12 Simon’s Dad Comes Home

CHAPTER TWELVE SIMON'S DAD COMES HOME WE HAD ENOUGH money left over for pizza. Simon insisted on sitting in the front window at Pequod's Pizza. He wanted to keep an eye on his new bike. We got an extra-large pepperoni pizza and three large lemonades. Since I only eat things in even numbers, I like pepperoni pizza the best. That's because it's easy to count the pepperoni slices. If it's not an even number I can just take one off, easy peasy.

We ate the whole thing. And we drank all the lemonade. And then Rosie and I ran along on each side of Simon as he rode his new bike home. He probably wanted to go real fast—who wouldn't want to go fast on a brand-new bike?!—but he didn't. He went slow so we didn't have to run too hard. When we were about one block from his house, Simon's dad passed us in his car. He honked and waved.

Simon stopped his bike on the sidewalk. It was so new that the brakes made a rubbery squeaky sound. "Wish me luck," Simon said. I could tell he was getting nervous again. "Good luck," Rosie and I said at the same time. We didn't go with him, but we sort of stood behind a clump of trees and watched from a distance. We couldn't hear what happened. We were too far away. But we could see what happened. Simon parked his new bike in the driveway after his dad pulled into the garage. His mom came out and stood on the porch. When his dad came out of the garage, he was smiling and shaking his head. Simon used his hands as he talked. He pointed at

his mom's clean car and up the street toward the Breezy Acres retirement home. He held up seven fingers to show how many cars we washed. I think he told his dad all about the garage sale then, because he waved his hands toward the driveway. Finally, Simon pointed at his brand-new bike. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets and hung his head a little bit.

"Do you think he's telling him about getting into trouble at school now?" Rosie asked. "I think so." His dad nodded his head and rubbed Simon's hair. Then he put his arm around Simon's shoulders and kind of steered him into the garage. "What's happening now?" I asked Rosie. "I don't know." A minute later, Simon's dad came out of the

garage riding the adult bike. He called something over to Simon's mom. Simon hurried to his new bike and hopped on. They rode side by side out of the driveway and turned right. That's the way to Picasso Park.