He said he was late because he had to clean the dryer fluff off his pants. “You should have seen my pants,” he told Kate. “They looked like they were covered with snow.” Kate laughed. “Fluff on your pants! That’s your goofiest excuse yet,” she said. “I know. I know,” said Jake. “My mother says I should write a book called ‘One Thousand Excuses You Never Thought of for Being Late.’ “ “I could help you draw the pictures for your book,” said Kate. “Yeah! And then we could sell the book at school and make so much money we could go on a trip,” said Jake. “We could go to Disneyland or—” “Aren’t you two supposed to be studying spelling?” said Kate’s dad. “Not writing books or planning trips.” “I guess so,” said Jake, “but writing an excuse book would be fun.” “Let’s have fun with spelling!” said Kate. “How about if we sing the spelling of each word?” “R-I-G-H-T,” sang Jake. “Could you please sing in the basement?” Kate’s mom asked after they’d sung ten words.
