CHAPTER 12

DAD IS GRUMPY

I am sorry to say that Iggy had enough experience being suspended to hope that his mom would be the one to stay home with him the next day.

It was his dad.

His dad wasn’t terrible or anything. Most of the time, his dad was A-OK. But sometimes his dad got grumpy, and Iggy getting suspended was one of the things that made him grumpy.

Iggy expected a certain amount of grumpiness when he got suspended. He expected that his parents were going to give him a talking-to and he was going to feel bad. He expected that he was going to have to write an apology. He expected that he was going to get “defunded,” which is what his mom and dad called no allowance. He expected that he would get privileges revoked, which meant no video games for—ugh—two weeks. He expected that he would have to do some really gross chore, like washing the kitchen garbage can. He expected that he wouldn’t be allowed to do anything fun during the suspended day.

But in addition to all that, Iggy’s dad glared. The whole day, he glared at Iggy.

Iggy’s mom wasn’t like that. She did the things Iggy expected—talking-to, no fun, chores— but in the end, she always seemed more sorry than mad. And, unlike his dad, on a suspended day, she didn’t want to waste her entire day off work being sorry or mad. By the afternoon, she and Iggy were usually watching a movie. Granted, it was usually some girls-in-long-dresses movie, but Iggy didn’t mind, especially if his mom made hot chocolate. He never would have said it (because he wasn’t stupid), but he liked being suspended if his mom stayed home with him.

This time, however, it was his dad. Glaring.

And not only glaring, but muttering.

He muttered things about “Some of us have a job, you know” and “If I get suspended, you’ll be sorry” and “Irresponsible and immature.”

Jeez. It wasn’t like Iggy had wanted to be suspended.

Didn’t his dad like having the day off?

No. Apparently, he didn’t.

Iggy wondered what his dad really did. Because what he said he did sounded so incredibly boring that he should have been glad to have the day off. But he wasn’t glad. So he must have a secret job.

Maybe he was a spy!

Had to be.

Because about halfway through the day, Iggy’s dad was so crazy about his job that he said, “I’m going to try to get some work done, and I don’t want to hear a peep out of you. Unless you’re bleeding, don’t bug me.” He put his computer on the dining room table.

Iggy stood in the hall, not bugging anyone.

After a minute, his dad looked up, glaring. “Go outside. Go outside and—and—pick weeds. Or something. Don’t bug me.”