by Mary Amato
6. Hide-and-seek with Saint Bernards.
7. Follow-the-leader with Labradors.
• • •
It was hard to say good-bye, but we had to go. I took off my shoes and let a little terrier lick my toes. Then we slipped out of the shelter and locked the doors tight.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Jillian asked.
“Mad crazy fun,” I said. “And my toes are squeaky clean!”
We got on our bikes. The street was peaceful. It was one of those nights that you don’t want to end. We rode home the slow, quiet way.
“Don’t you think it’s strange that we want to do good deeds?” Jillian asked as we pedaled.
“Very strange,” I agreed.
“After all, our parents hate to do good deeds,” Jillian added.
“Exactly,” I said. “We’re nuts.”
Jillian whispered, “What if our parents are not really our parents?”
“That’s insane, Jillian.”
We turned the corner onto our street.
“But we’re not anything like them,” she said.
I looked at her. “If we’re not Crooks, then who are we?”
“Mom and Dad are really good at stealing,” she said.
“So?”
“So … maybe they stole us.”
It was a crazy idea, but it kind of made sense.
“Maybe we’re not even twins,” I said.
“What makes you think that?” Jillian asked.
“Because my toes taste better than yours.”
She laughed.
“Okay. Seriously. When would they have stolen us?” I asked.
“When we were born!” Jillian said. “They could have stolen us from the hospital. I think we should go to that hospital and ask some questions.”
“Let’s go now,” I whispered.
“Not now,” Jillian said. “We have to act normal. Right now we need to get upstairs to our bedrooms without them seeing us. We can check out the hospital tomorrow.”
We pulled into our driveway. The van was in the garage, and the light was on in the kitchen. We peeked in the window. Mom and Dad were having a midnight snack. For them, losing the ransom money was a big deal. No doubt they needed cheering up.
We tiptoed around the back and used the grappling hook to break into my room.
Those breaking-and-entering skills really come in handy when you need to break into your own house.
“Good night, Billy,” Jillian whispered.
We gave each other a high five, and then she tiptoed off to her room.
I put on my pajamas and hopped into bed.
Just in time! A few minutes later, Mom stuck her head in. I pretended to snore.
“He’s asleep,” I heard her whisper to Dad.
“Jillian is, too,” Dad said.
I heard them tiptoe down the hall. Tip. Tip. Tip.
I kept wondering, had Ron and Tanya Crook stolen us? Were our real Dad and Mom out there somewhere, missing us? We would go to the hospital in the morning and look for clues. I figured the sooner I got to sleep, the sooner the morning would come.
I snuggled under my covers and wiggled my toes, which, by the way, had never been cleaner.
“Good night, Billy,” I said to myself.
“But I’m too excited to sleep,” I replied. “Please, sing me a lullaby.”
“Oh, all right,” I said to myself. “Just this once.”
I got my boom diddy boom going and sang myself a li’l lullaby:
“See the stars in the sky?
Time for beddy-bye.
So be a good guy
and close your eyes.
Give sleep a try
or I’ll make a bacon pie
and throw it in your face!”
Mmm. Bacon pie. Now, that was something to dream about. Good night!
Turn the page
for some
SECRET EXTRAS
Secret Extras
You can share these ideas with your parents. Just don’t show them to ours!
SECRET FACT
When we get hot, we sweat.
Dogs sweat, too, but not in the same places we do. Dogs sweat through the bottoms of their feet!
SECRET RIDDLE
How can you keep a dog from barking in the front yard?*
SECRET GAME
The Poochie Smoochie Show
Use the stick puppets on this page to create your own Poochie Smoochie Show.
• Make a copy of those pages or download the printable page on http: www.maryamato.com/secret-extras.
• Have a grown-up help cut out the puppets from your copy. Do not—we repeat, do not—cut them out of this book!
• Color them.
• Eat two Popsicles. Why? Because they’re good … and because you need the sticks. Attach a Popsicle stick to the back of each puppet with tape.
• Make up a story about Poochie.
• Perform your show for your friends. If you don’t have any friends, perform it for your grandma. If your grandma lives in Hong Kong, perform it for your dog. If your dog is asleep, perform it for the neighborhood squirrels. They will love it.
THE POOCHIE SMOOCHIE THEME SONG
Here’s the theme song from The Poochie Smoochie Show. Start off your puppet show by singing this song loudly.
By the way, dressing up pets in costumes can be fun for you but stressful for the pet, so if you want to dress up a pet, make some clothes for your Poochie stick puppet!
You can see some examples on http: www.maryamato.com/secret-extras.
*Put the dog in the backyard.
