by Natale Ghent
Boney and Squeak looked in horror at Sam.
Sam stood, held her ginger ale in the air, and proceeded to guzzle the entire drink even faster than Itchy. When the can was empty, she crumpled it with one hand and ripped the biggest, juiciest, wall-shaking burp the Odds had ever heard. The boys roared with appreciation. Boney clapped Sam on the back. Itchy gawked in admiration.
“How’d you do that?” he asked.
Sam tapped her sternum. “It’s all in the diaphragm.”
The four friends burst out laughing.
Itchy walked to the side of the clubhouse and tore the NO GIRLS ALLOWED sign from the wall. “We won’t be needing this anymore.” He made a big show of trying to break the sign over his knee. After several failed attempts, he gave up and simply tossed the sign out of one of the clubhouse windows, wiping his hands together with satisfaction. “And one more thing …” He pointed to the mop bucket Sam was using as a seat. “We’re going to need another chair.”
“Done!” Boney said.
Itchy walked to the cooler and rustled a couple more cans of ginger ale from the ice, tossing one to Sam. She caught it in one hand and cracked it open; the pop fizzed with an effervescent hiss.
“To the Odd Squad!” Itchy boomed, raising his ginger ale.
“To the Odd Squad!” The friends toasted, clinking their cans of pop together in the air.
Henry and the kittens looked up with curiosity from their bowls. Squeak looked at his watch and pointed at Boney.
“Your aunt’s going to call you in three … two … one …”
“Boneeey!”
THE END
PRAISE FOR THE ODDS GET EVEN
“It’s Beverly Cleary meets Scooby-Doo.”
QUILL QUIRE
“Ghent’s descriptions are beautifully evocative … Young readers will be able to relate to the struggle against bullies and the desire to ‘get even.’”
RESOURCE LINKS
“An addictive read.”
CM MAGAZINE
Copyright
Against All Odds
Copyright © 2011 by Natale Ghent.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Epub Edition © APRIL 2011 ISBN: 978-1-443-40627-7
Published by HarperTrophyCanada™, an imprint
of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
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