7. Meet Pete

Chapter 7 Meat Pets Nate and Brian stared. "You do? Who is it?" Nate asked. Bradley looked through Howard's window at the clock. "We have to go!" he said. "If we don't get home and eat dinner, we won't be able to go back and see the rehearsal!" The kids hurried up Main Street. They took Silver Circle to Woody Street, where both Nate and Lucy lived. They stopped in front of Nate's house. "Let's meet here at ten to seven," Bradley said.

"But you didn't tell us who the acrobat is!" Nate said. "We'll tell you then!" Bradley said. "Come on, Brian. I'll race you home!" The twins dashed through Nate's yard and ran to their house on Farm Lane. An hour and a half later, Bradley, Brian, and Lucy were standing in front of Nate's house. Nate burst through his front door, eating a cookie. He carried more cookies in a paper napkin. "Are you planning to share?" Brian asked, eyeing the cookies. "Duh, that's why I brought three," Nate said. "One for each of you. Ruth Rose and I made them, but they're good anyway." "Thanks, Nate, you're great!" Lucy said. "I know I am," Nate said. "Okay, you two, spill the beans. Tell us who you think the acrobat is." "Let's get going," Bradley said. "I'll tell you on the way." The kids walked and munched.

"Remember that guy who asked Howard for a haircut?" Bradley asked as they reached the high school grounds. "Yeah, he had serious hat hair!" Nate said. "Right," Bradley said. "His hair reminded me—" Bradley stopped when he saw Adam and Hannah sitting on the bus's bumper. It looked as if something was wrong. "Hi," Lucy said. "Hi yourself," Hannah said. She wiped some tears off her cheeks. Then she smiled. "We're the crying Fortunatos today." Adam giggled. "Better than the dying Fortunatos," he said. Both teenagers laughed. "Um, what's going on?" Brian asked. "Should we tell them?" Adam asked his sister. "Sure, why not?" she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "They sold tickets for us." Adam stood up and opened the sliding door of the bus. "Come on in," he said. The kids climbed inside the bus and looked around the cozy apartment. There was a bed, a

small table with a lamp on it, and a rug on the floor. In one corner, an old gray parrot sat on a perch. He tilted his head and stared at the newcomers with his shiny black eyes. "Peter the parrot!" he croaked. Bradley laughed. "Does he say anything else?" he asked. Adam scratched the parrot's chest with his finger. "He used to, but now it's just those three words," he said. "We've tried to teach him more, but he pretends he doesn't hear us. Right, Pete?" "Peter the parrot!" Peter squawked. Bradley noticed that every inch of wall space held a painting or drawing. Some of them showed

circus stuff, like clowns and lions and elephants doing tricks. Bradley realized that the picture he'd found in the shoe box was done by the same artist. He looked at the signature on the bottom of each picture: Adam. One whole wall held pictures of a trapeze artist. An acrobat in silver tights was flying through the air, or swinging from a trapeze bar, or doing flips. Like the others, these pictures were signed by Adam.

Lucy put her finger on the figure wearing the silver costume. "This is you, right?" she asked Hannah.