The Zippity Zinger #4 by Henry Winkler Read Free Book Online

whipping across the plate and landing dead center in Frankie’s mitt.
    McKelty didn’t say a word, but his big jaw flopped open like a barn door in the wind. Ashley smiled at him and waved.
    â€œJust a little sample of what you can expect tomorrow,” she said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, we have to get our secret weapon home. We don’t want to tire him out.”
    We walked off the field, leaving McKelty there with his face still flapping in the breeze.
    The minute we were off the field, we burst out laughing.
    â€œThat was awesome, Zip,” Frankie said.
    â€œYeah, too bad I won’t be able to do it tomorrow in the real game,” I said, suddenly realizing the awful truth.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Ashley said. “You can and you will.”
    I shook my head. “Emily will never give me the monkey socks to wear tomorrow. She needs them for the Brain Buster Competition. And, without them, I can’t throw worth beans.”
    â€œTell Emily she HAS to let you wear the socks,” said Ashley.
    â€œShe needs them, too,” I answered.
    â€œActually,” Robert said, “your sister is the most brilliant third-grader in the world. You don’t need luck when you have a brain like hers.” Robert should know. He and Emily are really good friends in a nerdly kind of way.
    All the way home, I thought about what Robert had said. Emily didn’t need the luck. I did.
    The thought rolled around and around in my mind. What if she just couldn’t find the monkey socks by tomorrow morning? Things get lost, don’t they? It could happen.
    Should I or shouldn’t I? Should I or shouldn’t I? Should I or shouldn’t I?
    When we got home, I went to my room and took off the white socks. Oh, were my toes happy to be released from the prison of two pairs of tight socks. I could hear Emily outside in the hall, frantically searching every closet in the house for the monkey socks.
    Should I or shouldn’t I?
    Slowly, I peeled off the red monkey socks, tucked them underneath my Mets sweatshirt, and closed the drawer very quietly.

CHAPTER 12
    EIGHT REASONS I SHOULD KEEP THE MONKEY SOCKS AND NOT GIVE THEM BACK TO EMILY
    1. I have a right to finally win. Don’t I?
    2. Emily is so smart, she doesn’t really need the socks.
    3. It really isn’t right to keep them, but Emily has to understand I am the one who needs them.
    4. It really isn’t right.
    5. Boy, it really isn’t right.
    6. Oh, I really want it to be right, but it isn’t.
    7. Why couldn’t it be right?
    8. Because it isn’t.

CHAPTER 13
    OH , DO I HATE BEING GOOD.
    Why couldn’t I be Nick the Tick? Not only would he have not given his sister the monkey socks, he would have burned them and buried the ashes in the sandbox at school.
    I walked around and around my bedroom, making a ring in the carpet from pacing.
    I know I should give up the socks, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
    No matter how closed my door was, I could still hear Emily crying up a storm because her precious little red-and-pink socks were lost.
    Wait a minute. Yup, there it is. She’s on the hall linoleum pounding her fists and kicking her feet.
    Who was she kidding? She couldn’t fail if she tried.
    Okay! Okay! I can’t take it anymore. Here goes nothing.
    I flung my door open, ran into the hall, and threw the socks at my sister. One landed right in front of her face and the other fell in the middle of the back of her head, so it looked like she had a third pigtail. Pigtails fit her perfectly. They go so well with her snout for a nose.
    I went back in my room and slammed the door. Wow! I didn’t know I had so much power. It felt as if the wall shook. My teeth shook.
    My mom came running out of the kitchen. “Is everything all right? What’s going on?” she asked.
    Emily didn’t answer.
    I didn’t answer either. I was in my room walking in that circle