Chapter 7

As great as family vacations are, it’s good to get back home. Familiar bed. Familiar food. Familiar friends.

Billy and I decide there’s plenty of time to work on the tree house, so we take a few more days off. We’re hoping that the Huge Hairy Hisser will give up and leave our tree. Or even better, we hope he might climb down, grab our wood, and start building the tree house for us. HHH could probably carry the crates up the tree easier than Billy and me.

Either way, we want to give the huge beast time to decide. Besides, my dad and I have a bike race this weekend that we need to get ready for.

Before any big physical task, it’s important to get lots of sleep. So I begin my training by sleeping in. But as I roll over in bed, I feel a sharp pain on my right temple.

Turns out that sunglasses found in a river do not make a good sleep mask. Oh well, I need to get up anyway. I need to tell Dad that I entered us in a bike race.

You see, I want to surprise him for Father’s Day. And boy, is he surprised! In fact, he’s so excited he starts shouting random words.

“What? Eight miles! Are you crazy?!” he says as his face turns red with excitement.

I leave Dad in his office to brag on social media about what a great son he has. I head for the garage to gather together all our bike stuff. This is going to be a fun race!

My family owns a tandem bike, which is like a regular bike with a smaller bike attached to it. My dad sits in front and pedals. I sit in the back to help balance and give instructions about where to go.

If you don’t have a tandem bike, you should buy one. It makes bike riding super easy. Oh wait, my dad just said you can have ours. But I’m sure he’s just joking.

When I signed us up for the tandem bike race a couple of weeks ago, I was given a list of things to bring. Since this was a surprise, I got everything together so Dad wouldn’t be stressed before our big race.

The first thing on the list was water. Did you know that a gallon of water costs about $1.20, but one small bottle of water costs $2.00? That’s crazy! My family raised me not to waste money.

Dad has always been careful with money. On his first date with my mom, he didn’t buy her flowers. He bought her seeds. He said it’s much cheaper with the same results!

Knowing my dad would approve of my smart financial decision, I purchased the gallon jug and got us two straws.

The list also said to bring helmets. Looking back, packing my dad’s motorcycle helmet probably wasn’t the best idea. It weighs a lot more than his bicycle helmet. But on the plus side, it looks way cooler and helps give your neck a good workout.

After a couple more days of sleeping in to prepare, Dad and I arrive early Saturday morning for the race. I unpack our gear and look at our competition. There are eight other father-son teams. I instantly feel like we’re going to win. They all have small bottles of water and none of the other dads have cool helmets.

Then I notice Donny and his father.

So that’s where Donny gets his size, I think. His dad is huge!

My dad is big too. But our family’s size and strength seem to have skipped a generation with me. I make a mental note to ask Donny’s dad if he’ll go to the big tree and scare away HHH after the race.

“Did you clean out your secret safe?” Donny asks, walking up to me with a big grin.

“I did!” I say. “I thought you were joking, but whoever had my locker before me left twenty dollars in there.”

Donny looks confused. “You’re joking!” he shouts, walking back to his dad. “We’re going to destroy you in this race.”

I hear what Donny says, but I know that on Monday morning when he goes back to summer school, he’s going to check his locker!

Honk! The man in charge blows an air horn to gather the racers together and explain the rules. We’ll start at the park and end up eight miles away at Gus’s Hardware Store. When he says the word eight, all the fathers show their excitement by groaning.

We all get on our tandem bikes and roll up to the starting line. That’s when I wish we were wealthy enough to buy small water bottles. The gallon water jug in my backpack is making my job of balancing much harder. But this day isn’t about winning—it’s about spending time with my dad and making memories.

Once we’re all in position, the man in charge says, “Racers ready!” Then he holds the air horn above his head: Honk!

The race is on!

“Hey, Dad,” I begin . . .

“No,” he says, “you cannot have an air horn. And don’t forget you have your own pedals back there. Use them!”

Dad knows me really well.

Ten minutes into the race, Dad starts getting into the spirit of the race.

“Drink some of that water,” he pants. “We’re too heavy!”

I pull out our gallon jug and start to take a drink. But as I lift the jug to my face, the two straws hit me in my eyebrows. This causes us to wobble and fall a little behind the other racers.

Okay, we’re actually waaay behind the other teams. We’re so far behind, in fact, that Donny and his dad look like normal-size people as they round a corner up ahead and disappear out of sight.