15. To Thine Own Self Be Truant

CHAPTER 15 TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUANT When the sun rose the next day, George and Harold were still going through their spelling checklists. George was almost done studying. Harold still had to read forty-four pages of his natural history textbook. "Breakfast is ready!" shouted George's dad from downstairs. George stumbled down exhaustedly and tried to smoosh some waffles into his mouth. He missed.

Meanwhile, Harold was sitting at his breakfast table in a burned-out stupor, buttering his cereal and pouring milk on his toast. "Did you get any sleep at all last night?" asked Harold's mom. "OK," Harold answered. Harold's answer didn't make any sense, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances.

Before long, George and Harold were ready for school. They met up, as they did every school day, in George's front yard. "Are you ready for all of our big tests today?" asked George droopily. "Pretty good," said Harold. He was so tired he couldn't even answer a simple question from his best friend correctly. How was he going to manage a day's worth of tests? "Let's get this over with," George moaned. "Wait!" said Harold. "I want to check on Crackers's eggs before we go to school."

Harold wobbled to George's backyard and hoisted himself up the ladder to the tree house. "Hurry up!" said George. Harold did not answer. "Hey!" shouted George. "We're gonna be late!" Harold did not come down.

George climbed up the steps and peeked inside the tree house. It was just as he had expected. Harold had fallen asleep at their desk. "Hey, Harold," said George, shaking his friend's shoulder. "Wake up, man! We're gonna be late for our tests!" "Just five minutes," moaned Harold. "I just need to sleep for five minutes. PLEASE!!! "Well, OK," said George. "But not a minute longer!"

George took his backpack off and set it against the tree house door. Then he plopped down in his beanbag chair and looked at his pocket watch. 7:53 A.M. The second hand was ticking by awfully slowly. "I'm just going to close my eyes for a second," said George. "Just for a few seconds..."