CHAPTER 1 GOING ON A PIZZA HUNT Have you ever wanted to eat something so badly, you couldn't think about anything else? Now you might be wondering: Don't rats feel that way about every kind of food? And you would be correct. I like to eat pretty much everything. But it doesn't mean I like all food the same amount. Imagine there's a great big chocolate cake sitting on a table. It has swirly frosting on the outside, moist yellow cake on the inside, and it's covered all over in sparkly sprinkles. Then imagine this: under the table, there's a slice of old pizza. It's fallen cheese-side down. The pepperoni is cold. Who knows how long it's been there, but it's starting to stink. Both foods would be tasty. But only one of them would make my fur stand on end and my whiskers go zing with attention. I mean, who would EVER choose cake over stinky pizza? Mmm. PIZZA. It's my favorite food. In fact, it was exactly what I wanted right now. I gazed up at the old pizza menu hanging inside my house. Way back when, this building used to be a pizza parlor. If only it could cook up some fresh pies for me now! My younger sister, Anchovy, and I scurried out into the night to search for pizza. We checked the trash can closest to our home. Nothing. We checked the second closest trash can. And the third closest. But no luck. "Where's the pizza, Ratnip?" Anchovy whined. We live in The City, where there are food scraps everywhere you look. Partially eaten pretzels, hot dog buns, peanuts, ice cream cones, soda... the list goes on and on. So how was it possible that we couldn't find any pizza? "I have an idea," I said. "Let's go to Nonna Pizzeria!" Nonna Pizzeria is the one place that, without fail, always has pizza. "But what if the humans are still awake?" Anchovy asked. You probably don't need to be told that humans and rats prefer to steer clear of each other. I mean, humans don't even have tails! What's up with that? It's usually easy enough to avoid humans. That's because most of them go to sleep at night when we rats are awake. At Nonna Pizzeria, though, some humans stay up and eat pizza way into the night. That was why we usually stay away from Nonna, even when the pizza craving strikes. But here's a RAT FACT : When a rat really REALLY wants pizza, he's willing to risk anything. Even running into humans! Excerpted from Pizza Dreams Do Come True by Cam Higgins All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
