“Mo-oooom!” Peter protested.
Beth looked up with her ice-cream-covered face. “Nunh-unh!”
“He can’t babysit,” Dill stated loudly.
Mom looked down in surprise. Normally she would have been angry at Dill’s tone, but she was still too happy to care much about him.
“And why not?”
“He’s going to the carnival with me.”
Mom’s eyes got big. “Uh…Peter, why is this the first I’m hearing about this?”
“Um…”
“Cuz I just told him today.”
Mom’s good mood was quickly fading. “Well, I’m sorry, but that’s just not acceptable. I need you to babysit tomorrow night, Peter – ”
“He has to go,” Dill interrupted. “He has to.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he’s a loser at school. Everybody thinks he’s a total spaz.”
“Hey!” Peter objected.
Dill ignored him and plowed on through. “They’re calling him ‘Peter Ab-Normal,’ and that’s not cool. We have to make him cool again, and the only way to do that is to get him to the carnival.”
“Again I ask, why is that?”
“Cuz only the cool kids go to the carnival! So if he goes, then he gets cool again! And everybody’s happy!”
“There’s more to life than looking cool around others,” Mom lectured as she started stacking soup cans again.
“Yeah, right,” Dill scoffed. “You obviously haven’t been a kid for a looooong time.”
Mom darted an irritated look at Dill. “Sorry, Bodinski, you’re on your own.”
“Sowee Bojinki,” Beth gurgled through her ice cream.
Dill paused. For the first time, he looked completely lost. Then a look of cunning stole back into his eyes.
“Okay…well, I guess I’ll just go with my brother Woody.”
“Good for you,” Mom said absent-mindedly.
“But Woody and his friends always ditch me…so I guess I’ll go find somebody to hang out with. Like Ranger Eric…he said he was going.”
Mom’s arm stopped midair, a can still in her hand.
Dill saw her hesitation and went in for the kill.
“Yeah, I’ll just hang out with him ALL NIGHT. He’s cool, he won’t say no to me. He knows I have a crappy family life.” Dill gave an exaggerated sigh.
Mom turned around to face Dill. “I don’t think you should bother Eric.”
“He won’t mind.”
“I think he might.”
Dill shrugged. “I don’t care.”
“You should stay with your brother.”
“I told you, he ditches me.”
“I think you can stay with him if you really try.”
“Nope. He runs faster than I do.”
“Dill – ”
“Nope, I’m hangin’ with Ranger Eric!” Dill crowed triumphantly. “I’ll find him, and follow him, and talk to him ALL NIGHT LONG!”
The desperation that had recently twisted Dill’s face had now switched over to Mom’s.
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Copyright © 2009 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.
4 comments:
I can not stop laughing, oh ho i love Dill sometimes.
Poor Melissa, cant a woman just get a little loving?
YES!
DILL JUST BECAME MY FAVORITE CHARACTER!
<3
Love that kid!
Using his poor family life and annoying nature to manipulate the stiuation.
Looooove him!
Also, about the contest thing... I think that would be a good idea! Mostly because I want to be in the story.
:P
~N7
AnakMoon -
Not when Dill's around!
Glad you love the Dillster - if not always, we'll take sometimes.
N7
YAY! The Dill love-a-thon continues unabated!
I will let you know about the contest...it will be a long time in the coming, but trust me, I'll blare it loud and large all across the site.
OK, I like Dill for once.
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