outside of the arcade, the candy store, and the fountain
Philip had any interest in. He walked slowly past the toy store,
inspecting the window displays, but didn’t linger. He wanted to be
sure he had time to play his five quarters.
    Philip paused near the fountain until,
suddenly, water shot up lit by a red light. He watched as the water
turned blue, then yellow, then green, and back to red. Philip liked
it, but he had to hurry. He walked around the fountain, head down,
looking for money. He pushed aside the plants that grew in a long
box of dirt next to the fountain and found two pennies. He put them
into his pocket. A little farther on in the plant box he found
nickel. Seven cents. Not bad. He’d take the money home and put it
in his shoe box. When he collected enough, he’d buy a candy bar
with it.
    Philip rode the escalator to the second
floor and the arcade. Next to the arcade stood a shoe store. He
liked the name of the store. Walk-Mor. Philip liked being smart
enough to get the little joke of the missing e. A colorful poster hung in the window of the
store.
     
    CONTEST.
    Kids,
    Enter the Walk-Mor poster contest.
    Design a poster for our upcoming winter
advertising campaign.

    First prize--$25.00
    Second prize--$15.00
    Third prize--$10.00
    Bring your poster to this store by November
15.
    And good luck, kids.
     
    Philip thought about it. A poster to sell shoes. It
didn’t sound like much fun. As he turned toward the arcade, he
heard, “Hi, Philip,” and turned to see Jeanne approaching.
    “ Oh, hi.” Philip didn’t know what to
say. He hadn’t spoken to Jeanne since the disaster of a football
game.
    “ I’m shopping with my mother. She’s in
the shoe store. Did you see about the contest?”
    “ No, what contest?” Philip
lied.
    “ There, look. It’s right in front of
you.”
    Philip had no choice but to look.
    “ I’m going to enter it. Are
you?”
    Philip made believe he was reading the poster
for the first time. He shrugged his shoulders. “Sure. It sounds
easy.”
    Jeanne smiled. “I already have a good
idea.”
    Knowing Jeanne, she probably had an idea
worth first prize. This made Philip angry.
    Why did some people always do things that
made them win, but he only did things that made him lose?
    “ I can’t tell you what it is,” Jeanne
added with another smile.
    “ I don’t care about your idea.