Bad News Bob and The Mean Machine
Chapter 9
Because Kelli's house was only next door, it didn't take us very long to get
there. Actually, we could have been
there a lot sooner, but Bob dragged his feet all the way.
I guess he didn't like it very much being called "Pussy Cat"
every time she saw him.
Like mine, Kelli's bedroom was on the second floor, but there was no tree
nearby to climb. However, hanging
onto the side of the house was a trellis. There
were vines growing on its wooden frame that completely covered that side of the
house. I suggested to Bob that someone should climb the trellis to
her window. Bob, who wasn't very
pleasant by now, suggested that since it was my idea to let Kelli tag along, I
should climb up to her room. Of
course he was right, so I began to climb.
The bright light of the full moon lit my way as I climbed to Kelli's
window. Bob waited below me as I
went higher and higher. I was
almost to the top when I felt the trellis move slightly followed by a familiar
creaking sound. (You know, the one that sounds like a nail being pulled
from a hunk of wood.) I continued
on slowly when "bad news" struck: the trellis began to pull away from
the house. I had nothing to grab
hold of because the thing I was holding was falling with me. I felt helpless as I dropped closer and closer to the ground.
Everything went black as I shut my eyes (maybe that's why things went
black). I felt myself falling
closer to the hard ground below me, and knew I would crash in a matter of
seconds. My life started to flash
in front of me.
Just as I was about to hit bottom, I heard a hissing noise and
felt softness close around me. It
was Bob. He had caught me.
Here was a guy who couldn't catch a fly ball with a fireman's net, yet
somehow he managed to break my fall with his body.
I fell flat on top of him, but we were both very lucky neither of us got
hurt. "And why didn't we get hurt?" you might ask.
Well, that utility belt of his (the one with over one hundred different
gadgets) had an airbag that inflated and broke my fall.
It's a good thing that boy was always prepared for the worst, or the two
of us might have had a couple of broken bones.
Once we got back on our feet, we realized that there was no way to get to
Kelli's window. Bob didn't have anything on his belt that would get us there,
but he did have an extension arm that could stretch twenty feet into the air.
The arm was kind of neat because after being extended, it had a plastic
hand on its tip. He shot it
straight up to Kelli's window and made the hand tap lightly on the glass.
Lucky for us Kelli's parents weren't interested in getting fresh air at
night like mine were, so her window was closed.
It took quite a few taps before we saw any movement; then a light turned
on and lit up the room. A groggy
Kelli walked to the window, saw who was below, and started to shake a fist.
Then she opened the window, stuck out her head and shouted insults in our
direction.
I figured she didn't know who we were, so I grabbed a flashlight and
shined it on Bob and me. Seeing us
didn't change Kelli's mind. She
shouted more insults, threatened to call the police, and even worse, threatened
to punch us out if we didn't leave right away.
Bob and I didn't have to be told that twice, so we quickly ran down the
street. We must have looked pretty
silly because Bob's air bag was still partially inflated, but we didn't want to
annoy the "Mean Machine" any more than we already had.
Hopefully, she would think it was all a bad dream and in the morning
would prefer to hold Bob's hand rather than rip it off and beat him to death
with it.
Answer the following questions.
1. Where did Kelli live?
2. How did Marty get to Kelli's window?
3. What "Bad News" happened to Marty?
4. How did Bob save Marty?
5. How did Bob finally wake Kelli?
6. What was Kelli's reaction to being woke up? What did she do?
7. Did Kelli finally get up and go with the boys?
