3. The Flashback

CHAPTER 3 THE FLASHBACK It was about one year earlier, and all of the faculty and students of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School had gathered in the gymnasium for what would later be known as the "Sticky Chair Incident." George and Harold stepped up to the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said George, "Harold and I have invented something that is guaranteed to keep you all glued to your seats!" "Yes," said Harold. "We call it glue." Mr. Krupp became very angry. "You two did not invent glue!" he shouted. He stood up to take the microphone away from Harold, and his chair stood up with him. Everyone in the gymnasium laughed. The school secretary, Miss Anthrope, stood up to help remove Mr. Krupp's chair from his pants. Her chair stood up with her, too. Everyone in the gymnasium laughed harder.

The other teachers stood up, and— you guessed it—they were stuck to their chairs as well. Everyone in the audience howled with laughter. One kid stood up to go to the bathroom, and his chair came up with him, also. The audience stopped laughing so hard. They all quickly checked their chairs, and suddenly, the laughter stopped completely. Everyone in the whole school was glued to their seats.

You see, while it was true that George and Harold had not invented glue, they had invented a new kind of glue. By simply mixing rubber cement with concentrated orange juice mix, they had created a quick-drying, body-heat-activated glue. Then they applied this special glue to every seat in the gymnasium (except theirs) early that morning. Everybody in the gymnasium was glaring at George and Harold and seething with anger. "I've got a good idea," said George. "What?" asked Harold. "RUN!" cried George.

George and Harold were grinning from ear to ear, remembering their silly invention and the chaos that followed. "That was hilarious," laughed Harold. "Yeah," chuckled George. "It'll be hard to top that this year!" "Well, you won't get a chance this year," said Mr. Krupp. He took out a magnifying glass and held it up to the fine print on the sign. "This contest is open to all students in the third and fourth grades EXCEPT George Beard and Harold Hutchins."

"You mean, we can't enter the contest?" asked Harold. "It's worse than that," laughed Mr. Krupp. "You boys can't even attend this year's convention. I'm putting you two in study hall that whole day!" Mr. Krupp turned and walked away, laughing victoriously. "Rats!" said Harold. "What are we going to do now?" "Well," said George, "you know the old saying: If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!"