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ROCK AND ROLLER’S CODE: SAY “BABY” AND “YEAH” A LOT

Melvin zoomed across town, trying to ignore the underwear. He couldn’t wait to hear his favorite band, The Grateful Fred. They had fans all over the world. They were more popular than U2. They had more gold albums than Me3. They rocked harder than Us4.

The Grateful Fred knew the Rock and Roller’s Code, and this was one of the reasons for their success. Their first album was called Yeah, Yeah, Baby. Their second album was called Baby, Baby, Yeah. And their third was called Baby, Yeah, Baby.

Yes, the Rock and Roller’s Code was working just fine.

*   *   *

Melvin arrived at the concert just as the first song was starting. He hovered above the crowd, which was going wild, as Fred, the leader of The Grateful Fred, sang their latest hit—“Baby, Yeah, Yeah.”

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Melvin watched the crowd for any sign of foul play. He had a nose for such things. It was his nose that helped him catch the McNasty Brothers, who, as everyone knows, smelled worse than rotting Brussels sprouts.

Melvin circled above the concert. He saw no sign of danger, no sign that anything bad was about to happen. The Fredheads—this is what the fans called themselves—were too busy having fun to think devious thoughts, let alone sinister ones. And so Melvin relaxed and enjoyed the concert.

Big mistake!

Suddenly an explosion ripped through the air—KABOOM! The stage began to collapse. The Fredheads screamed and scattered in all directions.

“Holy stampede!” Melvin said. “This is terrible.”

Holy stampede, indeed! It was terrible. The stage crumbled, falling toward the crowd. People were about to be crushed. Melvin shot out of the sky to the rescue. He got there just in time. Just in the nick of time, in fact. He grabbed the stage and held it up until all those near it got clear and The Grateful Fred band members climbed down.

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“How can I ever thank you?” Fred said.

“Just doing my job,” Melvin replied, which, of course, was part of the Superhero’s Code. And Melvin always kept to the code.

Fred unstrapped himself from his guitar. “I can’t understand it. Who would do such a thing?”

“Not sure,” Melvin said. “But I’m going to find out.” He walked behind the stage where no one could see him and took off.

Or at least he tried to.

“Up, up, and away.”

Crash!

Splat!

Thud!

Kabonk!

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Once again, Melvin was up and flying on the fifth try. But he couldn’t think about his flying problems right now. Someone was out to get The Grateful Fred, and he had to find out who. And why.

He knew he couldn’t solve this one alone. He needed help. He needed his assistant, Candace Brinkwater. The only person ever to score 500 points in a basketball game. The only person to run the hundred-yard dash in three and a half seconds. The only third-grader who could fly.