Did I mention that I’m running out of time?
“Don’t panic, Gerald,” I keep telling myself. “Keep it together, dude.”
But that’s hard to do when Christmas is creeping closer. And there’s still NO SNOW on the ground. In fact, the grass is as green as a slime on a sunny day. It’s SO annoying!
I’m starting to think I have to give up on the sled thing and find another way for Santa Gerald to travel. I could really use some time to THINK about that. But Mom’s decided that we’re going to make a different kind of apple dessert every night. As a family. Before school. Which seriously cuts into my thinking time.
And really, how many different kinds of apple dessert can there be? I made the mistake of asking Mom that, and she started listing them off. Which just ate up more time. Big mistake.
Plus, Chloe has decided that since Sam and I can’t pull her to school on a sled anymore, I should pay for her silence in a different way—by doing her MATH homework every morning when we get home.
At first, I thought that would be a cinch. See, I’m a whiz at math, and Chloe, well, isn’t. But then I realized that if Chloe started turning in GOOD work, her teacher would know right away she was cheating and probably bust us both. So I’d have to do BAD or so-so work, and that was going to take a lot more time.
I fumed about that while I stole a few apples to save for kids’ stockings. I had just stuffed the apples under my itchy wool sweater and was creeping back to my room.
And I really hoped Chloe wouldn’t see me, because the last thing I needed was for her to bust me doing TWO sneaky things.
Instead—and this was the best part of my whole day—I busted HER doing something, or at least planning something.
See, her friend Cora Creeper had just shown up to walk to school with her, and they were talking in Chloe’s room. I heard Cora say something about “scoring a new, faster ride to school,” and then Chloe hushed Cora, and they both started laughing. Well, I’m no dummy. It was the hushing and the laughing that kind of clued me in. Chloe was UP to something.
Dad always says that two wrongs don’t make a right. But I got to thinking—if CHLOE did something wrong and got busted, then maybe HER wrong would cancel out MY wrong. And she wouldn’t be able to hold the sled thing over my head anymore.
Like I said, I’m pretty good at math—maybe even better than Dad.
So I’m going to keep an eye on my Evil Twin, night and day. If she’s doing something wrong, I’ll bust her.
Plus, I gotta say, I’m kind of interested in this faster ride to school. Because this fake Santa NEEDS a fast ride, now that my sled is gathering dust in the garage.
Did I mention I’m running out of time???
FOUR days ‘til Christmas.
And counting . . .
