Morgan Gets Cracking Read online

  “Um, I’ve just got a feeling,” I say.

  “Hmmf,” she says.

  Curtis is coming back. “Do it!” I say. I run back to Charlie. Mom puts us in line. Everyone is still shuffling around. I look over: Aldeen is whispering to Curtis. “Ready?” calls Mom. Nope, Aldeen is gone somewhere. Now she’s back.

  “Okay,” calls Mom.

  “Wait!” Dad and Aldeen’s granny squeeze in beside Charlie and me. “We want to play, too.”

  “Ohh-kayyy,” calls Mom. “Why not? Everyone ready?”

  “No! Wait for Curtis!” Aldeen calls. I look: now Curtis is gone somewhere.

  “Now what?” sighs Charlie. He wipes his hands on his shorts.

  “Probably so nervous he had to pee,” I say. I’m not nervous. I’ve got a hard-boiled egg in my pocket.

  Curtis strolls back from wherever he went, like a king or something. Charlie’s mom goes and gets the egg carton from a picnic table. She opens it. “Oh,” she says, “Didn’t know one was gone.” She counts us all. “Good, there’s enough.” She starts handing out eggs. When she gets to Charlie and me, I grab the egg before Charlie can and shove it in my pocket. When she moves on I reach back in and pull out the hard-boiled one instead. It’s time to get first dessert, even if I do have to give it to Aldeen.

  9 - The Yolk’s On ...

  “Go!” calls Mom. I toss to Charlie; he catches. We take a step back. Charlie tosses to me; I catch. We take a step back. I toss, Charlie tosses, I toss. Back, back, back, we go.

  Down the line there’s a yell, then another, then laughing, as people miss and get splattered. That’s not going to happen to us, though. How can it when we’re throwing a hard-boiled egg? I’m glad Dad gave me that tip about juggling. I one-hand the next catch. “Be careful, Morgan!” Charlie calls.

  “No sweat,” I laugh. We step back. Beside me, Aldeen’s granny crows, “Got it, good throw!” and steps back. I wonder when Aldeen is going to egg Curtis.

  There’s more yelling as eggs break. How many teams are left? I toss the egg. Charlie has to run to make the catch. “Morg! Watch it!”

  “It’s okay,” I call. I can’t tell him about the hard-boiled egg right now. I wonder if I should tell him later. I mean, it’s not as if we’re really cheating, is it? I’m just doing it to get Curtis, and I’m going to give Aldeen first dessert. There’s no time to think about it now. We step back. I look around. Dad makes a catch. Curtis and Aldeen are still tossing too. When is she going to egg him?

  “Ready?” Charlie calls. He’s way back by now. “Ready,” I call. Charlie’s tongue is sticking out between his teeth. He throws underhand, high and soft.

  It’s a great throw. It doesn’t need to be, but still. I watch the egg float in toward me. I’ll do a two-hander catch, right over my head. Here it comes, closer ... closer ... Watch it into your hands, Dad always says, when we play catch. I wiggle my fingers, reach up, aaaand ... now! I clap my hands and SPLAT, raw egg gloops all over my face.

  “AAAGH,” I yell, and as I do I see something through the dripping curtain of egg: Curtis catching, one handed. Then he brings his hands together and does something funny with them. It’s hard to tell what, with goo in my eyes. Then he throws. I look at Aldeen. She smiles and lifts her hands. Egg explodes all over her too.

  10 - The Wild Bounce

  Aldeen screams. Curtis is laughing. Charlie is saying “Nice try, Morg,” And I’m stunned. How could ...? I wipe my hands on my shorts. There’s a lump in my pocket. Aw, noooo ... Something tells me I pulled out the wrong egg.

  But something else is wrong, too. Aldeen is yelling, “Noooo! It was hard-boiled! It was hard-boiled!” Whaaaat?

  Then there’s cheering all around me. Dad and Aldeen’s granny have won the egg toss. “Next time, blindfolded!” Aldeen’s granny high fives Dad. Dad balances the egg on his nose.

  I go over and Charlie’s mom sprays goo off me with the hose. It feels so good it’s almost worth getting egged.

  “Chow time!” grown ups are calling. Oh well, we still won first burgers at soccer baseball. I also have a hard-boiled egg to eat. I get a plate and put my egg on it, then I join the line up for burgers right behind Charlie. Soccer baseball winners are supposed to be first, but guess who’s at the front of the line?

  “So, last throw I switch her hard-boiled egg for the raw one I took,” Curtis snickers to Charlie, “And I whip it back and egg her all over again! Perfect or what?”

  “Uh-huh,” says Charlie. “Where’d you get a raw egg?”

  “From the carton. Snuck over just before we started. That’s why one was missing. The hard-boiled one’s right here in my pocket.” Curtis pats his shorts.

  Charlie rolls his eyes. I know it’s true but I can’t help saying, “Yeah right, Curtis.” After all, it should be him who’s soaking right now, not me. As we step up to the giant grill, Curtis pulls an egg out of his pocket. “Watch and be amazed,” he says. “Hey dad, may I borrow the Super skull?”

  Superman grins and waves his burger flipper thingy. “Sure.” He flips up his shades and bends toward Curtis. His hair is spiky today too.

  Curtis raps. The shell cracks. Raw egg gloops all over Superman’s head. He snaps up. “CURTIS! WHAT THE —”

  Curtis’s eyes go wide. He starts stammering, “But, but, but ...”

  Egg drips down Superman’s face. He does not look so super anymore. He looks really mad. Curtis keeps on stammering.

  “Think I’ll get a burger later,” I say to Charlie.

  “Yeah,” he says.

  Aldeen walks up. Her witchy hair is plastered flat, like mine. Bits of shell are still in it. “Bwhat dud thab jerg bu now?” she asks. Her mouth is full.

  I tell her about Curtis and the egg on Superman’s head. Aldeen swallows.

  “Serves him right,” she says. She lifts something to take another bite. It’s a hard-boiled egg. Hey, wait a ... Did she ... How?

  Before I can ask anything Aldeen says, “Let’s go in the bouncy castle. I don’t wanna hang around here, I wanna play with my friends.”

  I think it’s oh-oh time again.

  Text copyright © 2012 Ted Staunton

  Illustrations copyright © 2012 Bill Slavin

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Formac Publishing Company Limited acknowledges the support of the Cultural Affairs Section, Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Staunton, Ted, 1956-

  Morgan gets cracking [electronic resource] / Ted Staunton; illustrated by Bill Slavin.

  (First novels)

  Electronic monograph.

  Issued also in print format.

  ISBN 978-1-4595-0076-1 (EPUB).--ISBN 978-1-4595-0127-0 (PDF)

  I. Slavin, Bill II. Title. III. Series: First novels (Online)

  PS8587.T334M664 2012 jC813’.54 C2012-902940-8

  This digital edition first published in 2012 as 978-1-4595-0076-1

  Originally published in 2012 as 978-1-4595-0074-7

  Formac Publishing Company Limited

  5502 Atlantic Street

  Halifax, NS B3H 1G4

  www.formac.ca