“I’ll see you later, Tommy!” Danny cried happily, jumping out of the car. “Thanks, Mrs. Pickles!”
“Your welcome, dear!” Didi said happily. “We’ll see you tomorrow!”
Danny waved to both of them as the van drove away, and smiled. He felt better after going over to Tommy’s house. Sam had to leave early, but she seemed to like getting to know Tommy and that made Danny even happier. Sam was going to go to Tommy’s with Danny again tomorrow.
Danny started toward his house. It was a tall brick house, with a bunch of windows all over the sides. A huge yellow sign with large letters spelling Fenton Works stood on top, made the house stand out of all the others in Amity Park. Danny hated that sign. It was like it was calling out to the whole city, saying to come and taunt his family some more. There was going to be even more teasing, when the new improved op-center was going to be built on the roof of his house.
Danny walked up the front steps, opened the door, and stepped inside. “Mom,” he called, “Dad, Jazz, I’m home!”
Danny looked around inside. He heard the normal sounds of his parents working downstairs in the lab, and he also heard his sister doing her summer chores, but something was missing.
Danny was trying to figure out what was different about the sounds in his home. Then it hit him. His pet hamster, Speedy, wasn’t there to greet him! Whenever Danny would come home from a long day, he would hear Speedy get on his exercise wheel, and he would run and run until he either got tired or until Danny came into his room and gave Speedy a hamster treat.
Speedy was a very intelligent hamster.
Jazz rushed down the stairs. “Hey, Danny!” she cried. “How was your last day of school?”
“It was okay.” Danny answered. “Yours?”
“Actually, it was-,”
But before Jazz could answer his question, Danny exclaimed, “Hey, you cleaned out Speedy’s cage for me! Thanks, Jazz!” He took Speedy’s cage out of Jazz’s hands.
“I know you were going to clean his cage out today, but-,”
“Thanks again, Jazz!” Danny interrupted, dashing up the stairs.
“But Danny,” Jazz said weakly, “there’s something I have to tell-,”
“Jazz!” Danny cried facing his bedroom door. “You shouldn’t have left my door open! If Speedy is in his rolling ball, you should leave the door closed! He could be anywhere in the house now!”
“Trust me, Danny! Speedy’s not going anywhere for a long time!”
“Jazz, Speedy’s gotta be around here somewhere, help me look for him!”
Danny walked into his room, crouched down, and looked under his bed, but Jazz picked him up by his vest. “Danny,” she said, with a tone of sadness in her voice, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but Speedy’s gone!”
“Gone?” Danny asked, surprised. “Gone where?”
Jazz hesitated. “Gone as in up there.” she said pointing to the roof.
Danny’s eyes suddenly widened. “No.” he cried. “No, your lying!”
“Do I really look like the type of person who would lie about this, Danny?”
“If this is some sort of joke Jazz, it’s not funny!”
“This isn’t a joke Danny!” Jazz walked to the right side of Danny’s bed and grabbed Speedy’s empty ball with both hands. “See? You know I would normally put Speedy in here when you weren’t home. You told me to feed him his special nuts and oats if you ran late this morning, and when I went to do that Speedy didn’t look like he was feeling all that well. When I got home from school, I went to check to see how he doing, and he was… well, you know!”
“B-But,” Danny cried, tears forming in his eyes, “Speedy couldn’t have died! He just couldn’t have!”
“I’m sorry, Danny.” Jazz said sadly as she watched her little brother climb onto his bed. “I know how much Speedy ment to you.”
“Thanks.” Danny said wiping the tears off his face. “And Jazz?”
“Yeah, Danny?”
“Tell Mom I’m skipping dinner tonight. I’m not hungry.”
Jazz smiled at him. “Of course.”
Rugphan
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