Boxes everywhere Beatrice had tried to tell the movers where to put the boxes But they just carried them in and dumped them anywhere She tried to scrub off the smudgy sticky handprints the movers left on the walls But they kept making them faster than she could scrub them off She said Somebody’s walking through the house with their shoes on very loudly several times before her mother finally shushed her The moving guys were horrible listeners They just smiled carried in more boxes with their sticky hands and kept making a bigger and bigger mess But the movers were gone now The big noisy moving truck was just pulling away from the driveway 2
It’s about time grumbled Beatrice She stood in the living room with her hands on her hips As she looked around her eyes narrowed What a dump she said to herself shaking her head slowly Her mother came into the room She looked around happily Well this is exciting she said A new house a new neighborhood a new city Are you excited Bee Beatrice How many times had she told her family not to call her Bee Nine thousand Nineteen thousand Ninety thousand Bee was not a name at all It was a letter Or worse an insect An insect that buzzed annoyingly An insect people ran away from screaming Bee certainly wasn’t the name of a future Olympic gymnastics gold-medal winner 3
Or a future prize-winning scientist Or a famous artist or writer And those were all on Beatrice’s list of Very Successful Careers to Consider Have you looked at this place Mom Beatrice said It’s a mess There are way way too many boxes Well Bee said her mother pushing her frizzy hair out of her eyes we only moved in this morning We’re just getting started Beatrice crossed her arms I’ve already unpacked my room Perfectly It was the first room she had all to herself The first room she didn’t have to share with her messy little sister Sophie Beatrice loved her new room It was perfect 5
