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I finished my call right before Dad came back to the car, and we headed into the city. I just wish I took a better look at that map, because when we pulled up to Bayside Street, I realized it was the parking lot for the baseball stadium. But by then it was too late. It turns out Mom had bought us tickets to the baseball game for some special father-son bonding and Dad was trying to keep it a surprise. But it took Dad a long time to explain all of that to the cops. After he cleared things up with the police, Dad wasn't in the mood for a baseball game, so he

just took me home. I felt kind of bad because the seats Mom got us were in the third row, and it looked to me like they cost a fortune. Tuesday I finally found out what that phone call was all about

the other day. Dad had been on the phone with Gramma, and they were talking about Sweetie, not me. Mom and Dad had decided to give the dog to Gramma, and Dad dropped Sweetie off on Sunday night. To be honest with you, I don't think anyone's really gonna miss him around here. Me and Dad haven't talked to each other since then, and I've been looking for excuses to stay out of the house. I found a really good one yesterday. There was a commercial on TV for this store called the Game Hut, which is where I buy all my video games. They're having a competition where you play at your local store, and if you win you get to advance to the national playoffs. And the winner of that gets a

million bucks. The competition at my local store is on Saturday. I'm sure there are gonna be a ton of people at that thing, so I'm gonna go super early to make sure I get a good place in line. I learned that trick from Rodrick. Whenever he wants to get tickets to a concert, he camps out the night before. In fact, that's where he met his band's lead singer, Bill. CAN I BUM A POTATO CHIP? Rowley and his dad go camping all the time, so I knew he had a tent. I called Rowley and told him about the video game contest and how we could win a million bucks.

But Rowley was acting nervous on the phone. I think he was still worried that I had electrical superpowers or something, and the only way to get him to calm down was to promise I wouldn't use them on him. Even after we were past that, Rowley didn't seem comfortable with the campout idea. He said his mom and dad banned him from seeing me for the rest of the summer. I pretty much figured that, but I had a plan to get around it. I told Rowley that I'd tell my parents I was going up to his house to spend the night, and he could tell his parents he was going to Collin's. Rowley STILL didn't seem sure, so I told him I'd bring him his very own box of gummy bears if he came along, and that sold him.

Saturday Last night we met at the top of the hill at 9:00. Rowley brought the camping equipment and the sleeping bag, and I brought the flashlight and some chocolate energy bars. I didn't have the gummy bears right at that moment, but I promised Rowley I'd buy him some the first chance I got. When we got to the Game Hut we were the only people there, and I couldn't believe our luck. So we pitched our tent in front of the store before anyone else could take our spot.