4

HERE COMES THE AIRPLANE, ALFRENDO! OPEN WIDE! But that wasn't the only thing I used that doll for. I found out that he made a really excellent comic book stand, too. I have to admit, after a few months I got really attached to that doll. Since I didn't have a pet, it was kind of nice to have something to take care of for once.

But one day I came home from school and I couldn't find Alfrendo ANYWHERE. I searched the house from top to bottom, but there was no trace of him. The only thing I could think of was that I dropped Alfrendo at some point and somehow didn't notice. I was pretty torn up about losing my doll, but what I was REALLY worried about was Mom thinking I couldn't be trusted around my new baby brother. So I got a grapefruit out of the fridge and drew a face on it with a marker.

Then I wrapped the grapefruit in a dish towel, and for the next three months I pretended it was my doll. Mom and Dad didn't seem to notice. But I was terrified by the idea that the REAL Alfrendo was gonna find his way back home and get his revenge on me for abandoning him and replacing him with a fruit.

In fact, I still worry about that to this day. It's the reason I always check to make sure my window is locked before I go to bed at night. I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I actually got attached to that GRAPEFRUIT, too. But after a while it started to rot, and Dad traced the weird smell back to my Alfrendo decoy. Mom didn't seem too upset that I'd lost my doll, but I will say she's never left me alone in the house with

Manny for more than fifteen minutes. Like I said, though, it was nice to have something to take care of, and I missed that feeling. So these days I've been spending a lot of time playing this game called Net Kritterz. In fact, I've been playing Net Kritterz every free second I get. The basic idea is that you have to feed your pet and keep it happy. And if your pet is happy, you get tokens so you can buy it clothes and furniture and stuff like that. I've played so much that my pet Chihuahua has a mansion with an indoor swimming pool, a bowling alley, and about 150 different outfits.

The only thing I'm not happy about is his name. Mom's the one who set up my account, and I can't figure out how to change the name she registered with. GREGORY'S LITTLE FRIEND Mom says I take better care of my virtual pet than I do myself, and I guess I can't argue with her there. Over the weekend I played for sixteen hours without even taking a break to go to the bathroom.