Puppet Pandemonium Read Online Free Page A

minutes. That's at least ten calls a week. And at least two of those calls need to be to me. Can you call me every Sunday night?”
    “Okay,” I said happily.
    “And one more thing.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “If you lose it, you have to report it immediately.”
    “Oh, I won't lose it,” I said, holding it tight. This was the best gift ever. When no one was paying attention, I sneaked around the house and dialed our number. Mom ran inside the house to answer the phone.
    “Hello?” she said.
    “Howdy,” I said, adding a little Texas twang that I'd heard in old TV movies.
    “Who is this?” Mom asked. I could tell she was annoyed.
    “It's me,” I said, disguising my voice like Mr. Brady did when he talked for Leo. “The kid you're moving to Texas.”
    Everyone thought my little joke was funny except Mom. Gram gathered up her things to leave.
    “Thanks for my cell, Gram,” I said, hugging her. “It's the coolest gift ever. And I'm really sorry about Ricky.”
    “Don't sweat the small stuff,” she said. “Ricky'll be fine. And don't forget to call me.”
    “I won't,” I said, hoping I wouldn't start to cry.
    “And Baker?” Gram whispered in my ear. “Remember. I have a stage, and I will travel.”
    Later I got another surprise when I opened the door to my bedroom. Sitting on a chair by my window was a ventriloquist's dummy. He had a note pinned to his Seattle Seagulls baseball uniform. At his feet was a book,
Ventriloquism for Dummies
.
    Dear Baker
,
    My cousin Leo said you were moving to Texas. Vm comirf with you
.
    Sincerely,
Waldo Peppernickle

I practiced working with Waldo until way past midnight. I was too tired to wake up and say good-bye to Dad the next morning. I gave him a faint wave from my bed. It was a long drive to Texas, and he left very early. Mom and I were staying in Seattle to get everything ready for the movers, and we planned to fly down and join him later. I called Gram on my cell and thanked her for Waldo.
    “All the puppeteers were in on it,” she said. “They know how much you enjoyed Leo.”
    I took him downstairs and sat him at the breakfasttable beside me. A book about Texas was propped against the Krunchie Krumbles cereal box on the table. I flipped through it while I ate my cereal. Okay, so there were some exciting things about Texas: Six Flags Over Texas and a museum that had strange things in it.
    “I'll admit, I'm curious about the two-headed goat,” I called to Mom. She was packing boxes in the den. “And a mummy that glows in the dark sounds cool. But the shark wearing neon braces doesn't fly with me.” I grabbed the carton of orange juice and took a swig.
    “Baker, get a glass,” Mom said. She didn't miss a thing. She had eyes in the back of her head. I was sure of it.
    “What kind of orthodontist would be crazy enough to put braces on a shark?” I asked.
    “Dr. Brave, that's who,” she said, laughing. I started laughing too. I could just picture a shark with bad breath and seaweed stuck in his braces.
    Mom continued working on a list of stuff to go in moving boxes. The boxes were scattered across the room. She had labeled them with red marker. But then she would change her mind and pitch in extra stuff, making it impossible to know where the final dumping place should be. The box labels looked something like this:
    Kitchen stuff/books/garden tools
    Bakefs room/Dad's clothes/sports equipment
    Skates, skateboards, winter clothes/some laundry room stuff
    TV room/books/sports equipment/skis
    ? ? ? (Misc.)/DVDs/computer stuff
    Lamps/small stools/linens/purses
    Good china and silver trays/crystal/turkey platter FRAGILE!
    “What about Dad's tools?” I asked. Next to Mom and me, Dad loved his workshop best of all. “You know how he is about all his workbench stuff.”
    “I've warned the movers,” she said. “They pack garage stuff. We don't have to bother with it.”
    Dad could make anything and everything out of wood. It was his hobby. Last year