Philip and the Sneaky Trashmen (9781619502185) (9 page)

Officer Sandy finished the story. “They
would wait for the family to go out for the evening, and then they
would strike. This Mr. Sorino would occasionally sell used goods to
Pete’s Repeat Shop in the mall, so people wouldn’t get suspicious
about why he was interested in everybody’s trash.” She rose. “I
thought you might want to know how things turned out, Philip,
Emery. Quite a boy you have there, Mrs. Felton. You too,
Emery.”

Philip’s mother looked like she didn’t
know where she was or what had happened. “Oh, yes, he is. For
sure,” she managed.

“
Oh, and rest assured,”
Officer Sandy went on, “we’ll keep your names out of this, as I
explained to the boys the other day.” She looked at Mrs. Felton.
“For safety reasons.” Officer Sandy thanked the boys again and said
good-bye.

Philip and Emery turned toward Mrs.
Felton, who stared at them as if she didn’t recognize
them.

“
Safety reasons?” she
repeated. “I have to call your father.” She went to the phone in
the kitchen.

“
Let’s get out of here,”
said Philip.

They headed for Mrs. Logan’s bushes,
where they spent the morning having a long and happy
discussion.

Philip and Emery were in the playground
late in the afternoon playing parachute, taking turns pushing each
other high and jumping off the swing.

Behind them they heard, “Hey, guys.
Wait’ll you hear. Somebody tried to steal my new TV, and the police
caught them, and guess who it was!”

“
Who?” Philip asked, trying
hard not to look at Emery.

“
Mr. Sorino! He was really
a
bad
guy. A
robber. A stealer.”

“
Wow,” said Emery. “That’s
something.”

Leon looked downcast. “Just when I was
gonna make a lot of money, too, helping him.”

Dinner time was near so the boys began
walking home, and Philip changed the topic. “How was Hershey
Park?”

“
Oh, man. Really great! But
my mom said it would’ve been more fun if I had a friend along with
me. Mom and Dad don’t like going on rides much. She said she’s
gonna ask your mothers if you both want to go away to camp with
me.”

“
What?” Philip and Emery
shouted together.

“
Oh no,” cried Philip.
“Emery, we gotta tell them no.” Both boys ran ahead.

“
Wait,” called Leon. He
took two small bags of silver-wrapped Hershey chocolate from his
pockets. “I want to give you some Kisses.”

Philip and Emery stopped running and
looked at each other, eyes wide in shock.

“
Stay there,” Leon shouted,
running after them. “Let me give you some Kisses.”

Philip and Emery started running again
and didn’t look back once.

Philip and the Sneaky
Trashmen
is John’s twelfth novel for Gypsy
Shadow Publishing and the tenth novel of his award-winning series
starring Philip and Emery. John also writes science-fiction and
mystery novels for adults.

WEBSITE:
www.johnpaulits.com

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/john.paulits

BLOG:
http://johnpaulits.wordpress.com/

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