“Nice wig,” Louie joked as he spotted Alex at his party on Halloween night.

“It’s supposed to be messy,” Alex told him. “I’m dressed as Albert Einstein. He was the smartest scientist ever. He was too busy thinking to brush his hair.”

Louie didn’t answer. He just turned to Chris. “You’re dressed like Toiletman again?” he asked. “You wore that same costume in the school Halloween parade. You could have at least come up with something new for tonight.”

“This time I have an orange-and-black Halloween plunger,” Chris said. “And I’m carrying four-ply toilet paper.”

Louie looked at Julianna. “Where’d you get that thing?” he asked, staring at the big blue-and-green feathered eye mask she was wearing.

“My parents brought it back from Brazil,” Julianna said. “My mother wore it during a Carnival festival they went to down there.”

George thought that was pretty cool. But he guessed Louie didn’t, because he yawned and turned his attention to George.

“You’re a mummy,” Louie said, noting the white bandages that were wrapped all around George’s head and body. “Not real original.”

“It’s a classic costume,” George insisted. Then he looked at Louie’s bright green jumpsuit and his antenna headband. “What are you supposed to be? A giant glow-in-the-dark cockroach?”

Louie’s eyes got small and mean—which made him look even more like a cockroach. “I’m a space salamander,” he told George. “You know that.”

George grinned as Louie stormed off. He loved making Louie angry.

“You want to go check out the piñata?” Alex said, pointing to the giant papier-mâché pumpkin that was hanging from a tree in the middle of the yard.

George nodded and followed Alex and the other kids walking over to take a look at the piñata. As he walked, he scratched at his arm. The bandages his mom had wrapped him in were way too tight. But George was dressed as a mummy. And mummies never slipped out of their bandages. So it was probably a good thing that the bandages were so tight.

“Oh, Georgie,” Sage shouted as she came running over. “Look at us. We’re the perfect couple.”

George looked at Sage. She was wearing a crown with a snake on it, and lots of dark black pencil around her eyes. “What are you supposed to be?” he asked her.

“Cleopatra,” Sage said. She blinked her eyelashes up and down. “Queen of Egypt. You know, where mummies come from. You and I are both from ancient Egypt. We should probably stick together all night.” George shook his head. No way. Not happening.

“George Brown, there you are,” Mrs. Farley said as she came running over. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“H-h-hello, Mrs. Farley,” George said.

“I’m keeping my eyes on you,” she told George. “This is Louie’s party. Nothing funny is going to happen. You got it?”

George nodded. Louie’s mom had that right. From the looks of things, nothing funny—or even fun—was going to happen here. Everyone was just sort of standing around staring at one another, while Louie’s brother, Sam, played music.

“We’re going to bob for apples now,” Louie’s mother announced. “Loo Loo Poo, you’ll go first!”

George burst out laughing. Loo Loo Poo. It got him every time.

Louie’s mother shot George a look. George stopped laughing. He’d almost forgotten. Nothing could be funny at Louie’s party.

But as Louie stuck his head into a big vat of ice water and apples, George felt something funny happen. Not ha-ha funny. More like uh-oh funny. The magical super burp was back! Already the bubbles were bouncing around in George’s belly, climbing up his colon, and invading his intestines.

Oh no! Not here! Not with Louie’s mom watching George’s every move!

But the burp didn’t care who was watching. It wanted to have Halloween fun! The bubbles ricocheted off George’s ribs. They trampled up his trachea. And then . . .

George let out a burp so powerful, and so strong, it could be heard by real aliens up in space!

“George!” Mrs. Farley shouted. “What do you say when you burp?”

George knew he was supposed to say, “Excuse me.” He wanted to say, “Excuse me.” But when he opened his mouth, all that came out was: “It’s T.P. time!”

George’s hands reached out and grabbed the toilet-paper rolls from Chris’s costume and started throwing them at the trees in the yard.

“George, don’t!” Chris shouted. “That’s four-ply. It’s expensive.”

“Dude, we gotta get you out of here,” Alex added.

But the burp wasn’t going anywhere. Not until there was toilet paper wrapped over the branches of every tree in Louie’s yard!

“Mom!” Louie shouted. “He’s ruining my party . . . again!”

Louie’s mother glared at George. “You need to stop teepee-ing my yard—right now!” she warned.

George looked down. There was no more toilet paper. Only cardboard rolls. That meant the burp would have to stop spreading toilet paper around the yard.

But it didn’t mean the burp would have to stop having fun. Before George knew what was happening, his hands picked up a big stick. His legs ran straight for the piñata. There was nothing he could do to stop them. And then . . .

Bam! George slammed the big stick into Louie’s pumpkin piñata. Candy exploded all over the yard. Kids dive-bombed to the ground, scooping up candy.

“MOM!” Louie shouted. “I was supposed to break the piñata.”

“George Brown, what have you done?” Louie’s mother shouted.

Pop. Just then, George felt something burst right in the bottom of his belly. The air rushed right out of him.

The super burp was gone. But George was still there, surrounded by candy and toilet paper. He opened his mouth to say, “I’m sorry.” And that’s exactly what came out.

“I think it’s time you leave,” Mrs. Farley told him.

George didn’t argue. He was thinking the same thing. He started to walk away.

“Wait up, dude,” Alex said. “I’ll go with you.”

“Me too,” Julianna said. “I’d rather trick-or-treat, anyway.”

“Yeah, trick-or-treating is the best part of Halloween,” Chris agreed.

George smiled at his friends. Chris was wrong about that. Trick-or-treating wasn’t the best part of Halloween. Being with your friends was.

But getting free candy wasn’t too bad, either!

“Come on, you guys!” George told his friends. “Let’s get moving. There’s a whole town’s worth of candy waiting for us out there. And I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it!”