The Peanuts Movie Page 2

“Man’s best friend,” Charlie Brown said with a sigh.

  Chapter Four

  The Little Red-Haired Girl

  By the next day the sidewalks and streets were clear of snow, and Charlie Brown and all his friends went to school. Snoopy walked to school with Charlie Brown. When they got there, Charlie Brown stopped, knelt down, and patted Snoopy’s head.

  “You can’t come to school, Snoopy,” he said. “Now, be a good dog and go home.”

  As Charlie Brown walked up the school steps, Snoopy quickly put on a disguise—glasses and a big bow tie. Then he swiped a book from the backpack of a kid passing by.

  Snoopy casually walked up the school steps, hoping to blend in. But Franklin stopped him.

  “No dogs allowed!” he said firmly, and closed the door in Snoopy’s face.

  Snoopy pressed his nose against the glass of the door, dejected. Franklin shook his head.

  “What could a dog possibly learn in school?” he wondered out loud. “All they know how to do is eat and sleep.”

  Snoopy backed away, grumbling. How insulting!

  Inside Miss Othmar’s classroom, the students were talking in groups before the bell rang. (Everyone except for Peppermint Patty, who was fast asleep at her desk.)

  “Did you see the moving van arrive?” somebody was saying.

  “Who do you suppose it will be?” asked another.

  The classroom door began to open. Everyone got quiet.

  “The new kid is coming!” Franklin cried.

  But it was only Charlie Brown. A wave of disappointed groans swept through the room.

  “Hey, Charlie Brown,” Lucy greeted him.

  Charlie Brown made his way through the kids and headed to his seat in the back of the room. He passed Linus, who was sitting at his desk with a detailed diorama in front of him. Charlie Brown stopped to get a closer look.

  It was amazing! Tiny figures dressed in World War I uniforms moved around an airplane hangar. Sitting on the runway, ready to take off, was a bright red triplane.

  “Good morning, Linus. What do you have there?” Charlie Brown asked.

  “It’s my turn for show and tell today,” Linus explained. “This is a model of the same plane flown by Manfred von Richthofen.”

  “Who?” Charlie Brown asked.

  “The Red Baron,” Linus replied. “The most famous aviator during the Great War.”

  “It’s not real, is it?” Charlie Brown asked, reaching down. He spun the prop on the plane.

  The propeller began to spin. It ignited the tiny gas engine inside the model plane. Then it flew off Linus’s desk!

  The red plane flew around the classroom, sending the other kids into a panic. Some of them dropped to the floor. Some kids screamed. Papers scattered everywhere.

  The plane flew right through Frieda’s hair, pulling it straight. “Ah! My naturally curly hair!” she wailed.

  The plane flew into a shelf of multicolored jars of paint. They splattered all over Lucy’s dress, making her look like a colorful painting. Then it circled back toward Linus’s desk.

  “Duck, Linus, duck!” Charlie Brown yelled.

  The boys dove to the floor and the plane flew right over their heads. Thinking quickly, Marcie opened a window, and the plane flew right out.

  “So much for show and tell,” Charlie Brown said sadly, and Linus just bumped his head against the window in frustration.

  Then the door creaked open again, and the teacher, Miss Othmar, stepped inside.

  “Waaa waa wa,” she said, unhappy about the kids scattered about the room in strange positions.

  “Yes, Miss Othmar,” the students said, and then everyone rushed to his or her seat. Marcie got stuck in a cloud of Pigpen dust. She finally reached her desk, coughing.

  In front of her, Peppermint Patty was still fast asleep.

  “Sir,” Marcie whispered, pushing her friend’s head forward. But Peppermint Patty’s head fell back against the chair.

  “Sir,” Marcie said louder, pushing her friend’s head forward again. This time her head slammed down onto her desk. But that still didn’t wake up Peppermint Patty.

  “Sir!” Marcie yelled, and Peppermint Patty snapped awake.

  “The answer is two! No, three!” She turned to Marcie. “Was I close?”

  “Class hasn’t started yet, sir,” Marcie informed her.

  “Waa wa wa waa wa,” Miss Othmar announced, and Marcie and Peppermint Patty turned their heads toward the door.

  “Waa waaaa wa waa waa,” the teacher explained.

  “What? The new kid is joining our class?” Franklin blurted out.

  A figure appeared in the doorway, lit from behind by the hallway lights. She had long, beautiful red hair and a shy, friendly smile.

  “Wow, she’s pretty,” said Schroeder.

  Lucy frowned jealously. “She’s not that pretty.”

  Charlie Brown could not take his eyes off the Little Red-Haired Girl. He felt his heart pounding in his chest. He leaned forward to Linus.

  “Whoa, Linus,” he whispered.

  Then he suddenly lifted up his desktop and buried his head inside it, panicked.

  “She looked at me,” he whispered.

  Now he was starting to sweat. But he had to get another look at her. He stared at her through the crack in the desk. Miss Othmar gave her a seat in the front of the room, and he had a perfect view of the back of her head and her long red hair.

  Then Miss Othmar interrupted his daydreaming. “Waa waaa wa waa waaa.”

  Everyone moaned and groaned.

  “Not the yearly standardized tests again!” someone complained.

  Linus stood on his desk and addressed the teacher. Schroeder accompanied him with music on his toy piano.

  “Ma’am, will this test accurately reflect the knowledge we have gained here?” he asked. “Is the test not more of a comment on your ability to teach than it is about our ability to learn? Is it fair that we at this young age—”

  “Waa wa wa waaa!” Miss Othmar interrupted angrily.

  Linus sheepishly took his seat. “Yes, ma’am.”

  He sat back down as the teacher passed out the tests.

  Charlie Brown tried to focus on the test.

  “ ‘Question one,’ ” he read out loud. “ ‘If you had six red tomatoes and—’ ”

  Then he stopped and gazed at the Little Red-Haired Girl.

  “Red,” he whispered dreamily.

  Concentrating on the test was going to be impossible!

  Chapter Five

  Something in Common

  Charlie Brown stared down at his test paper.

  “Come on, focus,” he told himself. “First impressions are everything!”

  The class worked on their papers, not noticing the intruder approaching them. Snoopy crawled through the air vents until he reached Charlie Brown’s classroom. He opened the vent and peeked out. Everyone’s heads were down. He was clear.

  Snoopy produced a yo-yo and used it to rappel down the wall. Then he slid into an empty seat. He pulled out a binder and began to fill it with papers. Snoopy smiled to himself. He was sure he looked like a student!

  Then he snapped the metal binder rings shut, pinching his finger.

  “Aaaaoooooooo!” Snoopy howled, and every head in the room turned toward him. He was found out!

  Lucy picked him up and marched him to the school’s front door.

  “No dogs!” she cried, tossing him outside.

  Snoopy landed in a trash can filled with old school supplies. As he climbed up out of the pile of junk, something caught his eye.

  It was a typewriter. An old-fashioned, clackety-clack typewriter with manual keys. He grinned. Now he could prove to everyone that he wasn’t just some silly dog!

  Back inside the classroom, Charlie Brown was still filling out his test. He noticed that the Little Red-Haired Girl got up and handed her test to Miss Othmar.

  Already done, Charlie Brown thought. She must be smart.

 
As she sat back down, her pencil fell off her desk. It rolled all the way to the back of the classroom and stopped right at Charlie Brown’s feet.

  Charlie Brown picked it up and admired it. It was a pretty special pencil, pink with a white feather sticking out of the top. Then he noticed something else—teeth marks.

  “She nibbles on her pencil like I do,” he realized. “We have something in common.”

  He stared at the back of the Little Red-Haired Girl’s head, unable to focus on his test. Then he heard his teacher’s voice.

  “Waa waaaa waa wa,” she announced.

  “One minute left!” Charlie Brown said in a panic.

  Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty both looked up at the clock. Everyone else was staring at them. The two of them were the last to finish.

  Charlie Brown looked at the last few questions and scribbled his answers as fast as he could. Peppermint Patty turned her answer sheet sideways and started filling in the little bubbles with her pencil. When she finished, she grinned. She had created a smiley face with her bubbles!

  Charlie Brown leaped from his seat and ran up the aisle to hand in his paper. As he passed Peppermint Patty, she jumped up and raced him to the teacher’s desk.

  “Out of my way, Chuck!” she cried.

  She grabbed ahold of him, wrestling with him until they reached the front of the room. They both reached the pile of tests at the same time and slammed down their papers. All the tests shot into the air.

  “Waa waaa waa wa,” said Miss Othmar.

  “Write our names? Yes, ma’am,” Charlie Brown said.

  He reached for his paper—and his hand accidentally brushed Peppermint Patty’s. She looked at him and grinned.

  “Chuck, are you trying to hold my hand, you sly dog?” she asked.

  A loud “ooooooh” rose up from the class.

  Charlie Brown turned beet red and yanked away his hand. He jumped back, turned around, and realized he was staring at the Little Red-Haired Girl face-to-face.

  “Hi, I’m Crackles,” he nervously blurted out. “I mean Chuckles. I . . . ooh!”

  With a scream, he ran straight out of the classroom and headed right for the nurse’s office. He took a seat on the bench, sweating, puffing, and panting.

  There was a little kid waiting for the nurse too, and he took one look at Charlie Brown and slid away.

  “What are you in for?” he asked.

  “Have you ever had that feeling when you can’t stop smiling?” Charlie Brown asked, talking a mile a minute. “You try to stand, but your knees become weak. And then that Little Red-Haired Girl glances at you and all of life’s possibilities become so clear. And then you realize . . . she has no idea you’re alive.”

  The nurse couldn’t help Charlie Brown, and he knew it. For the rest of the day, he looked for a way to have a fresh start with the Little Red-Haired Girl. First impressions were important, but second impressions could make up for bad first impressions, couldn’t they?

  Charlie Brown got another chance on the school bus ride home. He took his usual seat, in the very last row, and plopped his pile of books next to him. Then he took the feathered pencil out of his pocket and stared at it with a sigh.

  The Little Red-Haired Girl got on the bus. He saw her look around for a seat. He took a deep breath and slid his books closer to him so she would see the empty seat next to him.

  In his head, he imagined how smoothly it would go. I’m Charlie Brown, he would say. I think I have your pencil. It’s a really cool pencil. You know, we have something in common. I chew on my pencil too.

  But as the Little Red-Haired Girl got closer, Charlie Brown panicked. Shyness took over. Shyness, and a terrible fear of failure.

  Just before she sat down, he dove under the seat in front of him. Then he crawled under the seats toward the front of the bus.

  So much for smooth! Charlie Brown thought.

  Chapter Six

  It Was a Dark and Stormy Night . . .

  Snoopy brought the typewriter back to his doghouse. He would write the greatest novel ever written. He’d be famous! Then nobody would ever say “No dogs allowed!” to him again.

  He set the typewriter on top of his doghouse and sat in front of it. Curious, Woodstock perched on top of the machine.

  Snoopy put a blank piece of paper into the carriage and rolled it up, causing Woodstock to lose his balance. The little bird fell onto the keys as Snoopy began to type. Woodstock tried to get Snoopy’s attention.

  “Chirp! Chirp!” Woodstock complained as he dodged the metal keys. Then he flew away.

  But Snoopy’s friend didn’t stay away for long. Woodstock landed on Snoopy’s head and watched as Snoopy started typing.

  Clack clackety clack! Snoopy looked at what he had written and frowned. He tore the paper out of the typewriter, crumpled it up, and tossed it into a trash can.

  Clack clackety clack! Clack clackety clack! Snoopy kept typing . . . and tearing papers out of the machine. He just wasn’t satisfied.

  Clack clackety clack! Snoopy typed some more and then sat back. He might just have something there. . . .

  Woodstock read it. Then he picked up a red pen and started marking it up. The two friends argued, and Snoopy ripped that paper out of the typewriter too and tossed it onto the pile.

  Just then the sound of a tiny whirring engine filled the air. Linus’s red remote-control airplane whizzed past the doghouse, sending Woodstock flying away. Snoopy’s eyes lit up as he watched the World War I plane. The scene unfolded in his mind like a movie on a screen, and he began to type. . . .

  It was a dark and stormy night.

  Thunder roared. Lightning flashed in the sky. High above the French countryside, the World War I Flying Ace had never been so close to his lifelong enemy, the Red Baron!

  Snoopy imagined himself as the Flying Ace, wearing a pilot’s cap, goggles, and a red scarf around his neck. Seated on top of his doghouse plane, he chased after the Red Baron.

  The Flying Ace zoomed toward the red triplane, quickly catching up. But the Red Baron looped in the sky, evading him! Now he was right on the Flying Ace’s tail!

  The Flying Ace knew he had to escape from the Red Baron. Down below, he saw a stone bridge stretching over a river. If he could reach that bridge, he would be safe. He took a deep breath.

  The Flying Ace aimed for the ground at superspeed. He gripped his controls tightly. If he could make it under the bridge, he just might . . .

  Snoopy got so excited that he actually fell off his doghouse! Splash! He landed in his dog dish. He was soaked! Woodstock laughed as Snoopy groaned.

  Snoopy shook off the water and climbed back on top of his doghouse. Inspiration had struck—and some wet fur wasn’t going to stop him!

  Chapter Seven

  Eye Spy

  Back inside the school bus, Charlie Brown slid out from under the seats as the bus came to a stop in front of his house. Still too shy to face the Little Red-Haired Girl, he raced off the bus. He hid behind Snoopy’s doghouse. After he caught his breath, he slowly peered over the top.

  The Little Red-Haired Girl walked off the bus, heading to her house. Charlie Brown couldn’t take his eyes off her. Curious, Snoopy stopped typing. Was this some kind of secret spy operation?

  Charlie Brown cautiously snuck off toward his house. Snoopy silently rolled off his doghouse and followed Charlie Brown.

  Perched in his nest, Woodstock started to chirp quizzically. Snoopy quietly rose up behind Woodstock’s nest and covered the little bird’s beak, signaling for him to be quiet. Then he looked left, looked right, and ducked back down.

  Charlie Brown entered his house through the back door and went to the big front window in his living room. He stepped behind the curtain and looked across the street. From there he had a perfect view of the Little Red-Haired Girl’s house. As he looked through the window, Snoopy crawled across the rug. He slid under the curtains and joined Charlie Brown.

  Charlie Brown watched the Little Red-Haired Gi
rl walk down the sidewalk. She stopped at the mailbox by her front walk and checked it. Then she turned slightly toward Charlie Brown’s house.

  Charlie Brown felt a moment of panic. Had she seen him? But she closed the mailbox and started to walk toward her house. Suddenly, Snoopy popped out of the mailbox. He signaled to Charlie Brown. He had sighted the target!

  “No!” Charlie Brown yelled, frantically waving his arms.

  The Little Red-Haired Girl glanced back over her shoulder, and Charlie Brown hit the deck. He crawled out from under the curtain and raced to his bedroom.

  “Whew, that was a close one,” he said.

  His window faced the street too, but this window had Venetian blinds. Perfect! He could see out, but nobody could see in. He twisted the blinds open a bit and watched the Little Red-Haired Girl examine her mailbox. She hadn’t seen Snoopy, but she was clearly suspicious of something.

  He pulled the pink pencil from his pocket and admired it. Then he gazed out the window and sighed.

  “If I could only work up the nerve to go over there, I would—”

  Just then the blinds flew up! Sally and Snoopy were standing in his room.

  “What are you looking at, big brother?” Sally asked.

  “Are you crazy?” Charlie Brown asked. Now the Little Red-Haired Girl could see him! He reached for the blinds and pulled them down. Sally grabbed the string and pulled them up.

  “But I want to see what you’re looking at!” Sally said.

  “No!” cried Charlie Brown, pulling the blinds back down.

  The brother and sister struggled to control the blinds. Charlie Brown got caught in the blinds and was pulled up and down, up and down. Snoopy’s head bobbed up and down as he watched him.

  Then Sally’s elbow accidentally smacked into Snoopy. He went flying backward and knocked over Charlie Brown’s desk lamp. The lamp shone on Charlie Brown like a spotlight. Now Charlie Brown could be seen for miles around!

  Somehow, the Little Red-Haired Girl didn’t notice. She walked back into her house. Sally finally saw what Charlie Brown had been looking at.