Dunc and Amos on Thin Ice Read Online Free PDF Page A

stepped back. “If it’s not a person …” The bag started squirming furiously.
    Dunc pointed at Amos. “My friend here won’t go anywhere without her, Officer. Ikchong is his pet cobra.”

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    Dunc rang Amos’s doorbell and tried to wait patiently for someone to answer. Mrs. Binder opened the front door still wearing her robe and curlers, carrying a cup of coffee.
    Dunc rushed past her. “You look great this morning as usual, Mrs. B.” He took the stairs three at a time, reached to pat Scruff, and turned Amos’s doorknob.
    Amos was standing on the top step of a tall metal ladder in the middle of his bedroom. He had pulled the mattress off hisbed and placed it a few feet from the ladder. “Hi, Dunc. Come on in. You can watch me work on my half Salchow.”
    “Your what?”
    “Half Salchow. It’s the half after the skater already jumps in the air. This is the landing part. Watch.”
    Amos made a dramatic leap off the ladder, twisted in the air, threw out one hand, and nipped. It was beautiful. Except for the part where he caught his fingers in the light fixture, hung there for a moment, ripped most of the hide off his fingertips, and then dropped seat-first into the wastebasket.
    “That’s interesting, Amos. Did it take you long to perfect it?”
    “Shut up and get me out of this thing. It’s all your fault I’m doing this stuff, anyway.”
    “My fault?”
    “You promised I’d get my picture taken with all those athletes to impress Melissa. Did I? No. I not only didn’t get even one lousy picture, I got thrown out of the sportscomplex for having a dangerous pet. By the time we got Ikchong on that bus to Cleveland, I didn’t even make it back in time to watch the final competition.”
    “I know, Amos. But we kept Ikchong from skating. Kim wound up with a bronze medal.”
    “And I wound up with sore ribs and no autographs. The only way I can awe Melissa now is to show her my smooth moves.”
    “That’s why I’m here, Amos. It came in this morning’s mail. Kim sent you a present.”
    “What is it, bandages?”
    Dunc pulled something out of the manila envelope he was carrying. “Look. It’s a picture of her getting the bronze medal. She signed it at the bottom.”
    “Let me see that.” Amos grabbed the picture. “All right!” He headed out the door.
    Dunc yelled after him, “Where are you going?”
    Amos was already halfway down thestairs. “Maybe it’s not too late to impress Melissa after all.”
    Dunc went to the door. He thought about telling Amos that he would make a better impression on Melissa if he took the wastebasket off his rear end. On the other hand … why spoil a perfect record?

Be sure to join Dunc and Amos in these other Culpepper Adventures:
The Case of the Dirty Bird
    When Dunc Culpepper and his best friend, Amos Binder, first see the parrot in a pet store, they’re not impressed—it’s smelly, scruffy, and missing half its feathers. They’re only slightly impressed when they learn that the parrot speaks four languages, has outlived ten of its owners, and is probably 150 years old. But when the bird starts mouthing off about buried treasure, Dunc and Amos get pretty excited. Let the amateur sleuthing begin!
Dunc’s Doll
    Dunc and his accident-prone friend Amos are up to their old sleuthing habits once again. This time they’re after a band of doll thieves! When a doll that once belonged to Charles Dickens’s daughter is stolen from an exhibitionat the local mall, the two boys put on their detective gear and do some serious snooping. Will a vicious watchdog keep them from retrieving the valuable missing doll?
Culpepper’s Cannon
    Dunc and Amos are researching the Civil War cannon that stands in the town square when they find a note inside telling them about a time portal. Entering it through the dressing room of La Petite, a women’s clothing store, the boys find themselves in downtown Chatham on March 8, 1862—the day before the historic clash between