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Keep Sweet Valley Sweet
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Francine Pascal
Sweet Valley Kids – 27
THE SWEET VALLEY CLEANUP TEAM
THE PARK PROJECT
Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield love parks, plants, and anything green. So when they hear about the plan to clean up an empty city lot and turn it into a public garden, they're happy to help. Then they learn that Mr. Patman, a rich businessman, wants to build a parking garage on the tot. Only one person can change Mr. Patman's mind— his snobby son Bruce. Can Elizabeth and Jessica win Bruce over to their side? Or will Mr. Patman build a garage over the new garden?
To Michael Bloom
CHAPTER 1
Keep Sweet Valley Sweet
"Look," Elizabeth Wakefield said as she poured herself some orange juice. "Our avocado pit is starting to grow."
Her twin sister, Jessica, got up from the breakfast table to look at the large pit that was in ajar on the windowsill. It had cracked down the middle and a green shoot was sprouting from the crack. "How long will it take to grow into a tree?"
"I don't know," Mrs. Wakefield said. "They grow pretty fast. Almost as fast as you two."
Elizabeth and Jessica were in second grade at Sweet Valley Elementary School. Both of them had blond hair and blue-green eyes. They looked almost exactly alike. In fact, even their close friends sometimes had to check the twins' name bracelets to tell them apart.
On the inside, though, Elizabeth and Jessica were as different as could be. Elizabeth studied hard in school and was proud of the good grades she got. Jessica liked school, too, but only because it gave her a chance to talk to her friends.
Despite their differences, Elizabeth and Jessica shared everything, from secrets to sandwiches. Being different didn't keep them from being best friends.
"I love plants," Elizabeth said, going over for a closer look at the avocado pit. "Green is my favorite color. And flowers smell so sweet."
Mr. Wakefield walked into the kitchen just in time to hear Elizabeth's last comment. "That reminds me of something I read in the newspaper yesterday," he said. "Have you kids heard of a group called Keep Sweet Valley Sweet?"
"What do they do?" the twins' older brother, Steven, asked through a mouthful of cereal. "Sprinkle sugar on everything?"
Mr. Wakefield laughed. "Not quite. They try to make sure that there are plenty of nice trees and flowers and parks in the city," he explained.
"That's a good idea," Jessica said. "I love playing at the park after school."
Mr. Wakefield went over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. He always drank a cup before leaving for the law firm where he worked. "The article said that this group is trying to turn an empty lot downtown into a park. The problem is that it's also the perfect spot to put a parking garage for the new mini-mall."
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"Who needs another parking garage?" Elizabeth asked. "There are too many of them already. I'd rather have a park."
"Not everyone feels that way," Mr. Wakefield said. "A very rich man named Mr. Patman wants to buy that property and build the garage. The city council owns the land, and they're thinking of selling to him."
"That's not fair." Jessica said. "I bet everyone else in town would vote for a park."
"It sounds as if you agree with Keep Sweet Valley Sweet, Jessica." Mrs. Wakefield said.
"I do, too." Elizabeth said. "Mr. Patman must be a mean man."
"There's a rich kid in third grade named Bruce Patman." Steven said. "He's a stuck-up spoiled brat. I bet that's his father."
Jessica and Elizabeth looked at each other. They both knew who Bruce Patman was, even though they had never spoken to him. He often got picked up at the park in a big, fancy limousine.
"Who makes the final decision about the lot?" Mrs. Wakefield asked her husband.
Mr. Wakefield took another sip of coffee. "The city council does. They're in favor of building the garage, and they could really use the money from the sale of the land. Many people do want a park, though, so the council is giving Keep Sweet Valley Sweet some time to try to prove that a park would benefit the town more than a garage would."
"How?" Jessica wanted to know. It all sounded very complicated to her. She couldn't understand why anyone would rather have a parking garage than a park.
"By cleaning up the junk, putting in some plants, things like that," Mr. Wakefield replied. "Unfortunately, they're going to have a tough time getting the place fixed up. They don't have enough workers. It's just a volunteer group."
Elizabeth frowned and poured some milk onto her cereal. She didn't think it was fair that Mr. Patman should automatically get his way because he was rich. And it wouldn't be fair if Keep Sweet Valley Sweet lost just because they didn't have enough people to help them.
Suddenly she had an idea. "Maybe we could pitch in! It could be a class project," she suggested, sounding excited.
"Good idea," agreed Jessica. "If we turn it into a park everyone will see that it's better than an ugly parking garage."
Mr. Wakefield smiled. "Elizabeth, you're brilliant! That sounds like a perfect plan."
CHAPTER 2
Ecology
At the beginning of science class that day, the twins' teacher, Mrs. Otis, made an announcement. "We're beginning our unit on ecology," she said. "Who can tell me what ecology is?"
Todd Wilkins raised his hand. "It's cleaning up pollution, and recycling, and things like that."
"And Earth Day," Eva Simpson said. "That's the day when everyone is especially careful not to hurt the environment."
Mrs. Otis smiled. "That's right. Earth Day is a good time to learn what we should be doing to help the environment all year round."
The teacher put a large, bulging paper bag on her desk. "I'm glad Todd mentioned recycling," she said, "because for our first ecology project we're going to do a little recycling ourselves."
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While their teacher began to explain how to make recycled paper, Jessica leaned over toward Elizabeth's desk.
"Are we going to ask her?" she whispered.
Elizabeth nodded. "Let's do it as soon as she's finished talking."
A few minutes later, the class separated into smaller groups and began tearing newspapers, paper bags, and notebook paper into small scraps. Elizabeth and Jessica walked up to Mrs. Otis's desk.
"Yes, girls?" the teacher asked with a smile.
"We have an idea for a class project," Elizabeth said. "We want to prove that a park is better than a parking garage."
Jessica and Elizabeth took turns explaining everything their father had told them. While they talked, Mrs. Otis nodded her head and looked very interested.
"I think that's a wonderful idea," she said when they were finished. "I'll get in touch with Keep Sweet Valley Sweet during recess and offer our help. Your idea fits in perfectly with our ecology unit. By helping to create a park in Sweet Valley, we'll be doing our part to make the world a greener, cleaner place."
"Great!" Jessica yelled, jumping up with one hand in the air. "We're going to save the planet!"
By recess, everyone in class had heard about the plan. Jessica was surrounded by kids asking questions. She loved being the center of attention, even though she didn't know the answers to all of the questions.
"How big would the parking garage be?" Amy Sutton asked.
Jessica made a face. "Probably at least ten stories high. All black."
"Are they going to start building it right away?" Winston Egbert wanted to know.
"Unless we stop them," Jessica said seriously.
Lila Fowler, who was Jessica's second best friend after Elizabeth, pointed across the playground. "There's Bruce Patman. His father's the one who wants to build the garage."
Immediately, everyone crowded around Lila instead of Jessica. "Do you think he knows about it?" Amy asked.
"Maybe. I’ll go ask him," Lila said. She began walking across the playground.
"I'll go with you," Jessica said quickly.
Bruce Patman was playing kickball with a group of other third-grade boys. Lila marched right up to him, interrupting the game. "Is your father really buying the empty lot downtown and building a giant parking garage on it?" she asked him.
Bruce shrugged. "If he wants to, he will," he said in a snobby tone.
"We're going to stop him." Jessica said.
"Oh, I'm sure he's really worried," Bruce said, laughing.
Jessica frowned at him. "If we can clean up the lot and make a nice park there, the people in charge will tell him he can't build his ugly old garage."
"Sure they will," Bruce said, shaking his head. He took a pair of sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and put them on. "You might as well give up now. My father gets what he wants."
"Come on, Jessica," Lila said, putting her nose in the air. "Let's get out of here. It smells."
Jessica followed her friend. "He makes me so mad!" she said, clenching her fists.
"Me, too," said Lila. "He thinks he's so cool. I just hope we can save the park as a class project. Bruce thinks that just because his father is rich, he can do anything."
Jessica smiled. Lila's father was also very wealthy, and Lila sometimes thought that gave her the right to boss people around. But Jessica was glad Lila was on her side this time.
When recess was over, Jessica was the first one to return to the classroom. She could hardly wait to hear whether Mrs. Otis had talked to the Keep Sweet Valley Sweet people. Mrs. Otis didn't keep her waiting for long.
"We start on Saturday morning," the teacher announced. "We're going to make that city lot the prettiest park in Sweet Valley!"
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CHAPTER 3
Cleaning Up
"This is going to be fun," Elizabeth said, looking out the window of the car. It was Saturday, and the twins were on their way to the empty lot.
"I hope we don't have to touch a lot of dirty stuff," Jessica said as Mrs. Wakefield stopped the car in front of a large, junk-filled lot. There was litter everywhere.
"You can have a long bubble bath when you get home," Mrs. Wakefield said. "So work hard, do what Mrs. Otis says, and no clowning around, OK? Eva's mother will drive you home."
"Yes, Mom," Elizabeth and Jessica said at the same time.
The twins jumped out of the car and ran over to the lot. Many of their classmates had already arrived, along with Mrs. Otis. Several other adults were there, too. Elizabeth guessed that they were the people from Keep Sweet Valley Sweet.
"What can we do to help?" Elizabeth asked a friendly-looking man who was standing with Mrs. Otis.
"The first thing we need to do is clear out all this junk," he replied, handing Elizabeth a trash bag. "My name is Mike. If you have any questions, just holler."
Elizabeth liked the way Mike smiled when he said "holler." She took the trash bag from him and looked around. She saw that Todd. Amy, Eva, Ken Matthews, and Winston Egbert were already hard at work. Todd and Eva were putting an empty crate into a wheelbarrow, Amy was raking leaves, and Ken and Winston were putting broken bricks into a pile.
"Let's pick up some garbage," Elizabeth said to her sister. She bent down to pick up an old, twisted soda straw.
"There's a bottle top," Jessica said, pointing at the ground.
Elizabeth laughed. "Pick it up. It won't bite you."
Jessica wrinkled her nose. She bent over and very carefully and delicately picked up the bottle top. "Gross," she said grumpily as she tossed it into the trash bag Elizabeth was holding. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."
At that moment, Elizabeth saw something that she knew would make Jessica a lot happier about picking up trash. "Look," she said, pointing. "There's a van from the TV news."
"Where?" Jessica spun around, her eyes wide. "We're going to be on TV!" She grabbed the plastic bag from Elizabeth's hand and began stuffing it with trash from the ground as fast as she could pick it up.
Elizabeth walked back to ask Mike what else she could do. "Why don't you take these full garbage bags to my pickup truck," Mike said. "It's that red one over there. Just toss the bags in the back, if they're not too heavy."
More and more students and adult volunteers were arriving all the time. The television camera crews filmed everything for the evening news. Somehow Jessica always seemed to be working right where the camera was pointing. She pushed the wheelbarrow, sorted clear glass bottles from brown ones, and helped roll an old metal oil drum out of the way.
"I can't believe how many people came to help," Elizabeth said to Amy. They were standing in the shade for a moment to catch their breath. "I bet we'll be finished in one day."
"Ihope so," Amy said. "Then we could fix up another empty lot next weekend, and another one and another one and—"
Suddenly Amy stopped speaking and stared over Elizabeth's shoulder. Elizabeth turned around to see what her friend was looking at. A long, black limousine had just stopped by the curb. The back door opened, and a tall, dark-haired man in a business suit got out. A moment later, Bruce Patman got out of the car, too.
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"Look, it's Bruce. And that must be Mr. Patman," Elizabeth whispered.
Jessica came over to stand in the shade with her sister and Amy. All three of them watched as Mr. Patman strolled over to Mike and the other volunteers. He had a very confident attitude. While his father talked to the adults, Bruce walked around the lot. He stopped in front of the twins.
"You guys sure are good at picking up garbage," Bruce said in a taunting voice. He took a big gulp from the can of soda he was holding. "Ihate to tell you, but you're wasting your time."
"Oh, really?" Elizabeth said, feeling angry.
"My dad is just going along with this for fun," Bruce boasted. "He's definitely going to buy this piece of land and build the garage. It'll make him a ton of money."
Jessica glared at him. "He doesn't get to decide. The city council does. That's what my father said. And he's a lawyer, so he should know!"
Bruce just smiled. Then he took a last swallow of soda and dropped the can on the ground. "Here's some more litter for you to pick up." He laughed and walked back to the car.
Elizabeth shook her head and stared after him angrily. "He's an idiot." Jessica and Amy nodded in agreement.
CHAPTER 4
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