CHAPTER 1SOMETHING ROTTEN

 

  “First one out of bed is a rotten egg!”

  Mmm, rotten egg. I licked my lips. Rotten eggs are the slimiest. And the yummiest!

  My nose wiggled as I imagined the deliciously stinky stench of a rotten egg. My whiskers twitched as I almost tasted its gooey greenness.

  But then I was jolted awake by the sound of paws racing all around me.

  “I win!” my older sister shouted as she leaped out of bed. Her name is Marg. (That’s short for Margherita.)

  “Aww, I wanted to be the rotten egg,” whined my other sister, Anchovy.

   

  My brothers, Pepperoni and Veggie, both stepped on me as they woke up and scampered out of the room.

  You might have guessed by our names, paws, and whiskery noses that we are pizza rats. Why were we named after pizza toppings? Because we live in an old pizza parlor.

   

  More on that later. First, you need to meet me! My full name is Extra Cheese Scratchy Paws Sniffs-a-Lot. But everyone just calls me—

  “Ratnip! You’ll be late for breakfast!”

  “Coming, Cookie!” I said as I dragged myself out of bed… which is an old sock.

  I love old socks. They are stinky and cozy. They have a hole at the top for your head and a smaller hole at the bottom where your tail pokes out. Ah, perfect!

   

   

  As I stepped onto the perfectly dirty floor of our bedroom, a gray-and-black-haired fuzzball popped her head into the room.

  “How many times do I have to call you for breakfast, Ratnip?” Cookie asked as she gave me a good morning nuzzle.

  You might be thinking, Cookie doesn’t look like a rat.

  That’s because she’s not.

  Cookie is a raccoon who has lived in the pizza parlor since way before my siblings and I showed up. Ever since we got here, she has taken really good care of us.

  “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go while the sun’s still down.”

  I followed Cookie outside onto the busy sidewalk.

   

  We live in The City, where there are bright lights and loud noises everywhere.

  I love it here. There is always something new to explore, different critters to meet, and PLENTY of garbage cans filled with good food!

  The closest trash can was on the corner by the pizza parlor. My siblings were already there, digging around for breakfast.

   

   

  But Cookie and I walked to the small playground at the other end of our street. It is always empty at night, which is when I’m awake.

  Even though the playground was farther away, the food was so much better. I’m talking peanut butter sandwich crusts, chocolate chip cookie crumbs, and juice boxes with half the juice still left inside!

   

   

  My siblings never understood why any critter would walk so far to eat, but Cookie knew what was up.

  “Ratnip, you’ve got some raccoon-level smarts,” she said as she pulled out half a pizza slice and tossed it to me.

  I knew she was just joking about me having raccoon smarts, but it still made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

  And the pizza was still warm too. Yum!