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View.”
    He scowled at her. “What are you talking about? Wha’d’ya mean by fixing it up?”
    “We mean we’d just like to beautify the trailer court so that—”
    “Just how d’ya kids think you’re gonna
beautify
the court?” He pulled out a cookie, sniffed it, then took a cautious bite.
    “We’ve made a list of ideas … “
    Amy held out their list, keeping her distance like she thought the old man might have cooties or something.
    He snatched the paper from her and quickly glanced down at it. “Yeah, well, that might sound fine and good to you little girls. But who’s gonna foot the bill? I got no money for silly frills like that.”
    “We thought we could raise some money,” said Carlie in a meek voice.
    He rubbed his grizzly whiskered chin and grunted. “Hmm. Well, I don’t want you making no messes. You mess anything up, you break anything, and I’ll have your parents pay. And don’t think I won’t.”
    Morgan wondered how they could possibly make things look any worse than they already were, but she just nodded solemnly. “No, sir, we won’t mess anything up. We only want to make it nicer.”
    “What for?” He peered straight into her eyes as if he suspected they might be up to some kind of mischief.
    “We just want to live in a place that looks pretty. That’s all.”
    “Humph,” he grunted.
“Pretty!”
He shook his head and walked away. “Just don’t you mess nothing up, ya hear?” he called over his shoulder.
    “Sure thing, Mr. Greeley.” Morgan gave the other girls a thumbs-up sign.
    “You did it, Morgan!” Carlie gave her a high five.
    Morgan smiled. “Yep, now we just better make sure we ‘don’t mess nothing up,’” she said in a deep Mr.Greeley-type voice. The girls laughed.
    “Should we start today?” asked Emily. “I mean, we could probably begin by pulling some weeds and picking up trash and stuff.”
    “Great idea, Em,” agreed Morgan. “I’ll go get some trash bags, and we can start out front by the entrance. Maybe if some of the folks around here see what we’re up to, they’ll want to help out too.”

chapter six
    It was hard work, but working together made it seem almost like fun. Morgan turned it into a game, seeing who could fill up their bags the fastest. And before long the whole entrance was free of weeds and trash. It looked a little bare and plain, but at least it was neater and cleaner.
    “Not bad for a couple hours of work,” announced Carlie as she stood up and leaned on her rake. Her dad had provided the group with tools and encouragement, and they had managed to fill four huge garbage bags. “Hey, here comes Mr. Greeley.” The girls waved at him as he strolled toward them.
    He surveyed their work with a creased forehead then grumbled, “You just make sure you get those garbage bags into the trash. There’s supposed to be high winds off the Harbor tonight. Don’t want that stuff blowing all over the place.” He turned out of the entrance and continued walking toward town.
    “Man, he didn’t even say thanks,” exclaimed Morgan, removing her glasses to wipe the gritty sweat from her forehead.
    “And he didn’t even say it looked better. Is he blind or something?” Carlie tied off the top of her bag and brushed the dirt off her hands. She no longer wore the pretty pink outfit, but instead had on shorts and a T-shirt, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
    “You girls need some refreshments?” called a woman’s voice. They looked up to see Morgan’s mom walking their way with some bottles of juice. “I’ve got ice-cold ‘passion fruit–strawberry’ or ‘melon madness’ to choose from.”
    “Thanks, Mom.” Morgan took the drinks and handed them to her friends, introducing Carlie and Amy. Her mom had met Emily already.
    “Thanks for the drink, Mrs. Evans,” said Amy politely.
    “You’re sure welcome. You can call me Cleo. It makes me feel like an old woman to be called Mrs. Evans. And I’d like to still