Hunter Moran Hangs Out Read Online Free PDF Page A

push-ups. If I had matchstick legs like his, you’d never catch me in a pair of shorts. After two push-ups, he collapsed on the floor, ready to pass out. Or pass away. Sister Appolonia had to stop swinging from bars to help him lean against the wall.
    Nana dishes out melted-cheese sandwiches, burned around the edges. Her cooking tastes like Mom’s. She turns to Zack. “I’ve made your favorite lunch, Hunter.”
    We both hate cheese.
    Actually, it’s William’s favorite. He loves burned stuff.
    Mary hangs out of her high chair by the straps, dropping cheese all over the floor. Lucky Mary. She does whatever she pleases.
    Becca goes on. “I’ve already earned two You Did the Best You Could medals.” She raises her arms over her head, congratulating herself.
    Next to her, Zack looks grossed out.
    â€œHere’s mail.” Nana dumps it on the table. As if any of us would be getting something. It’s always junk: advertisements for steaks, a furnace, and life savers for a swimming pool, which we do not have, even though we’ve asked for one for our double birthday every year. We’ll try Nana again in November.
    But here’s something new. A letter addressed to Mom, which looks a little odd.
    Weird, as a matter of fact.
    Huge letters in red read: PRIVATE! PERSONAL! READ IMMEDIATELY!
    Could it be from the kidnapper?
    Mom’s mail is sacred. But poor Mom is in the hospital having Killer Godzilla. Checking out that mail is the right thing to do. But not in front of Nana, and definitely not in front of Linny.
    I slide the letter off the table and shove it into my backpocket. I tear off the black edges of cheese and stick them in there, too.
    Linny has eyes like a hawk. She stares at me as if I’ve just committed a major crime.
    Zack leans under the table; he’s going to get rid of some cheese. Fred eats anything. But Zack comes up looking uneasy. “Where’s the dog?”
    I look around. Never mind Fred. What about Steadman?
    I push my chair back from the table so fast it falls over. A piece of cheese is a lump in my throat. I talk around it—actually, I’m almost screaming. “Where’s Steadman?”
    William with an empty head on his shoulders looks under the table.
    Nana clutches her throat.
    But Linny sits there calmly for a change. “He’s on the living room floor asleep, with Fred.”
    I sink back in the chair until my heart gets started again. Zack does the same thing. “Can you imagine . . .” He doesn’t finish. He can’t get the word
kidnapper
past his lips.
    I think of the letter in my pocket. I tilt my head toward the door to let Zack know we have to get out of there.
    â€œThanks, Nana,” I say. “That cheese sandwich was the best.”
    â€œYeah,” Zack adds. “You ought to be on one of those TV cooking programs.”
    That’s going a little too far. Nana looks at us suspiciously.
    â€œWant us to help clean up?” I know she loves to do dishes, even without the dishwasher.
    â€œAren’t they great!” Nana tells Linny and William.
    Mary spits out her cheese.
    Then we escape. We trot around the side of the house. It’s a mess, filled with weeds and junk. No one can see it from the street, so Pop has let it go back to nature. At least, that’s what he says.
    Fred loves it. He likes to roll around in the smelly weeds, looking as if he’s in heaven. We sink down in Fred’s heaven, weeds to our eyeballs.
    I hold up the envelope, then run my finger under the seal, so slowly we could be there all afternoon. We’ll lick the whole thing back together afterward. No one will ever know that we had a first look.
    Excellent.
    â€œLet’s ask Nana for a fingerprinting kit for our birthday,” Zack says. “Genuine. Police type.”
    I nod. We can put the pool idea aside until Christmas.
    â€œYeow!”
Zack yells.
“Bees!”
    I