Billy thought about that for a moment and finally said, “No . . . she’d . . . just freak out or something.”

“Then you can just say that you went looking for me, and I was right where you left me.”

Billy laughed a little. Ollie knew there’d be a lot more questions if they were caught sneaking back home. But he was too tired to come up with any more ideas. Besides, Billy was probably right. Grown-ups liked questions, but they didn’t seem to like answers nearly as much.

“Man, we did A LOT of brave tonight, Billy,” he said.

“Yeah, and faced A LOT of bummer, and crummy . . .”

“And fought A LOT of mean and got STORMED on . . .”

“And had a battle royal!”

“And saved each other’s day!”

Then Billy stopped. He leaned over and picked up Grongo, the Twig Man of Planet Zaxxo. He handed the little plastic alien to Ollie. “He’s the last one.”

“Good job, Grongo,” Ollie whispered to the toy as he tucked him into the backpack. They were almost home!

“We saved A LOT of people’s day,” Billy reflected in a faraway voice, and they both thought about the Junkyard Gang and the forgotten toys and the Creeps and then even Zozo and Nina.

“Ya know, Ollie, there’s a lot of nutty stuff out in the world,” said the muddy, tired boy, sounding almost wise. “Bummer and bliss out. Scary and safe. All at the SAME time.”

Ollie completely agreed. But he also felt a tinge of unease—Billy, his Billy, almost sounded like a grown-up. Almost. So he snuggled up against Tinny and tried not to think about it. Billy walked them out the park entrance. He looked both ways and crossed the street without even thinking it was a big deal. They saw flashing lights. Lots of them. Police cars were PARKED RIGHT IN FRONT OF BILLY’S HOUSE!

“Wow,” said Ollie. “I think we’re going to jail!”

“And the lock key is getting thrown far away.”