Hold the Pickles by Vicki Grant

Author:Vicki Grant [Grant, Vicki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, ebook, Teenagers, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Family & Relationships, book, Life Stages
ISBN: 9781554699216
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2012-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

I was hungry, sweaty, worried and scared. Somehow the ten dollars an hour I was going to make didn’t seem like that good a deal anymore.

If I even made the money, that is.

On top of everything now, I was afraid of what Uncle Hammy would do when he saw the cape. He’d paid a thousand dollars for this costume. He was bound to be upset. My mother always said, “There’s nothing worse than an angry Hogg.” That almost scared me more than Cupcake Katie or Blue Boy did.

I realized I couldn’t let Uncle Hammy pay me. It wouldn’t be right. I’d torn the costume and I’d barely even managed to hand out any samples. Some spokeswiener I turned out to be.

I decided to cut my losses and give the costume to Hammy right away before I totally ruined it. Maybe if I helped him clean up at the end of the day, he’d forgive me.

I waddled toward the exit. I was tired, so I was moving slowly. But I also needed time to figure out what to say to Hammy. I wasn’t looking forward to the conversation at all.

I had just passed Bubble Tea ’n Biscuits when someone grabbed my hand and pulled me behind the stall.

Not this again, I thought.

“Frank!”

My heart skipped numerous beats. Brooke hadn’t given up on me after all.

She didn’t let go of my hand, even when she turned and called out in a loud whisper, “Kelsey! I found him!”

Brooke waved Kelsey over, then turned back to me. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you! I wanted to thank you for rescuing me.”

She put her arms around me and kissed my cheek—or at least what she thought was my cheek. I was so thrilled, I forgot to sneeze.

“It was nothing,” I said, and I meant it—although I tried to make it sound like I was just being humble. If she wanted to think I was heroic for falling over at the right time, why should I argue?

“Nothing?!” she said in disbelief. “No, it wasn’t, was it, Kelsey?”

Kelsey stopped rummaging around in her big red purse and looked at me. “It was totally a big deal,” she said. She gave a quick smile, then went back to rifling through her stuff.

“See?” Brooke said. “I told you. I’m so glad you were there for me. That guy has been following me around all day. He gives me the creeps.”

He gave me the creeps too, but I didn’t say so. I said, “Would you like me to call security about him for you?” I hoped that sounded like a mature response to the situation.

Brooke shook her head and chuckled as if I was being silly. It was very cute. “Oh, no! I’d never do that to the poor guy! He’s harmless.”

He didn’t look harmless to me. I didn’t mention that though. I didn’t want to sound like a wimp.

“He’s probably just lonely.” She shrugged. “It’s sort of my fault that he’s hanging around. I should have been firmer with him in the first place, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

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