The Boys Start the War Read Online Free PDF Page B

a low moan.
    “What I think we should do,” said Peter, “is dig a large hole and cover it with leaves and sticks, and when Caroline and her sisters walk across it, they’ll fall in and we’ll keep them trapped forever.”
    “Go out and play, Peter,” Wally told him.

    The boys were strangely quiet when their father came home from his mail route about four. Jake was planning strategies in a notebook, Josh was drawing a picture of Eddie dropping her tray on Jake, just for the record, and Peter was building apit out of toothpicks, then running a Matchbox car over it and watching the car tumble in. Wally was looking out the window, wondering how for away he could get if he climbed on the first Greyhound through town.
    Mr. Hatford took off his cap and went out to the kitchen for a Mountain Dew. Then he leaned against the doorway and looked at the boys. “You’ll be interested to know that the Malloy girls are Eddie, Beth, and Caroline.”
    “ Tell me about it,” Jake mumbled.
    “The way their mother described them, they sound like three live wires to me.”
    “Crossed wires is more like it,” said Josh.
    “Short circuits,” said Wally.
    “A Whomper, a Weirdo, and a Crazie,” Peter repeated.
    Mr. Hatford frowned. “You boys can either make yourselves miserable by wishing the Bensons were back, which they’re not, or you can enjoy a great September day, which it is. And I, for one, aim to enjoy the day.” He took his soft drink out onto the side porch along with the paper.
    Jake looked at Josh. “I’ll bet they’ll spread it all over town how they tricked us. Everyone will be laughing.”
    “You know what we could do, don’t you?” said Josh. “Totally ignore them. Freeze them out. Not even give them the time of day.”
    “If we see them coming, we could just turn and walk the other way,” said Peter.
    “We can’t,” said Jake. “Wally declared war.”
    “Oh, yeah. Right,” said Josh.
    Hoo boy! thought Wally.

    The hardware store was open till nine most evenings, and this was Mrs, Hatford’s night to work. When she popped in about six to make dinner, she said, “Boys, I’ve got a job for you. I baked a cake this morning before work, frosted it at noon, and I want you to take it over to the Malloys right now so they can have some with their supper.”
    Wally stared at his mother as though she had just grown another head.
    “Well, don’t look so astonished,” she said, coming out of the kitchen with a large square box. “It’s the traditional way to greet a new family in the neighborhood, you know. The Bensons did it for us the first week we moved in, and I’ll never forget how good that cake tasted after unpacking all day.”
    “But—” Wally began.
    “Just hand it to whoever answers the door, tell them it’s from the Hatfords, and say, ‘Welcome to Buckman.’ That’s all you have to say. Then come right home because dinner’s almost ready.”
    “Could we—could we just leave it on their porch?” Wally asked.
    “Wallace Hatford, you certainly may not!” his mother scolded. “A dog could get into it, theremight be a rain … all sorts of things could happen. What’s the matter with saying a few cordial words to a new family? Hurry up, now. Who’s going to take it over?”
    Wally looked at Jake, who was looking at Josh, and then they all turned toward Peter.
    “Peter is not going over there alone. This is a three-layer chocolate chiffon with whipped cream frosting, and I worked on it a total of two hours and set it on the plate I got from Aunt Ida at Christmas. I want to make sure it gets there in one piece. You can all go. Hold this box steady, now,” she instructed, thrusting it into Wally’s hands. “If the cake slides around, the icing will come off on the sides of the box. Tell them there’s no hurry about returning the plate.”
    Wally and his brothers moved down the front steps as though they were headed for a funeral and Wally carried the remains of the deceased