Read Judy Moody Declares Independence for Free Online Page B

message was flashing across Mom’s computer screen. It said:
    JUDY AND STINK,
    IF YOU ARE READING THIS,
    I KNOW YOU’RE IN HERE.
    READ THIS NOTE:
    XLOW UVVG ZIV MLG HDVVG.

    “How can we read it? It’s in Russian,” Stink said, shining the light on the screen.
    “It’s not Russian,” said Judy. “It’s secret code. SPY code. It looks just like Dr. Church’s secret code in Dad’s Freedom Trail book from Boston. Rare!”
    “The spy guy? Sweet! We can be code busters, just like him.”
    “Yep.” Judy ran and got her book. She looked it up in the back. “The code is A=Z, B=Y, and C=X. All you have to do is use the alphabet backward.”
    They looked at the letters again: XLOW UVVG ZIV MLG HDVVG. Judy figured it out. “COLD FEET ARE NOT SWEET. Hmm. It’s some sort of clue. Not sweet . . . not sweet.”
    “How about the cookie jar?” Stink asked.
    “It says NOT sweet, Stink.”
    “How about socks? Socks aren’t sweet. And they help cold feet.”
    “Brilliant!” Judy and Stink dashed upstairs, where Judy rummaged through her sock drawer. Sure enough, there was another clue sticking out of her Screamin’ Mimi’s ice-cream socks.

    “It’s like a treasure hunt.” She opened the note and it read: QFWB GRNVH GDL, YLGS ZIV BLF. She took out her pencil and figured it out in her notebook. “This one says, JUDY TIMES TWO, BOTH ARE YOU.”
    They thought about it for a long time. They were both stumped. Then Judy got a brainstorm! “There’s only one me,” said Judy.
    “You can say that again,” said Stink.
    “Unless . . . I look in a mirror!” Judy and Stink raced for the bathroom. On the bathroom mirror, a message was written in soap crayons: Z SLFHV ULI NLFHV.
    Stink helped Judy work out the code. “A HOUSE FOR MOUSE!” yelled Judy.
    “That doesn’t make sense,” said Stink.
    “Think,” said Judy. “What else could be a house for Mouse?”
    “Under your bed?” asked Stink. “Or your top bunk?”
    “I looked there,” said Judy. “Wait! I got it! Where is Mouse whenever we can’t find her?”
    “The dirty-laundry basket!” said Stink. He ran downstairs after his sister. Judy raced over to the pile of laundry on the washer and dug around. “Found it!” she said, holding up her scrapbook.
    They flipped through pages of pictures and pebbles, pressed leaves and pencil rubbings, tea bags and sugar packets and Band-Aids, her Declaration of Independence, the postcard from Tori.
    She flipped to the last page. She, Judy Moody, was gobsmacked! Glued to the page was a fancy certificate on old-timey paper that looked like parchment.

    Taped to the same page was a shiny new quarter.
    “Holy macaroni!” said Judy. “Look! A Maine quarter with a lighthouse! Now I have liberty AND the purse of happiness.”
    “And with more allowance, you can pay me back a lot faster!” said Stink.
    “Wait till I write to Tori and tell her. My Declaration of Independence really worked!”
    “Except for the getting your own bathroom thing.”
    Judy Moody hugged her scrapbook, then Stink. She found Mom and Dad and hugged them, too. She even kissed Mouse on her wet pink nose.
    “Independence doesn’t end here,” said Mom. “We’re going to expect you to keep being responsible.”
    “And, of course, you still always have to do your homework,” Dad told her.
    “And be nice to me!” said Stink.
    “Maybe I could also stay up a teeny-weeny bit late? Just for tonight?” asked Judy. “On account of how independent I am now and how I’m not going to be treated like a baby anymore and stuff.”
    “Fifteen minutes,” said Dad.
    “And just for tonight,” said Mom.
    Fifteen whole minutes!
    “No fair!” said Stink. “Then I’m declaring independence from brushing my teeth! Give me liberty or give me bad breath!”
    “One independent kid is enough for now,” said Mom. Dad laughed.
    That night, in those fifteen minutes, Judy ate a snack of grapes and goldfish (the crackers!). She brushed her teeth with red,