Al’s Blind Date: The Al Series, Book Six Read Online Free Page A

wanna glow all year long,” he said. “We also got available shiatsu and Swedish massage. Not to mention an Olympic weight room complete with a roto curl bar and a squat rack.”
    â€œHey, neat,” Al said.
    â€œWhat’s a squat rack?” I asked but got no answer.
    â€œSounds good, sir.” Al dealt the coup de grace with her final sir. He was hers.
    â€œCome by tomorra, why dontcha? Just ask for me and you’ll try our equipment, then spread the word that Al’s is the best of the best.”
    â€œAll right, boys.” He turned his attention to the moving men. “Let’s see if the two o’ youse can handle this one here.”
    â€œWhat’s a squat rack?” I said again as we headed for home.
    â€œHow do I know. A rack you squat on, I guess,” Al said.
    â€œYou think we should take him up on it?” I said.
    Al shrugged. “Why not. What’ve we got to lose.”

Four
    We had tuna casserole for supper that night. Figures. My father was away on a business trip. We never have tuna casserole when he’s home.
    When I complained, my mother said, “Your father works very hard. He deserves a good dinner.”
    â€œThat’s a very sexist remark,” I told her. “You work hard, I work hard. We also deserve a good dinner.”
    â€œHow about me?” Teddy shouted. “I work hard too. I deserve a good dinner just as much as you guys.”
    When my mother went out of the room, I said, quietly, “What you deserve, Ted, is a big bowl of dog food. It’s chock full of nutrients and vitamins. Plus, it makes fur grow. You eat it, you’ll most likely be the furriest kid in the fourth grade.”
    â€œYeah.” Teddy drooped all over the table, as boneless as an octopus. “Only if I ate dog food, I’d probably only bark instead of talk.”
    I looked cross-eyed at him and he barked loudly.
    â€œBath time, Teddy,” my mother said.
    Teddy said woof woof to her.
    â€œI bet you have fleas too, don’t you, sweetheart?” I whispered. In answer, Teddy wiped his snotty little nose on me and shouted woof woof while shaking himself madly and brushing off tons of fleas onto me.
    â€œI’m calling Hubie!” Teddy cried, racing to the phone. After he barked at Hubie a while, Hubie must’ve hung up. Teddy banged the receiver down and rolled around, taking bites out of his own arm and barking up a storm.
    â€œYou should study to be a bone specialist,” I told him. “You have the head for it.”
    That stopped him cold. His mouth dropped open and I heard the wheels in his head creaking as he tried to figure that one out. I went to my room, filled with the glow that comes from having had the last word.
    The telephone rang. My mother got it on the second ring. Maybe it was my father calling, which he sometimes does when he’s out of town.
    Suddenly I had to go to the bathroom. Doing math does that to me.
    â€œIt was Polly,” my mother said. “I told her you’d call her back when you finished your homework. She said it was a matter of life and death. I told her to put both of them on hold. She said she’d try Al.”
    â€œWhat’d she want?”
    â€œOh, she said something about a tea dance. Her cousin or some relative. I’m not sure.” Vaguely she waved the crossword puzzle at me. “This one’s tough,” she said. “A five-letter word for coercion, ending in y.” She tapped her teeth with her pencil, a sure sign she doesn’t know the word. She always saves the puzzle for after supper. She claims her head is at its best then.
    I finished my math, fast. Polly’s line was busy. So was Al’s. I knew it. They were talking to each other.
    â€œI’m just going to Al’s for a sec,” I told my mother.
    My mother frowned at me and from her expression I could tell she was far away. Good. I like her far away sometimes. I