I stood right at the place where Stevie was taken from the Basket Barge but didn't see anything at all. Meanwhile, Bones had disappeared behind some bushes in front of the house just down from the intersection where the helicopters had been.

     I was standing there quietly while the buffoon was making a huge amount of noise. All I could think was that the people who lived there must've thought a black bear was rummaging through their bushes.

Then it hit me: that wasn't just anybody's house. That was Annie Kratzer's house. The prettiest girl at Ben Franklin Junior High. All I needed was for her to come out of the house and find the big dope crawling around in the dirt.

As I started walking over to tell him to keep it down, I heard the muffled sound of an engine and saw car lights in the distance. It was headed toward us . . . at a very high rate of speed. I sprinted to where Bones was rummaging around and dove into the bushes, landing straight on top of him.

Bones let out a huge gasp. "Oomphh! What was that, Lump?! It felt like somebody threw a giant sandbag on me! How much do you weigh?!"

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