Tales from the Pizzaplex, Volume 2 by Scott Cawthon

Author:Scott Cawthon [Cawthon, Elley Cooper, Andrea Waggener, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2022-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

SITTING ON THE BLUE BRAIDED RUG, CROSS-LEGGED WITH HIS BACK AGAINST THE BIG GRAY SOFA IN HIS FAMILY’S LIVING ROOM, BILLY SNATCHED AN OATMEAL COOKIE FROM THE PLATE HIS MOM HAD SET ON THE LOW COFFEE TABLE IN FRONT OF HIM. HE TOOK A BITE AND LOOKED EAGERLY ACROSS THE ROOM TO THE TV.

“It’s almost time!” he shouted, spewing cookie crumbs over his skinny, bare legs.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Billy’s father said.

Billy grinned up at his dad. “Sorry,” he said, spraying more crumbs. He giggled when he realized what he’d done.

His dad shook his head and ruffled Billy’s hair. Then Billy’s dad took a seat on the sofa next to Billy’s mom. He picked up the newspaper and opened it wide. The paper crackled, and Billy’s dad cleared his throat like he always did when he started to read the paper.

Outside, the neighbor’s dog barked. That meant it was getting dark. The dog always barked when it started to get dark.

Billy liked these “always” things. He was only five years old, but he’d already learned that the world could be a scary place. When he was three, he got really sick, and he had to have lots of awful needles stuck in his back, and he had to be away from his parents. It was terrifying, and he never knew when something like that would happen again. Always things felt like they kept bad surprises away. When always things happened, Billy could tell himself everything was okay.

Billy’s mom reached out and turned on the big blue lamp sitting on the end table next to her. The lamp filled the room with yellowish light. She nudged Billy’s dad.

“You know, if you set a better example,” Billy’s mom said, “he wouldn’t do that.”

“Hmm,” Billy’s dad said. He always said “hmm” if you talked to him while he read the paper.

Billy wasn’t sure what his mom meant about a better example, but he didn’t care much. All he cared about right now was that Freddy and Friends was about to start.

“Like father like son,” Billy’s mom went on.

Out of the corner of his eye, Billy saw his mom elbow his dad.

“You always talk with your mouth full at dinner when you get revved up about work,” Billy’s mom said. “You two are like peas in a pod.”

Billy did know what that meant. His mom had said that a lot of times, most recently on Billy’s fifth birthday.

“You look and act more and more like your father every year,” his mom had said to Billy the morning of his birthday. She’d been helping him get dressed, and she’d been looking over his head into the full-length mirror on the back of his bedroom door. “You’re like two peas in a pod.”

Gazing at his reflection, Billy had seen what his mom meant … sort of. With brown hair that never wanted to lay down quite right, small brown eyes, a round nose and cheeks, and a wide mouth, Billy did look like a shrunk-down version of his dad.

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