Josh woke up early Monday. Mom was still fast asleep in the bed next to his. Josh eyed his duffel bag, which sat on the floor, almost all packed. He and Mom were leaving today at noon, driving to the airport and flying back to New Jersey.

Holly had helped Josh pack last night.

“Bubbles is going to miss you,” she’d said, folding one of Josh’s T-shirts. “I think she might hide in your suitcase.”

“I’d love that,” Josh said, smiling as he pictured a giant lizard tail sticking out of the duffel. “But I might have a problem going through airport security.”

That cracked them both up.

He was definitely going to miss Bubbles, Josh thought now as he tossed around in the bed. And he already missed King — the snake still hadn’t shown up.

But Josh also couldn’t wait to get back to his real life. He wanted to see Dad, shoot hoops with Greg, jump into their pool.

He lay there a few minutes more, already dreading the endless drive to the airport. Finally he slid out of bed. He figured he’d go get Bubbles and wait on the porch for everyone to get up.

Josh threw on his clothes and went downstairs to the kitchen. Aunt Nicole had baked blueberry muffins last night. He grabbed one and took a bite — crazy good! — then stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. He was helping himself to a second muffin when he spotted Aunt Nicole’s laptop sitting open on the table.

He eyed it, thinking about the Yankees. Had he really not checked his scores in a whole week?

He sat down at the table and brushed the crumbs from his fingers. He knew Aunt Nicole wouldn’t mind if he used her computer for a minute. A few clicks later, he was scrolling through the scores.

Yes! The Yanks had creamed the Red Sox last night.

He checked on a few more games. And then, almost without thinking, he googled Dad’s name. He was sure no one was writing those garbage articles anymore.

That’s why he almost choked on his muffin as he saw the headline of the first article:

Tim Wallace, New Jersey Banker,
Sentenced to 8 Months in Jail

Josh laughed out loud.

What a joke! If anyone should go to jail, it was whoever wrote these lies!

But then Josh saw where this article was from: the New York Times.

The New York Times was not a trashy newspaper. Mom and Dad always said it was the best newspaper in the world. What was going on?

Josh started to read the article. But then he heard voices — Mom, Aunt Nicole, Holly. Everyone was awake and heading downstairs. Almost without thinking, Josh pushed away from the table and hopped up. He rushed into the little bathroom off the kitchen and gently shut the door.

Voices filled the kitchen.

“Pancakes or omelets?” Aunt Nicole asked.

The fridge opened and shut.

“Josh likes pancakes,” Holly said.

“Where is Josh?” Mom said. “I thought he’d be down here.”

“Two muffins are missing,” Aunt Nicole said with a laugh. “So we know he’s come through here.”

“I bet he’s with Bubbles,” Holly said. “I’ll go get him.”

The screen door squeaked open, then slammed closed.

Sweat trickled down Josh’s back — it was broiling in this little bathroom. He had to get out of here. He was about to flush the toilet, to make it seem he’d been in here for a reason. But then he heard Aunt Nicole gasp.

“Trish. Come over here.”

“What?” Mom said.

“This article in the New York Times. It’s about Tim. It was up on my computer …”

Josh froze. He realized he’d left the article open on the screen.

“The article is from this morning,” Aunt Nicole said. “Someone must have been using my computer before we came down.”

“You think it was Josh?” Mom said, her voice dropping down.

Josh’s whole body started to tingle, like when that car hit Mom on her bike. And when he saw Dad being taken away in handcuffs.

It got very quiet — the only sound was a fly buzzing around the window. Josh pictured Mom and Aunt Nicole huddled around the computer.

“I have to call Tim,” Mom finally said, her voice filled with worry. “We were going to tell Josh everything when we got back.”

Tell me everything? Josh thought. That meant Mom hadn’t been telling Josh the whole story so far.

He thought back to Greg’s dumb joke. Your dad probably won’t have to go to jail for too long.

Maybe he hadn’t been joking at all. Maybe he had known something Josh did not.

Suddenly, Josh didn’t know what to believe.

He took a breath, braced himself, and slowly opened the bathroom door. When he stepped into the kitchen, Aunt Nicole jumped a little, like Josh had popped out of a cabinet.

“Is it true, what that article says?” Josh asked Mom. His voice was louder than he meant it to be, and it cracked a little. “Dad really did steal that money?”

“Josh …” Mom said, standing up and stepping toward him. “He didn’t steal the money. He broke some laws, yes. But it’s not what you think.”

“Is he going to jail?” Josh asked.

“Let’s call Dad,” Mom answered. “He’ll explain everything. You’ll see …”

“Just tell me, Mom,” Josh said, fighting tears. “Is Dad going to jail?”

Mom’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“Yes,” she said. “He is.”