Free Jack Strong Takes a Stand by Tommy Greenwald Page A

circus.”
    â€œYes, Mr. Newhouse,” I said. I could tell he was about to hang up, so I added, “Oh, just one more thing.”
    â€œWhat’s that, kid?”
    I held out the phone so I could say it just as much to my new friends as I could to Brody Newhouse.
    â€œI’m the real deal.”

 
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    About twenty minutes later, Jenny’s and Kevin’s moms came to pick up all the kids.
    â€œThanks for coming by,” I said to everyone, but mainly to Cathy.
    â€œNo problem, it was really fun,” she said. “It’s cool hanging out with a celebrity and everything.”
    â€œYeah, sorry we can’t move you back inside,” Kevin said, “but I’m already late for basketball.”
    Baxter nodded. “Yup, some of us still have stuff we have to go to,” he said, and everyone laughed.
    â€œNo problem,” I said, but what I was actually thinking was, How the heck am I going to get back inside?
    The only logical answer—Dad—was also the only impossible answer.
    Nana woke up from her nap about a half hour after they all left. She made herself a tongue sandwich and me a meatball sandwich, then joined me on the front lawn. I couldn’t wait to tell her the exciting news about Brody Newhouse.
    â€œWho’s Brody Newhouse?” Nana asked.
    I laughed. “Only the coolest guy on TV.”
    â€œMy grandson the star,” she said, just as my mom pulled into the driveway. She got out of her car and took it all in. Her screen door, her couch, and her son, all in the front yard.
    She wasn’t exactly thrilled.
    â€œDoes someone want to explain to me what’s going on, and what happened to my rose bushes?”
    Before I could answer, Nana jumped in. “You’re son is going to be famous,” she said, chomping on her sandwich.
    â€œOh really,” my mom said. “This I gotta hear.”
    â€œOkay,” I said, relieved.
    She sat down next to me. “After you tell me about the screen door.”
    *   *   *
    I was telling my mom the whole story, and was up to the part about playing football in the yard, when I felt the first raindrop. Maddie started barking to get in. She hated rain almost as much as she loved anything edible.
    My mom looked up to the sky worriedly. “Mom, have you heard anything about rain?”
    Nana was a big fan of watching weather on TV. She nodded. “As a matter of fact, I have. It’s supposed to rain quite a bit tonight.”
    We all looked at one another, and then at the couch that had taken seven strong kids to move outside.
    â€œFantastic,” said my mom. Then she looked at me. “I don’t suppose this will make you get up from the couch?”
    I raised my arms to the sky. “Are you kidding? What’s a little rain when you’ve got the host of Kidz in the Newz coming to your house to talk about putting you on TV?”
    â€œYou’re lucky I was planning on replacing this ratty old thing anyway,” Mom said, shaking her head at the couch. “I’m going to call Dad.”
    She and Nana took Maddie inside, and a minute later Nana came out with a poncho.
    â€œAre you sure about this, kiddo?”
    â€œI’m sure.”
    â€œWell,” she said, wrapping the poncho around me, “you’re a better man than I.”

 
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    The next two hours were probably the wettest of my life. They were pretty miserable, too.
    And I would say that I thought about giving up my strike and going inside, oh, somewhere around 643 times.
    But I didn’t. I stayed there. For some crazy reason, I stayed. A crazy reason that was some combination of Cathy Billows, Brody Newhouse, and the fact that I actually believed in what I was doing.
    Luckily for me, it wasn’t cold, or else I probably would have gotten pneumonia and died before the big TV show.
    At one point, my mom came out and gave me soup. At another point, Nana