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pendant in the pocket of her denim skirt.
    “Uh, Peichi, aren’t you going to show it to your grandma?” asked Molly, frowning.
    “Sure,” replied Peichi breezily. “But see how busy she is? She and Ah-yeh are coming over next weekend. I’ll show her then. I just want to hold on to it for a couple of days.”
    “But what if it’s really real?” Molly said. “What if someone lost it, and has been looking all over for it?”
    “I doubt it,” Peichi said. “About the real part. I mean, do you know how much this would be worth if it were real? A lot of money!”
    “Well, it could be real,” Molly said.
    Peichi took the stone out of her pocket and looked at it. What if Molly was right?
    “I really think you should show it to your grandmother,” Molly repeated.
    Peichi looked over at Ah-mah. She was still busy with customers. “Well. I don’t want to bother her now. She looks busy,” Peichi told Molly. “I promise I’ll show it to her next week. Besides, if it were really real, someone would have put up a lost sign, don’t you think?”
    Molly shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I’ll tell you what I am sure of—we have to get going!” It seemed as if they’d been gone from home a long time.
    “Okay.” said Peichi. They waved good-bye to her grandparents, and headed to the subway.
    The girls were lucky again. The train was just heading into the station when they got downstairs.
    “ Whew , ” said Molly. “No waiting, what a relief.”
    But that’s when their luck ran out.
    On the subway car, Peichi suddenly saw a familiar head of hair behind a newspaper, and her stomach churned. Her dad was standing twofeet away from them! He was coming home from work.
    Peichi motioned to Molly to walk the other way, but the car was so crowded that Molly couldn’t get through. Turning the page of his newspaper, Mr. Cheng suddenly saw the girls.
    “Peichi! Molly!” he said, surprised. “What are you girls doing here?”

chapter 6
    W ile Molly and Peichi were having their Chinatown adventure, Amanda was practicing a difficult new piece of music. As her fingers fumbled over wrong notes, she wondered what her sister and Peichi were up to. Neither of them ever broke rules, so what was up with them now? Amanda banged her hands on the keys. Kitty let out a loud meow and scampered away. Maybe I shoald have gone, too, Amanda thought. They’re probably having a blast!
    BRRRIIING! Amanda jumped off the piano bench and ran to the phone.
    “Hello?” she said.
    “Is this the Moore residence?” asked a high-pitched woman’s voice.
    “Yes.”
    “This is Ms. Brenda Barlow,” stated the caller. “With whom am I speaking?”
    “I’m Amanda Moore.”
    “I’m calling about the cooking service, dear. I got your name from Ella Jamison. She’s a very good friend of mine, and she just raved about what good little cooks you are!”
    “Oh,” said Amanda. “Thats—that’s nice. Thank you. I mean, please tell her thank you.”
    “I certainly will, my dear. And I’d like to hire you to do just one little dinner for me. It’s next weekend. It’s my little angel’s birthday, and I’m having her aunt and uncle over, and her grandmother. I’m actually a terrific cook, but I’m just terribly busy, and won’t be able to do it myself. I’d like something simple, just a roasted chicken, a nice salad, that sort of thing. Can you do that?”
    “Sure,” said Amanda. “We can definitely make that.”
    “Naturally, dear, I’ll need some desserts, too.”
    Amanda felt her face get hot. “Well, I don’t know if we could do a birthday cake. We haven’t made a layer cake before—”
    “No need for a birthday cake, dear. No need at all. My little angel would rather have cupcakes anyway. You do make cupcakes, don’t you? Young girls still love to make cupcakes, don’t they?”

    Amanda pretended to cough to hide a laugh. This woman was too much! “We could make cupcakes,” she replied. “And even a fruit cobbler if