by Mike Thaler
BLACK LAGOON
ADVENTURES
#14
SCHOLASTIC
BY
MIKE THALER •
ILL
USTRATED BY
JARED LEE
14
THE
NEW YEAR’S EVE
SLEEPOVER
FROM THE
BLACK LAGOON
THE
NEW YEAR’S EVE
SLEEPOVER
FROM THE
BLACK LAGOON
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from the Black Lagoon
by Mike Thaler
Illustrated by Jared Lee
SCHOLASTIC INC.
THE
NEW YEAR’S EVE
SLEEPOVER
FROM THE
BLACK LAGOON
To Matt Ringler,
who makes work fun!
—M.T.
To Kathy Boyer Zienty,
classmate and friend.
—J.L.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, 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 hereafter
invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For
information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention:
Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
e-ISBN: 978-0-545-37558-0
Text copyright © 2008 by Mike Thaler
Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Jared D. Lee Studio, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
SCHOLASTIC, LITTLE APPLE,
and associated logos are trademarks and/or
registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Lexile is a registered trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc.
First printing, December 2008
Contents
Chapter 1: Happy New Fear . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 2: PJ’s Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Chapter 3: Blanket Security . . . . . . . . .12
Chapter 4: Good Try . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 5: Rest in Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 6: Spaced Out . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 7: Checkers Mate . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 8: New Fear’s Eve . . . . . . . . . . 30
Chapter 9: Going to the Dogs . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 10: Pie in the Sky. . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 11: A Feather in His Cap . . . . . . . . .42
Chapter 12: The Apple of My Eye . . . . . . . . .46
Chapter 13: Resolutionary . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Chapter 14: Not on the Ball . . . . . . . . . .58
CHAPTER 1
HAPPY NEW FEAR
Eric is having a New Year’s Eve
sleepover.
It will last all night. I’ve never
been away from home . . . all
night. Mom told me I can go, but
I’m scared. Couldn’t we just start
with a napover or a snoozeover?
6
7
What if I have a bad dream or
get sick? Mom won’t be there to
save me.
I will be in a strange bed, in
a strange room, in a strange
house. Eric says it’ll be great. We
can stay up till midnight and
welcome in the new year. Mom
says we can see the ball drop in
TimesSquare . . . if we don’t drop
first. I’d like to drop out of the
whole sleepover.
9
CHAPTER 2
PJ’S AWAY
Mom wants me to go. She says
it’ll be fun. She still remembers
her first sleepover. It was called
a pajama party. She and her
girlfriends played games, made
popcorn, and talked all night.
It sounds more like an
awakeover to me. Besides, I need
my sleep. I need my bed. I need
to stay at home.
10
11
CHAPTER 3
BLANKET SECURITY
Mom says I can take a few
familiar objects for security.
Okay . . . let’s see. I’ll take my
stuffed bear. I’ll take my baseball
glove. I’ll take my pillow and
blanket. Hey, I can even take
my night-light, my bed, and my
dresser.
12
13
I can take my computer, my
TV, and all my video games.
14
I can take my dog and my
posters. Hey, it might be easier
to just stay home.
15
CHAPTER 4
GOOD TRY
I don’t need to welcome in the
new year. . . . I liked the old year
fine. But Mom tells me I have to
expand my horizons as I get older.
She says I have to grow. Okay—
let’s have the sleepover at my
house. I call Eric . . . he says no
way. It was his idea, he thought
of it first, and besides, he’s never
spent a night away from home.
Bummer!
16
17
CHAPTER 5
REST IN PEACE
That night I have a nightmare.
I’m sleeping in a lot of strange
places—on the school bus, at
school, on third base at the
bal
lpark. The weirdest one is
in a mattress store. Just as I fall
asleep, Eric marches in blowing
horns and throwing confetti, and
buys the mattress I’m on.
18
19
I wake up. I’m home in my own
bed, and that’s where I’m going
to stay.
20
21
CHAPTER 6
spaced out
Maybe I’ll go for a little while
before it gets dark. Mom assures
me I can call her anytime, and
she’ll come and pick me up.
22
23
So we pack my bear, my
baseball glove, my pillow, my
blanket, and one video game into
an overnight bag. Mom draws the
line at my bed and my dresser.
An overnight bag . . . scary! I’ll
just call it a knapsack. We put it
in the car and drive over to Eric’s
house. Actually, he lives around
the corner. But still it’s foreign
soil. It could be Tibet. It could be
outer space. Mom drops me off
on the moon. I stand and watch
her shuttle blast off. I feel like an
astronaut, abandoned and alone.
24
25
CHAPTER 7
CHECKERS MATE
Eric comes out and grabs my
bag.
“Come on in, Hubie—all the
guys are here.”
26
Sure enough, there’s Derek,
Freddy, and Randy. They all look a
little spacey, as if they just landed
on another planet.
27
“Let’s play a game,” says Eric.
He takes out the checkerboard,
and we all sit around the kitchen
table.
28
I feel a little better already.
Eric’s mom makes hot chocolate
and chocolate chip cookies. I’m
feeling better all the time. At least
there’s a mom around in case of
an emergency.
29
CHAPTER 8
NEW FEAR’s eve
The game is over, the hot
chocolate is cold, the cookies
are gone, and it’s getting dark
outside.
“I want to go home! It’s time to
call Mom.”
30
“Wait,” says Eric. “I have a new
video game.”
We go into his bedroom. It looks
different. I can see the floor. His
mom must have made him clean
his room for New Year’s.
31
Anyhow, his new video game is
way cool.
It’s called Nerds in Space. Eric
explains the rules. We play it, and
he wins.
It’s really dark now, almost my
bedtime. I want to go home. I get
up to find the phone.
33
CHAPTER 9
GOING TO THE DOGS
“Wait,” says Eric. “I have a
great joke.”
I can’t pass up a great joke,
so I sit back down. It’s called a
shaggy-dog story. It’s about a
guy who lives in Siberia. I might
as well be there.
34
He grows up eating this special
peach pie. He loves it, but when
he’s twelve his family moves to
America. He learns English, does
well in school, goes to college,
becomes a doctor, gets married,
and has beautiful kids.
35
CHAPTER 10
pie in the sky
His life is perfect except for one
thing—he misses that Siberian
peach pie he had as a boy.
36
He thinks about it all the time.
He can almost taste it. He moons
for it, he longs for it, he yearns
for it, he pines for it. One day
he can’t take it any longer. He
leaves everything—his life, his
wife, and his job. He walks out
the door and heads for Siberia,
which is difficult because he lives
in Cincinnati.
37
“Eric, could you shorten this
joke a little? It’s getting late.”
“Hubie, it’s supposed to be
long—it’s a shaggy-dog story.”
38
“Eric, give it a haircut.”
“Okay, okay, but it’s not the
same. Well anyway, he spends the
rest of his life getting back to his
little village in Siberia. He crawls
into town and drags himself into
the bakery. He looks up with
tears in his eyes, and with his
dying breath asks for a piece of
Siberian peach pie.
39
“The baker’s wife looks down
and says, ‘Sorry, we just sold out
of peach pie.’”
“Shorter, Eric, shorter.”
40
“This is it. This is the punch
line. The guy looks up and says,
‘That’s okay, I’ll take apple.’”
41
CHAPTER 11
a feather in his cap
I look at Eric. He’s laughing. I
look at Derek, Freddy, and Randy.
They’re not laughing. I look back
at Eric. It’s now 10:30. That joke
took two hours to tell.
“Don’t you get it?” giggles Eric.
“I’ll take apple.”
43
I want to punch Eric. I guess
that’s why they call it a punch
line. I’m not violent, but I take my
pillow out of my overnight bag
and hit him with it. He grabs his
pillow and hits me.
44
“I’ll take apple!” he shouts. All
the guys grab their pillows and
soon the room is full of feathers.
45
CHAPTER 12
the apple of my eye
We are all exhausted now. We
lie on the floor laughing.
“I get it,” I say. “‘I’ll take apple!’”
We all laugh till tears roll down
our cheeks.
46
47
Eric’s mom comes in the
room.“What’s so funny, boys?”
48
We all start laughing again.
She hands us party hats, horns,
and bags of confetti. Then she
walks out of the room, shaking
her head.
49
CHAPTER 13
resolutionary
“Well, I guess we’re ready for
New Year’s,” I say.
“Wait,” says Eric, “we haven’t
made our New Year’s Resolutions.”
“Is that anything like the
French Resolution?” I ask.
“A little, maybe,” says Eric.
“It’s making promises of how you
will change your life in the new
year.”
50
“Eric, will you promise not to
tell any more jokes?”
“No,” says Eric.
52
“Will you promise to stop
worrying about everything,
Hubie?”
“No.”
53
&nbs
p; “Freddy, will you promise to go
on a diet?”
“No.”
54
“We’re not doing so well,” I
say.
“Maybe we can find revolutions
we can keep,” says Derek.
55
“How about we all promise to
be best friends forever?” I say.
“Now that’s a good resolution,”
says everyone.
56
“Okay,” says Eric, “we’re ready
for the new year.” But it’s only
11:15.
57
CHAPTER 14
not on the ball
So we crawl into our sleeping
bags, adjust our party hats, and
hold tight to our horns, waiting
for the new year. But soon we are
all fast asleep.
58
Well, to make a long story
short—the ball dropped without
