12 Clapping and Honking

CHAPTER TWELVE CLAPPING AND HONKING 8 degreesFahrenheit IT TOOK ABOUT fifteen minutes to get to school. And Rosie and I were totally warm—for lots of reasons. 1. Rosie's Wicked Ride was warmed up to begin with by the hair dryer. 2. We were protected from the wind. 3. Rubbing the metal poles with the sandpaper totally worked. They got hot—and warmed the air inside. Every few minutes, we rubbed them again to keep them hot.

4. The activity itself warmed us up too. We weren't just sitting there. You know what I mean? It was fun. And it was something else too. It was entertaining. Not for us. For other people. I mean, how often do you see a muscleman pulling a burlap-wrapped-bubble-wagon thing down the sidewalk? And inside there are two girls frantically rubbing sandpaper up and down two metal poles? Umm, not very often. If ever. It was a rare and unique thing to see. So when people saw it, they stared. They yelled. They clapped. They whistled.

Cars drove alongside us and honked. Not like loud, blaring, mean honks. It wasn't like this: HOOOOOOOOONK! It was more like short, friendly, encouraging honks, like this: Beep! Beep! It was crazy. It was fun. And it was warm. "I think we can stop now," Rosie suggested once we turned a corner on the sidewalk and saw the school.

"I know we all worked together and everything," I said and stopped rubbing. "But I'm glad Simon painted Rosie's Wicked Ride along the side. It was your idea." "Thanks," she said. And then she changed the subject. I knew she would. She doesn't like to take credit for stuff. That's just the way she is. She asked, "Do you think we should give Simon the tickets right

away?" "Let's wait until we get inside," I answered. "We'll give them to him at Table 5." And that's what we did.

HIGH FIVE You've heard twelve chapters, eightyseven pages and fivethousandsixhundredeightysix words. If you've listenedto all four books in the series ,you've heard twentythreethousandsixhundredeightyeight words, awesome. How do you feel? I can eat twentythreethousandsixhundredandeightyeight marshmallows.