Chapter 9

chapter 9 Papa Pete was in a great mood when he returned with Ms. Lopez. "This trip to the library has been very successful," he said. "I now know more about bowling leagues than any human should. How about you, Hankie? Did you learn the truth about zombies?" "I sure did," I said. "See what I told you?" He patted me on the shoulder. "Knowing the facts is the best way not to be afraid." He said good-bye to Ms. Lopez and we walked downstairs and out the door onto Amsterdam Avenue. I was completely silent. You're probably wondering why I didn't tell

Papa Pete the real truth I learned about zombies. This is why. I love Papa Pete more than anyone in the world. And I knew that zombies went for old people first. It was going to be up to me to protect him. I just hadn't figured out how to do that yet. So I decided to keep quiet until I figured out a plan. The last thing I wanted was to scare him, too. When Papa Pete dropped me off at my apartment, I said to him, "Keep your phone close, okay?" "Why?" "I'm going to need to talk to you in a little while." "Oh, you've got a secret, do you?" Papa Pete said with a wink. "I love secrets." He wasn't going to love this one, that's for sure. "Oh, and Papa Pete," I added. "You might want to practice some of your karate moves. They could come in handy." "This gets more interesting by the minute," he said. Then he gave me one of his giant hugs

and headed for home. When I walked into my living room, my parents were busy helping Emily into her Halloween costume. She was in a really bad mood because her tail had fallen off. "I told you that we put too many scales on it," my dad was telling her. "The costume just couldn't take the weight." "Fine," Emily snapped. "Then I'm not going trick-or-treating." "Don't be silly, honey," my mom said. "You wait all year for this night." "A Komodo dragon without a tail is like a pizza without cheese," she said, and stomped her clawed foot so hard that one of the toenails

fell off, too. "Hank," my mom said. "Maybe you can talk Emily into going out trick-or-treating with you and your friends. I don't want her to miss a good time." "I think I'll stay home, too," I said. "You know how I always want to support my little sister." "When did that start happening?" my dad asked. "A minute ago." "What's up with you, Hank?" Emily asked. "You seem weird." "Me? Nothing's up with me. I was just thinking that what we should do tonight is call Papa Pete and have him come over. Once he's inside the apartment, we lock all the doors and windows and don't turn on any water faucets.

We'll have a fun family night, just us, locked inside. Oh, and if we want to have an even better time, we could shove the couch over to block the front door." My mom, my dad, and Emily all stared blankly at me. But before anyone could answer, the doorbell rang. "Nobody open that," I whispered. "Of course we're going to open the door," my mom said. "It's probably Frankie and Ashley. They called a few minutes ago to say they'd meet you here to go out trick-or-treating." "But how do you know it's them and not some creepy zombie?" I blurted out. My father had already reached the front door and opened it. Standing there was a creepy zombie, his eyes half closed and his arms reaching out to me! "Haaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnk," the zombie moaned. I knew that voice. It was Frankie. Standing behind him was Ashley. At least, I think it was Ashley. Either that, or a giraffe wearing a really sparkly necklace had just

walked into my apartment.