The next morning I was up, dressed, and was ready to go at the crack of dawn. I ran into my parents’ room and jumped on top of my dad while he was sleeping.
“Uuuuffff!” my dad cried. Then with his eyes still closed he mumbled, “Freddy, why are you tackling me in the middle of the night?”
“It’s time to get up, Dad. Let’s go, go, go!” I said, trying to pull him out of bed. He was as heavy as a bag of rocks.
“What time is it?” he asked, rubbing his eyes and squinting at the clock.
“Morning.”
“Freddy, honey,” my mom said, yawning, “it’s only five o’clock in the morning. Go back to sleep.”
“I can’t, Mom. Dad and I have to get ready to go camping.”
“But you’re not leaving for another four hours. Robbie’s mom said she’d drop him off at nine o’clock.”
“Four hours! I can’t wait that long!”
“Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to,” my dad grumbled. “And if you don’t let me get a little more sleep, then we might not be going at all.”
“You don’t really mean that. Do you, Dad?”
“Freddy, your father just needs a little more rest. Since you’re awake, why don’t you go look over the packing list and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything.”
“Good idea, Mom. I’ll be back soon.”
“Not too soon,” my dad muttered as he rolled over and pulled the covers over his head.
I dashed back to my room and picked up the checklist my mom and I had made, so I would be sure not to forget anything. I ran my finger down the list: sleeping bag, check, fishing pole, check, canteen, check, sharkhead flashlight … oh no! My sharkhead flashlight. When I was packing yesterday, I couldn’t find it, and I was going to look for it later, but I forgot. I couldn’t go without my sharkhead flashlight. I had to find it!
I looked under my bed first. I found a plastic hammerhead shark, a quarter, and a baseball card I thought I had lost, but no sharkhead flashlight.
I rummaged around in my desk drawer and pulled out a picture of me and Robbie at the pool, my new sharktooth necklace, and my membership card to the aquarium, but no sharkhead flashlight.
I was starting to get a little panicked. I could not go camping without my sharkhead flashlight. I am afraid of the dark, and I have to sleep with a night-light on. I was secretly planning to leave my sharkhead flashlight on all night inside my sleeping bag.
I sat down on the edge of my bed and hit my forehead with the palm of my hand. “Think, think, think.
“Oh I know,” I whispered. “I bet Suzie took it last weekend when she and her friends were having a sleepover, and she never gave it back to me.”
I jumped up off the bed and walked across the hall to Suzie’s room. Her door was shut, so I turned her doorknob very slowly and tiptoed inside. She was sound asleep and snoring so loudly she sounded like a sick pig. One of these days I was going to have to tape-record her snoring and play it back for her, so she could hear how she sounded. That would be good for a few laughs.
I scanned the room quickly but didn’t see the flashlight anywhere. Great! I was going to have to search for it. I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling around her room. I looked on her bookshelf. Not there. I looked on the floor of her closet. Not there. I looked behind her dresser. Not there. I was about to look under her bed when I bumped into the bed by accident.
“AAAAHHHHHH!” Suzie screamed and sat straight up in bed. “Who’s there? Who’s there?”
I popped up and covered her mouth with my hand. “Shhhhh. It’s only me,” I whispered.
She yanked my hand off her mouth. “Hey, get your grimy little hand off my mouth! What are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?” she asked angrily.
“It’s not the middle of the night.”
“Oh whatever. It’s still dark outside. The point is, what are you doing in my room without my permission?”
“Looking for something.”
“Why are you looking for something of yours in my room?”
“Because I think you took it.”
“Took what?”
“My sharkhead flashlight.”
“Why would I want that stupid thing?”
“Because you needed it when you and your friends were telling ghost stories at your sleepover last weekend.”
“No we didn’t. Besides, if I needed a flashlight, I would have asked Mom for one. I wouldn’t be caught dead with your lame shark one.”
“It’s not lame.”
“Oh yes it is.”
“Is, too.”
I could see we weren’t getting anywhere, and I was leaving in less than a few hours, so I had to find it. “Can you just tell me if you’ve seen it?” I sighed. “I really need to find it.”
“Why do you have to find it so badly?”
“Because I need it for the camping trip.”
“I’m sure Robbie will have one the two of you can share.”
“I need my own.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
“Just because.”
“Oh, I think I know why,” Suzie said, a smile slowly forming on her lips. “You’re afraid of the dark.”
“I am not!”
“You are, too! You can’t go to sleep without your night-light on. It all makes sense now. You are planning on using the flashlight like a night-light.”
“So?”
“You are such a baby! I bet you don’t even make it through the night out there in the wilderness. I bet you guys come home in the middle of the night.”
“No we won’t.”
“Wanna bet?” Suzie asked, holding up her pinkie for a pinkie swear.
“What’s the bet?”
“If you come home in the middle of the night, then you have to do my chores for a week, but if you make it through the night, then I have to do yours for a week.”
“A week?”
“What’s wrong? Afraid you’re going to lose the bet?”
“No.”
“Then do we have a bet or not? I don’t have all day,” she said, waving her pinkie at me.
“Fine, the bet’s on,” I said, and we locked pinkies. “You’re going to be really sorry you made it, though, because next week is my week to sweep the garage.”
“Oh, I’m not worried,” Suzie snickered. “I’m going to love watching you rake up all the leaves.”
“Yeah, right,” I muttered under my breath.
“You can get out of my room now. I’d like to go back to sleep.”
“But I still have to look for my sharkhead flashlight.”
“Well, it’s not in here,” she said, giving me a little shove toward the door.
“Then do you have any idea where it is?”
“I’d love to help you, but I need my beauty sleep. Why don’t you look out in the tree house? Maybe you and Robbie took it out there the other day when you were playing detective.”
“You’re a genius!” I yelled, giving her a great big hug.
“I know. I know. Now can I please go back to sleep?”
“You’re the best sister in the whole world!” I called as I ran out of her bedroom, down the stairs, and out the back door.
