Dunc and the Scam Artists by Gary Paulsen

Author:Gary Paulsen [Paulsen, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-80376-4
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

It was a superhot day, one of those days when Amos thought he’d like to just live inside the air conditioner.

But instead, Amos was sweating and complaining. “Why did your plan have to involve physical labor? You didn’t have to tell her we were Boy Scouts trying to earn a merit badge. At least we could have gotten paid. This is our one and only spring break. It only lasts two weeks and then it’s gone.”

“A little yard work never hurt anybody Amos. I’ve been noticing your arms lately.”

“What’s wrong with my arms?”

“They’re kinda puny. They could be a little more solid, have a little more muscle.”

“I really don’t care if I ever have any muscles or not, especially if this is the way you get them,” Amos said tiredly.

Dunc chopped another weed. “Well, you know I don’t care, but some girls like guys with muscles.”

Amos dropped his rake and stood up as straight as he could. He puffed out his chest and flexed his skinny arms. Then shook his head. “Melissa will have to love me like I am—I think it’s hopeless. Let’s leave and go eat more pizza.”

“Maybe later. Right now, we need to stay here and watch the house. If the creep comes back, we’ve got to stop him from scamming Mrs. Dell.”

They worked steadily in the hot sun all day. But absolutely nothing unusual happened—except for the time Amos used the electric weed-walloper and it got away from him. Luckily, the motor ran out of gas before it took all of Amos’s hair off, but it did leave him looking patchy and his ears were welted. Mrs. Dell brought them some lemonade to drink with their lunch and some cookies for a snack in the afternoon and she made a point of not staring at Amos. Between the weed-walloper and the picket fence, he looked as if he’d tried to kiss a rotary mower.

The front yard looked great and the mountain of weeds by the shed was gone.

While they worked near the shed, they took the opportunity to look around. This time Amos had guard duty while Dunc searched. He dug in the exact spot where Amos had found the green metal box. Nothing was there.

The only clues the crooks had left were large footprints and those could have been left at any time.

“What a bust,” Amos said as they wearily pedaled for home.

“Maybe something will turn up tomorrow.” Dunc sighed.

The next morning started off the same way. The boys mowed the grass in the back yard and kept an eye out for anything suspicious.

About two o’clock a blue, late-model car pulled up in Mrs. Dell’s driveway. A large man got out and walked into the house without knocking.

Dunc moved close to the living-room window and peered in to get a better look. “It’s him—I knew it. He’s got a mustache and everything. Look Amos, he’s got some papers. He probably wants her to sign something. We’ve got to get closer so we can hear.”

They crawled around to the front porch.

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