Andy Russell, NOT Wanted by the Police by David A. Adler

Author:David A. Adler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

“Don’t you want to do well?” Rachel asked the gerbil. “Don’t you want everyone in school to know you’re the smartest one?”

Andy looked at Rachel. “I hope you’re joking,” he said. “Wait here,” Andy told his sister. “I’ll give Red a real reason to go through the maze.”

Andy ran upstairs. He got a box of raisins from the pantry and some cheese from the refrigerator. Then, before he went downstairs again, he asked Tamika if she had seen anything unusual at the Perlmans’ house. She hadn’t. Andy looked out the dining room window. The shades next door seemed the same to him. He didn’t see lights on or anyone outside the house.

Andy told Tamika, “Let me know if you see anything.” Then he hurried downstairs.

Andy took Red out of the maze. He put some raisins and cheese at the end of the maze marked FINISH. Then he put the gerbil at START again, and Rachel pressed the button on the top of her stopwatch.

Red sniffed. It smelled the raisins and cheese and tried to find its way through the maze. It bumped into the walls of the maze lots of times and made a few wrong turns. Then, at last, it found its way to FINISH.

Rachel pressed the button on her stopwatch and announced, “One minute, forty-three seconds.” She wrote that on her chart and said, “Let’s get another one.”

“Oh no,” Andy said. “Not yet. Red went all the way through this maze to get a treat. Now let him eat.”

They watched Red eat some raisins and cheese. When Red was done, Rachel took its picture. Then Andy returned it to the tank.

Andy took another gerbil from the tank. He put a blue-marked label on the gerbil’s tail. Then Andy spoke to his pet. “Now, Blue, I am going to put you in a maze. You just do the best you can getting through it. No matter how long it takes you, the raisins and cheese will be waiting for you.”

Andy put the gerbil in at START, and Rachel timed it as it made its way through the maze.

Andy and Rachel tested five gerbils, Red, Blue, Purple, Green, and Gray. The gerbil with the green label made it through the fastest. Andy congratulated Green. Then Rachel took a few pictures of the winner.

Andy thanked the gerbils for their help. “Now you thank them, too,” he told his sister.

Rachel leaned over the gerbil tank and said, “Thank you,” but Andy could tell she didn’t mean it.

When his parents came home, Andy told them about the cup and soda can. They both thought it was strange. But they weren’t ready to call the police again until they were sure someone had broken into the house.

“Maybe yesterday you just didn’t notice it,” Mrs. Russell said.

But Andy and Tamika knew the can and cup hadn’t been there the day before. And they were determined to find out how they had got there.

Andy and Tamika did their homework by Andy’s window. They looked out often at the Perlmans’ house, but nothing happened.

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