Philip and the Sneaky Trashmen (9781619502185) Read Online Free

shrugged helplessly.
    “ Maybe it was stuck to the
cushion,” Emery offered.
    Philip’s mother walked briskly to
Philip and took the pin. She pulled him to his feet and hugged him.
“You don’t know what a relief this is, Philip.”
    “ Now, can we eat?” said Mr.
Felton. “How about I get a pizza? I’ll call. You two can eat pizza,
I imagine?”
    “ Sure,” said Philip, and
Emery nodded his agreement.
    Mr. Felton put his arms around his
wife’s shoulders. “Go put that someplace safe, honey. Right
away.”
    “ Don’t worry. I will. I’m
taking it upstairs right now.”
    Mr. Felton watched his wife go up the
steps before turning his eyes on Philip and Emery. “You two
wouldn’t know how that mess appeared in the garage, would
you?”
    “ Mess?” said Philip, not
understanding for a moment.
    “ Yes, mess. Two ripped open
trash bags with the junk inside, all over the floor.”
    “ Oh. No, I don’t
know.”
    Philip’s father turned to
Emery.
    “ Beats me,” said Emery.
“Maybe cats got in.”
    “ I don’t think cats did it.
The door was closed.”
    The two boys stood silent.
    “ Well, all’s well that ends
well, I guess.”
    Philip changed the subject. “Can we get
pepperoni on the pizza?”
    Philip’s father glanced at
Emery.
    “ I like pepperoni, too, Mr.
Felton.”
    “ Good. Then we’ll get half
pepperoni and half mushroom. Your mother likes mushrooms. I’ll go
pick it up. It’ll be quicker. Tell your mother that’s where I am
when she comes downstairs.”
    Philip’s father called the order in,
and when the boys heard the car drive away, Emery said, “I think
your father’s suspicious.”
    Philip slumped back onto the sofa, glad
the missing jewelry episode had come to an end.
    “ What do you think Leon
meant?” Emery continued.
    “ Meant about
what?”
    “ He said something about
Mr. Sorino getting money for your junk.”
    “ Did he say that? I wasn’t
listening. I only wanted that stupid pin-thing back.”
    “ It’s a little after six.
After we eat let’s find Leon again and ask him what he
meant.”
    “ Okay with me. I don’t care
what we do now. And tomorrow morning we’ll go rescue any other good
stuff Leon threw away.”
     
    ~ * ~
    When Philip and Emery approached Leon’s
house after their pizza dinner, they saw him coming toward them
pulling a red metal wagon.
    “ Hi, guys. Like my new
wagon?”
    “ Where’d you get it?” asked
Emery.
    “ Mr. Sorino found it and
gave it to me. It’s in pretty good shape. He said I could use it to
put stuff in that I find and bring it to him. And . . .” Leon dug
into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill. “He gave me this,
too.”
    “ What’d you do?” asked
Philip. “Walk his dog?”
    “ No. I brought him your
stuff. I told you. He fixes broken things and sells them to the
store in the little mall. He told me to keep my eye out for
things.”
    “ What kind of things?”
asked Philip.
    “ Stuff. Junk. If I see
people throw out anything good, and it won’t fit in my wagon, I
should tell him.”
    “ What store in the mall
sells broken junk?” asked Emery.
    “ You know. The store where
you give them old stuff you don’t want, and they sell it. And they
sell the broken junk, too, after Mr. Sorino fixes it.”
    “ Pete’s Repeat Shop?” asked
Emery.
    “ Yeah, yeah. That’s
it.”
    “ And you got a dollar for
what?” asked Philip.
    “ For giving Mr. Sorino your
stuff.”
    “ What!”
    “ He’ll fix the broken stuff
and sell it to Pete, and Pete will sell it to other people. You can
go there and buy back your stuff if you want, after he fixes
it.”
    “ I wouldn’t have to buy
anything back if you didn’t give it away,” Philip argued, his eye
on Leon’s dollar bill.
    Leon jammed the bill back into this
pocket. “Yeah, but it would still be broken if he didn’t fix it.
You can take back any good stuff. He already said so, didn’t
he?”
    Emery interrupted. “And Mr. Sorino gave
you a dollar just