“Maybe,” Emery offered, “we should think up a story and stick to it. We were at the circus, and then we met your father, and that’s that.” “And when they ask us how our fingerprints got on the jewelry box and in the old lady’s garage? Go on. Finish the story.” Emery couldn’t. “Look,” said Philip,...
The stray dog Angel saw must run around between all of the backyards, Philip thought. Philip stood next to the tree separating Angel’s yard from her next-door neighbor, Mrs. Beebe’s, yard. He inspected all of the windows in Angel’s house, hoping to see her at one, but she wasn’t there. What shoul...
The boys walked along, glancing through the store windows. “Boy, guys,” Leon said, “this is really nice of you. If I don’t get that plate back, I’m sunk.” “Hey!” Philip pointed at a window display. “They look like the pants my aunt gave my mom and dad.” “See the sign?” said Emery. “I told you the...
None of his good friends had been at the Garden Club meeting in the library, but he did recognize a couple of faces from his school. He was certain that by the time school started, the whole school would have heard how dumb he’d been and be laughing at him. Monday morning he met Emery as usual in...
Mr. Greif was saying. “And I certainly wouldn’t meet you in a book closet on the third floor, would I? Or expect you to be performing a circus act when I found you. Look around. Do you know where you are?” The boys timidly turned their heads right and left. “Well,” said Mr. Greif insistently. “Yo...
Moriarty’s fair, Philip and Emery were deep in an argument. “I told you. I can’t get my dad’s darts. They’re too fancy, and they’re locked up, and he’s not home anyway, so cross out anything with darts,” Emery insisted for what felt like the tenth time. Philip looked down at the loose leaf notebo...
Mrs. Wyatt was up, getting ready for her two daughters to wake up and her day’s work to begin. “Leon,” she cautioned, “don’t make the slightest bit of noise. I don’t want the babies up before I’m ready for them.” “I won’t,” Leon whispered. “I’ll go upstairs real easy.” Leon tiptoed to the stairca...
Philip turned the mower off when he saw him. “What’s in there?” Philip asked. “Your mom made you some lemonade. I see you’re sweating. Why don’t you stop for lunch and have some of this lemonade to cool off?” “I’m hungry,” Emery said. He wiped his sleeve across his forehead. “I didn’t think I cou...
Got my own.” Philip heard Jeanne say those words again and again as he lay in bed that night. He didn’t have his pajamas on yet, and his light was still on, even though nine o’clock, his usual bedtime, had passed. His mother was out with her girlfriends, leaving his father in charge, and his fath...