Philip And The Case Of Mistaken Identity
We’ll investigate that.”
“Right. Monday morning then?”
“Yeah. We’ll get into our disguises and track her down. What time?”
“I’ll come to your house at nine.”
“My mother says not until ten.”
“All right then. Ten. See you Monday.”
“See you.”
Philip hung up. Janie? Joanie? A girl and a grandmother who could fly? And the girl thought Emery was him and he was Emery. Philip ran upstairs. He couldn’t wait for Monday.
Philip And The Baby
Philip ran and got a hug.
“We have a surprise for you.”
“Can I see it, Daddy?”
His father laughed. “You’ll have to wait until September to see it, Flipper.”
Hmmm, thought Philip. It sounded like a riddle. This was May. September was when school started again. That was a long way off.
“You tell him,” his mother said to his father.
“Flip Flip. Good news. In early September we are going to get another member in our family.”
Philip thought a moment, then asked slowly. “Are you getting me a dog?”
His parents laughed. Philip didn’t laugh. He was beginning to get the picture.
“It will be even better than a dog,” his father said. “Mommy is going to have a baby. You’re going to have a baby brother or sister. Isn’t that great?”
Philip screamed, turned, and ran upstairs to his room.
Other Works From The Pen Of
John Paulits
Philip Gets Even
By accident Philip Felton and Emery Wyatt destroy the art exhibit of the toughest boy in sixth grade and he promises to get even. How can Philip and Emery get out from under this threat and set things right?
Wings
Philip And The Case Of
Mistaken Identity
And
Philip And The Baby
by
John Paulits
A Wings ePress, Inc.
Young Adult Novel
Wings ePress, Inc.
Edited by: Robbin Major
Copy Edited by: Leslie Hodges
Senior Editor: Robbin Major
Executive Editor: Lorraine Stephens
Cover Artist: Vin Tartamella
All rights reserved
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Wings ePress Books
http://www.wings-press.com
Copyright © 2007 by John Paulits
ISBN 978-1-59705-109-5
Published by Wings ePress, Inc. at Smashwords
Published In the United States Of America
July 2007
Wings ePress Inc.
403 Wallace Court
Richmond, KY 40475
Dedication
For Becky, Bud and Lou
One
“Wait, wait, wait a minute,” said Emery. Philip Felton stopped and waited. They had just stepped out of the schoolyard on their way home. Emery slung his school bag off his shoulder and put it on the ground. He squatted and opened it up.
“Hurry up, Emery,” said Philip. The last day of school before the spring break was over. “We have nine whole days to play. No homework. No worrying about fourth grade tests. What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for my library books. You have to take them back for me.”
“Me? Why me? Why don’t you take them back?”
“I have to go with my mother after school. You said you might go to the library, right?”
Philip felt a touch of gloom. Now who was he going to play with?
“When’ll you be home?”
“I don’t know.” Emery’s voice sounded impatient. “I don’t want to go. She said, though. With my two sisters, too.”
Emery had two baby sisters born about a year apart. He considered himself the unluckiest boy in the world.
“Here they are.” He pulled two books from his bag, closed it up, stood, and handed the books to Philip.
Philip looked at them. Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet and The Golden Mushroom.
“What do you have—mushrooms on the brain?” Philip asked.
“No, no. They were good. You should read them. One’s in outer space. The other’s a secret land inside the earth.”
Philip nodded half-heartedly. “What do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked.
“Something good. Let’s not waste this vacation. You think tonight and I’ll think tonight. Tomorrow we’ll make a good plan.”
Philip nodded.
They chatted about previous vacations for the ten minutes it took to reach their street. They said good-bye in front of Emery’s house and Philip kept on to his own, five houses down on the opposite side of the street. He opened the front door and tossed his book bag inside. “I’m going to the library, Mom.”
“Philip?”
Philip made a face. Who was she expecting? “Yeah, me, Mom.”
“All right.” His mother appeared from the kitchen, brushing her hands off. She smiled. “Spaghetti and pepperoni tonight to celebrate no school.”
“And garlic bread?”
“And garlic bread.”
Philip smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. “I won’t be late.” With Emery’s books cradled in his left arm, he pulled the front door closed behind him.
The library was three blocks away. There was a traffic light on each corner so his mother didn’t fuss too much about being safe when he said he was going there.
It was mid-April and the weather had started turning nice—not really warm, but at least not cold. The past winter had been freezing. He and Emery had spent more time than ever indoors. That was one reason they were so looking forward to this week’s vacation. Philip had even been tuning to the Weather Channel on his TV, and he knew that the weather was supposed to be nice all week.
The library was a small, square, two-story building at the corner of the block. Downstairs was the adult room. The children’s room was on the second floor. Philip went inside and pushed apart the swinging doors that led to the stairway. The children’s room had the librarian’s station, a square of two long desks and two bookcases, in the middle of the floor. Books lined all four walls except where there were two big windows on one side. There were some tables and chairs and more bookcases that made aisles on the floor. There were also two bathrooms, a water fountain, and lots of small windows high above the top of the bookcases, as well as a skylight above the librarian’s station.
Philip got behind the only person returning a book, a girl about his size. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. The girl had long, blonde hair and blue eyes.
Philip’s forehead wrinkled. Why was she smiling at him? He didn’t like it when girls his own age smiled at him. He ignored her and stared over the library desk at the librarian.
The girl was having some sort of problem—Philip thought he heard one of the librarians mention a lost library card—so the girl stepped aside while the first librarian, an older wo
man, did something on the computer and a second librarian, a shorter, younger woman with a nice smile, came to take care of him.
He handed her Emery’s library books. She opened one and scanned it into her computer. Then she scanned the other one.
She looked at Philip and smiled. “Well, Emery, you’re two days late. Do you have twenty cents for us?”
“Late?” Philip burst out. Emery never mentioned that. “But...”
“You search your pockets and I’ll fill out your contest entry,” the librarian said, smiling. She walked across to the other side of the square workstation and took a piece of paper from a short pile.
“But, I’m not...”
The librarian was bent over writing and didn’t look like she was listening to him. When Philip tried to get her attention, the girl waiting for her new library card looked at him and smiled again. Philip didn’t want to put up with that, so he dug into his pocket and found two dimes—his only two dimes—and held them in his fist.
The librarian returned. “Just put this into the box,” she smiled and pointed.
Philip handed over his two dimes, and made a mental note to yell at Emery for sticking him with his late bill. He also promised himself to tell Emery that they weren’t going to play anything over the vacation until he got his twenty cents back. Philip stuffed the piece of paper the librarian had given him into a square cardboard box she’d pointed at and headed for the door.
He took one last look over his shoulder at that girl and immediately hated himself for doing it. The girl was still looking his way, and when she saw him look back, she smiled at him again.
Philip snapped his head around, pushed the swinging doors apart harder than necessary, and ran down the stairs.
Two
Philip woke up early Saturday morning. The first thing he thought of was that Emery owed him twenty cents. He scurried into his clothes and went downstairs. His parents were still sleeping, so he got himself a bowl of cereal and went into the living room.
If his mother were awake, she’d chase him back to the kitchen to eat, but he’d be careful, he told himself. Besides, he’d be finished before she woke up and came downstairs.
He turned on the TV, found the Cartoon Channel, sat on the sofa, put his bowl of cereal on the coffee table, and began to eat.
It was only eight-fifteen, and he knew he wasn’t allowed out of the house until nine-thirty. So after he finished his cereal, he put the bowl into the kitchen sink and watched cartoons. As soon as the cartoon that was showing at nine-thirty finished, he was out the door. He’d checked out the Weather Channel during a commercial, and they promised him a nice day. He crossed the street and hurried to Emery’s house.
Philip noticed that the Wyatt family car was not in the driveway. He knocked on the front door and waited. Then he knocked again, but no one answered. Probably out spending my twenty cents, Philip grumbled. He turned around and went home.
Philip sat on the sofa and turned on the Cartoon Channel again. Half an hour later his father came downstairs.
“Good morning, Flipper. How come you’re still here? I thought you and Emery would be celebrating your week off.”
“He’s not home. I just went there.”
“His car drove by two minutes ago. I think he’s home... now.”
Philip clicked off the television and was on his way to the front door before his father finished his sentence.
This time Philip could see the car in Emery’s driveway. He knocked and Emery opened the front door.
“You owe me twenty cents,” Philip said, walking past Emery.
“What?”
“You owe me twenty cents. Those books you gave me yesterday were overdue at the library. I had to pay twenty cents.”
“Oh,” said Emery.
The phone rang and the boys heard Emery’s mother pick it up.
“I didn’t look when they were due.”
“Twenty cents,” said Philip, putting his hand out.
“All right. All right.”
Emery’s mother called, “It’s for you, Emery. The library.”
Philip and Emery looked at one another.
“You sure you paid the money?” said Emery suspiciously.
“Yes, I’m sure I paid the money. Twenty cents. Two dimes.”
Emery went into the kitchen where his mother had answered the phone. Philip followed him. Emery took the phone from his mother.
“Yes, this is Emery Wyatt.”
As Philip watched, Emery’s eyes stretched into big circles.
“I did? Now? I’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone.
“What was that about?” Emery’s mother asked. Just then a baby began to cry. Emery’s mother grabbed the two baby bottles full of milk she had just fixed and called, “I’m coming. I’m coming.”
“They don’t talk yet, Mom,” said Emery, knowingly.
His mother gave him an impatient look. “What did the library want?”
“Oh. I won a prize. I won the Reading Computes contest. And I don’t even remember entering.”
A frown crossed Philip’s face.
“What is the Reading Computes contest?” his mother asked.
“I saw a sign at the library when I took out books, but I didn’t pay much attention. Some contest to get kids to read instead of sit in front of their computer all day. And I won! The library lady said she picked my entry blank out of the box. But I don’t even remember entering. Come to the library with me, Philip. I want to see what I won.”
Emery grabbed his jacket and he and Philip headed for the library. As they walked, Philip told himself that what he was thinking couldn’t have happened. It couldn’t be that he went to the library for Emery, paid twenty cents for him, had the librarian fill out an entry blank for him, dropped the entry blank in the box for him, got smiled at by some stupid girl, and Emery got a prize.
He was so aggravated that he couldn’t even talk. But Emery couldn’t keep quiet. He went through a long list of what his prize might be and each time he named something, Philip got more and more aggravated.
When they reached the library, they went straight to the second floor. Emery walked up to the librarian’s station, Philip at his shoulder.
“Hi, I’m Emery Wyatt. I won a prize.”
Philip looked at the front of the librarian’s desk. He hadn’t noticed it yesterday, but there was a big sign announcing the Reading Computes contest. Everyone who returned books, got an entry blank for the contest. Emery got his yesterday, thanks to me, Philip thought.
Philip drummed the fingertips of his right hand impatiently on the top of the librarian’s desk.
“Why, yes. Do you have your library card?” the librarian smiled. It was the older librarian from the day before.
Emery fished it from his pocket and handed it to her.
She smiled again, nodded, and gave Emery back his card. Then she bent down and reached for something under the desk. She brought up a big box wrapped in red gift-wrap and a blue bow.
“Here it is,” the librarian smiled again. “Congratulations and I hope you enjoy your prize.”
Philip wondered whether there wasn’t something wrong with the librarian’s mouth that forced her to smile all the time. Then he looked at Emery and he was smiling. Must be catching, Philip thought. Well, he hadn’t caught it yet, and he didn’t think he would.
The two boys left the library, and all the way home Emery named more things that might be in the box. Twice he made Philip stop while he shook the box to hear what was inside, and while Emery shook the box, Philip pressed his lips together tight and looked up at the sky.
“Can’t tell,” said Emery, and he started walking faster.
When they got inside Emery’s house, Emery’s mother was walking through the living room, a diaper in each hand.
“Here’s my prize, Mom,” Emery smiled. His mother just made a funny grunting noise and went up the stairs in a hurry.
Emery began pulling the red paper off the
box. He removed the lid and looked inside.
“Hey, all right!” he exclaimed.
Reluctantly, Philip peeked.
Inside was a stack of books. As Emery pulled them out one by one, Philip could see that they were all mysteries. There were a couple of Encyclopedia Browns, a couple of The Three Investigators, a Great Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, and a few with titles that began with “The Mystery of the...”
“There’s more,” said Emery. He pulled out a box that said, Disguise Yourself Detective Kit. Emery opened it and Philip saw it was filled with fake glasses, phony hair, phony noses, and even a pair of phony ears. There was also a magnifying glass and a weird hat covered with little squares. The hat had a tiny bow on the top holding up the earflaps and a short brim both in the front and in the back.
Emery held the magnifying glass up to his eye and slowly turned to Philip.
“I’ve got my eye on you,” he said in a spooky voice.
“Yow! Your eye looks three times bigger,” said Philip.
Emery laughed. “I knew it would.”
“You know, I won this prize for you,” said Philip in an excited voice.
“You? How did you?”
“Yesterday. The library lady filled out some entry blank after I gave her your books. And paid your twenty-cent fine. I put the entry blank into the box.”
“Why did you tell her you were me?”
“I didn’t. She just wrote the name the computer told her to. From your books.”
Philip thought of the smiling girl. If she hadn’t been there, he would have been able to tell the librarian his real name. “You should give me some of the prize.”
Philip and the Case of Mistaken Identity and Philip and the Baby (9781597051095) Page 1
