Al Capone Does My Homework Read Online Free PDF

yet.”
    “So what are your plans?” I ask. “Mac and belly button cheese? Parmesan belly button
     cheese? Or maybe blue belly button cheese—which is extra-stinky?”
    Jimmy has his head on his elbows, his pillow facing mine. A smirk spreads over his
     face. “I’m not sure yet. If you’ve got ideas, you should tell me.”
    “Won’t it overflow?” I ask.
    “You got to harvest,” he explains.
    “So anybody can start their own cheese factory?”
    “It’s a competitive business,” Jimmy says.
    “The bigger the belly button, the better the harvest?”
    We’re both cracking up now. The idea of Jimmy farming his belly button is too much.
     I could actually see him do it. That’s the funniest part.
    Of course, that’s when my parents burst in the door still dressed in their evening
     clothes, my mom clutching her shiny green handbag.
    “He’s laughing,” my mother snaps. “Apparently he’s fine.”
    “Moose.” My father’s voice is uncharacteristically sharp. “Where’s Natalie?”
    “She’s fine. She’s in Theresa’s room,” I say as Mrs. Mattaman comes out of the kitchen.
    “They’re just slaphappy, Helen. I told them to talk about something besides the fire.
     They were so wound up. But you’d have been proud of your Moose, I’ll tell you that.
     He kept his head and got Natalie out of there.”
    Mr. Mattaman comes out of the bedroom in his undershirt.
    “Riv, Anna Maria.” My dad steps forward. “’Preciate you helping out like this.”
    “Of course, Cam, you’d of done the same for us,” Mr. Mattaman’s deep voice resonates.
    “Go on. Go see your girl.” Mrs. Mattaman puts her arm around my mother and gives her
     a squeeze.
    My parents head for Theresa and Jimmy’s room, then stand watching her from the doorway.
    “You talk to Darby?” Riv asks when my dad comes back.
    My father shakes his head. Mr. and Mrs. Mattaman exchange a worried look.
    “Okay with you if I steal Moose for a minute?” my father asks Jimmy as my mom slips
     off her high heels and sinks into the Mattamans’ sofa.
    “Sure, Mr. Flanagan,” Jimmy chirps.
    “Helen, you go on now. Probably best if I talk to Moose on my own. I’ll be up in a
     few minutes.”
    “You need me?” Riv asks my dad.
    “No thanks, Riv,” my dad says.
    “I’m gonna stay with the kids, then. Anna Maria wants to check in on Betty Bomini.
     She’s pretty upset Annie went with Bo instead of her. You know how Betty is with the
     fainting. But then I guess Annie got to the hospital and they wouldn’t let her in.
     Got to be sixteen.”
    “Where is Annie now?” I ask.
    “She’s at Bo’s brother’s house. She called in and Mrs. Caconi talked to her. She’s
     fine. That Annie’s got a good head on her shoulders,” Riv tells me, then turns to
     my dad. “You and Helen are welcome to stay with us, you know that.”
    “The warden found us a spot. Gonna bunk up at the Chudley house, but you got the better
     part of the family, that’s for sure,” my father says.
    Mrs. Mattaman smiles. “No doubt there.”
    “Warden Williams is back, then?” Riv asks.
    My father nods.
    “Piper was scared to death, poor thing,” Mrs. Mattaman reports. “She was watching
     little Walty all by herself in this hullabaloo. She’s not used to babysitting the
     way your Moose and my Jimmy are.”
    “Scared everybody, I imagine,” my father tells her.
    I follow my dad outside, but the cold, damp night air makes me want to return to the
     Mattamans’, where it’s warm and cozy and everything is like it always has been. We
     look at the blackened front of #2E, though neither of us walks over there.
    “I hope Mr. Bomini’s hand is okay.”
    “It can’t be good if Ollie couldn’t get him patched up here,” Dad says, his eyes liquid
     with worry. “Tell me what happened, Moose.”
    My dad chews his toothpicks as I explain how Theresa and Annie were there and then
     the fire started and I got Natalie and her button box out, even though