Who Won the War? Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Today's Flavor” without knowing what it was, and then he would taste it and see if he could guess. Some people might think that Wally's life was boring, he knew, but there were so many things going on in his head, he didn't have a chance to be bored.
    It was hot outside, though, even at night. Peter was right; during the day you couldn't step on the sidewalk barefoot. It was one of the hottest summers the East had ever had, the newspaper said—over a hundred degrees for five days in a row, even here in West Virginia. Maybe what Wally ought to do was wait until about two o'clock in the afternoon someday and then see if he really could fry an egg on the sidewalk.
    Finally, hot and sweaty, Wally fell asleep, and he woke up even warmer than he'd been when he'd gone to bed. He rolled over and sat up, waiting to see if he could smell pancakes or anything. He couldn't. That meant it wasn't Sunday. He'd almost lost track of the days of the week.
    He listened for any clink or clunk of spoons and bowls in the kitchen to tell him whether the twins were awake. He didn't hear any. But he did think he heardvoices coming from somewhere, so he pulled on his shorts and T-shirt and went downstairs.
    Not again! There were the Malloy girls sitting out on his front porch, and there was Peter with a fistful of chocolate chip cookies.
    Wally's first thought was to ignore them and go to the kitchen for cereal. But he went upstairs instead and stuck his head into the twins' bedroom. “They're here again,” he said.
    For a moment nothing happened. Then Jake rolled over and opened one eye. “What are you talking about?” he asked crossly.
    “I just thought you'd want to know: the Malloys are sitting out on the front porch, feeding Peter chocolate chip cookies,” Wally said. Then he went back downstairs, through the hall, and into the kitchen, poured himself some Cap'n Crunch cereal, and mixed it with Cocoa Puffs.
    Down the stairs came Jake and Josh. Wally could hear them whispering together in the hall. They crept into the kitchen.
    “I'm not going out there,” said Josh.
    “Me neither,” said Jake. “Peter can sit out there in his Donald Duck pajamas all day if he wants. But we didn't invite the girls over.” He took a bowl out of the cupboard, filled it to the top with Cocoa Puffs, and got the milk from the fridge.
    The twins had just sat down at the table when they heard the front door open and Peter say, “Come on out to the kitchen. You want some cereal?”
    Jake was still in his boxer shorts and Josh was in hispajama bottoms. Upsetting the milk carton, Jake leaped from his chair and flew out the back door, Josh behind him. When the Malloy girls got to the kitchen, there was nothing to see but Wally calmly eating his Cocoa Puffs, and milk dripping onto the floor.
    “Well!” said Eddie. “What have we here?”
    “I invited them in for breakfast,” Peter told Wally, smiling broadly.
    “It's okay, Peter. We've already had breakfast,” said Beth. “Where are Jake and Josh?”
    There was the soft sound of the front door opening, then of footsteps on the hall stairs.
    “They'll be down in a minute,” Wally said, and went on reading the comics.
    Beth got a sponge from the sink and cleaned up the milk on the table and the floor. Then the girls sat down—like they owned the place, Wally thought.
    When Jake and Josh entered the kitchen, dressed, they tried to act as though they'd just got up. It was too ridiculous.
    “We've decided we want to see Knob Hill even if we have to go in daylight,” Eddie said. “So, we're ready.”
    “Sure, why not?” Jake said, and poured himself another bowl of cereal.
    “I found something really interesting,” said Beth. “I went to the Internet to look up Knob Hill and found out all sorts of fascinating things about it. Want to hear?”
    “Sure,” said Josh. He put the milk back in the fridge.
    “ ‘Knob Hill, Buckman, West Virginia,’ ” Beth readfrom a piece of paper she'd pulled