5 The Sequel to Halloween

Chapter 5 The Sequel to Halloween It was getting dark outside when my mom finally came to pick me up from school. "So, tell me all about the after-school program," she said as we got into the car. "What did you do?" "Nothin'," I said. Any time your mom asks what you did during the day, always say "Nothin'." Even if an alien spaceship landed in the middle of the lunchroom that day, just tell your mom that nothing happened. Even if a spaceship landed and a bunch of alien Elvis impersonators got out and sang "Hound Dog," just say "Nothin'." That's the first rule of being a kid. "Did you and The Six Moms make a lot

of sandwiches today?" I asked her. "No, we don't have any customers yet," Mom told me. "Our company is just getting off the ground." I told her that it will be hard to make sandwiches if her company is floating around in the air. We emptied out my backpack, and there was a sheet of paper inside telling the parents all about the Ella Mentry School food drive. So my mom called Ryan's, Michael's, and Neil's moms and arranged for me and my friends to go out collecting food together. The next day was Saturday, and me and the guys met up at Michael's house. Our moms gave us pillowcases to hold the food we collected. Then we went door-to-door around the neighborhood asking for food. "We're collecting food for hungry

people," we said at the first house we visited. The lady gave us a can of tomato sauce. "We're collecting food for hungry people," we said at the next house. A man gave us a can of beans. We went to a bunch of houses, and everybody was happy to give us some food. The pillowcases were starting to get heavy. When we came to the next house, you'll never believe in a million hundred years who answered the door. Nobody. You can't answer doors, because doors don't talk. But you'll never believe

who opened the door. It was Mr. Klutz! "Ah!" he said. "I see you boys are collecting food for the food drive. Good work! Here's a can of soup." "Thanks, Mr. Klutz!" we said. "Remember, if you kids collect 3,000 pounds of food, I'll jump out of a plane in an ape suit and land on the roof of the school." "How will you be able to see the roof of the school from the sky?" Michael asked. "There's a big red circle on the roof," Mr. Klutz told us. "I should be able to land right on it unless there's a lot of wind that day." Before we left, Mr. Klutz gave all of us cookies. We ate them as we walked down the street. "Y'know," Ryan said as we ate our cookies, "this is almost like Halloween! We

just knocked on Mr. Klutz's door, and he gave us treats." That's when I came up with the greatest idea in the history of the world. When Ryan knocked on the next door and a lady opened it, I held out my pillowcase and yelled, "Trick or treat!" "Isn't Halloween in October?" the lady asked. "That was months ago." I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I had to think fast. "You know how really good movies have sequels?" I said. "Well, they decided that really good holidays should have sequels, too. Today is the sequel to Halloween." "The sequel to Halloween?" the lady said. "Hmmm, I never heard of that." "Oh, it was in all the newspapers," I told her. "But you boys aren't even wearing

costumes," she said. "Oh, costumes aren't allowed on the sequel to Halloween," I told her. "Everybody knows that." "Well... okay," the lady said. "Let me see if I have any candy." She came back a minute later with four Hershey bars. "Thanks!" we all said. "Happy Halloween!" What a scam!