Maxie, Rosie, and Earl-Partners in Grime by Barbara Park

Author:Barbara Park [Park, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-79708-7
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

6 ZUCKERMAN

NUMBER TEN

Earl Wilber drank Pepto-Bismol for breakfast. He put a bowl and a spoon in the sink to fool his mother into thinking he had eaten. But the thought of food made him sick.

It was 9:30 on Saturday morning. Earl had been trying to find Maxie Zuckerman’s number in the phone book for thirty minutes. So far, he had dialed nine different numbers and gotten nine wrong Zuckermans. Only four of them had been polite enough to say good-bye.

Earl looked at the next number on the page. This one had to be the one. It just had to. He picked up the receiver.

“Earl? What are you doing in there?” Mrs. Wilber shouted from her bathroom. “Are you on the phone? Who are you calling?”

Earl rolled his eyes. His mother had the biggest ears in the universe. They didn’t look that big. But even when she was in the shower with the door closed, she could hear what he was doing.

It was spooky having a mother like that. One time she heard him sneaking a bowl of chocolate pudding all the way from Mrs. Martin’s house next door. She’d called him on the phone and said, “Put it back.”

Quickly, Earl put the receiver back down. “No one! I’m not calling anyone!” he yelled back. Geez! The next thing he knew, she’d be peeking around corners with a periscope.

He waited for her to turn on the shower. Then he slid the kitchen door closed and tried one more time. Zuckerman number ten.

“Please be the one. Please. Please,” he begged.

It rang three times before someone answered.

“Hello?”

Earl lowered his voice to a hush. “Hello, is Maxie there?” he said.

At first, there was no reply.

“Why? Who is this?” said the voice finally.

Earl’s heart beat faster. “I need to speak to Maxie Zuckerman. Is this him? Is it you, Maxie?” he asked.

“Yeah, okay, fine. It’s me. Now who is this? Mr. Whispers?”

Relieved, Earl cupped his hand around his mouth.

“No. It’s me. It’s Earl Wilber. You know. The kid from the Dumpster yesterday.”

On the other end of the phone, Maxie frowned. “Earl? What’s wrong with your voice? Why are you talking so soft?”

Earl listened for his mother again. “Wait a second. Hold on,” he said.

Then, just to be sure she wasn’t lurking somewhere, he went into the living room and checked behind the couch and chairs. When he was sure it was safe, he went back into the kitchen.

“Maxie? You still there?” he asked.

“Yeah, but why are you acting so weird? What’s going on?”

Earl swallowed hard. The news he was about to give Maxie was not good. He’d been trying to put it out of his mind. But now he finally had to say the words out loud. A shiver went through his body.

“Someone saw us.”

Maxie’s blood went cold. For a second, he couldn’t breathe.

“No,” he gasped. “No way.”

“Yes way,” Earl said back. “I saw him, Maxie. I saw him see us.”

This time, there was no response at all.

“Are you still there?” asked Earl. “Don’t you want to know who it was?”

Earl waited a few more seconds, then blurted it out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.