CHAPTER 4

THE FLINGER

Okay, now might be the perfect spot for a …

I need to fill you in on something. In my neighborhood, there are alleys that run behind most of the houses. Once a week, garbage trucks drive down them and collect the trash. The rest of the time, we use the alleys as shortcuts to travel around the neighborhood. A good thing about the alleys is the big trash cans. On occasion Trevor and I will go Dumpster diving and find cool stuff that other people have foolishly thrown away.

Three months ago, Trevor and I found a really big plastic plank. We had no idea what it was, but we knew it was definitely worth keeping. We carried the plank from the alley, and after making a few stops to test its strength, we brought it to the rock-covered island in the middle of our cul-de-sac.

When we got to the island, we put the plastic plank across a log. For some reason, we thought it would make a really great seesaw.

It was too low and short to work as a seesaw, so we decided to turn it into a catapult. I taped a big bowl onto one end and then we moved it next to one of the big rocks on the island. Now all we have to do is leap off the jumping rock onto the other end of the plastic plank, and it flings stuff way up into the air.

After the stuff shoots up, we try to catch it as it comes down.

My friends and I have launched watermelons, apples, footballs, pretty much anything we think will go up and come down in an enjoyable way. The best thing the Flinger has flung up so far is a bunch of ice cream sandwiches. Jack took them from his freezer and peeled off the wrappers, and we launched dozens at a time. Jack ended up getting grounded for wasting food, and they were pretty hard to catch, but the damage they caused was tasty.

Rourk had to take two showers just to get all the ice cream and cookie parts out of his hair.

All right, sorry for the interruption. I just thought it might be a good idea to fill you in on the Flinger, seeing how it was about to cause Hairy some grief.