Free Mr. Sunny Is Funny! by Dan Gutman Page A

He comes out when you least expect it. And he only eats boys.”
    I bet Amy was yanking my chain. But Idecided to keep my eyes open for man-eating zombie sand monsters just to be on the safe side.

    We stopped at a Chinese restaurantbecause there wasn’t any food at the beach house. Chinese food is cool because they give you chopsticks. So while you’re waiting for the slowpoke grown-ups to finish eating, you can drum on the table or put the chopsticks in your nose and pretend to be a walrus.
    Finally, we reached the beach house. It was too late to go swimming, but my parents said I could check out the beach while they unpacked our stuff.
    The ocean smelled good. There was a sign on the boardwalk that said SAND CASTLE CONTEST THIS WEEK . Up in the sky, somebody was parasailing. Do you know what parasailing is? A parachute isstrapped to your back, and a boat pulls you with a rope. Parasailing is cool. I’m gonna try it when I get bigger.
    The beach was almost empty, except for one thing—a backhoe. Do you know what a backhoe is? It’s this yellow machine that digs up stuff.
    The backhoe was scooping up sand and dumping it onto a big pile. I went over to watch because machines are cool.
    A teenager was driving the backhoe. He had blond hair and a whistle around his neck.
    â€œYo, dude!” he said as he turned off the motor. “My name is Evan, but everybody calls me Mr. Sunny. What’s your name?”
    â€œMy name is Arlo, but everybody calls me A.J.,” I said. “What are you doing?”
    â€œBuilding a sand castle,” Mr. Sunny said. “I’m gonna enter the contest.”
    â€œIt looks like a big pile of sand to me.”

    â€œOh, wait until it’s done, man,” Mr. Sunny said. “Right now my castle is hidden within this sand, waiting to be born. Sand is my life, dude.”
    Guys who say “man” and “dude” are cool. Mr. Sunny seemed pretty nice, even if he did like sand a little too much.
    â€œIs this your summer job?” I asked. “You build sand castles?”
    â€œNo, dude,” Mr. Sunny said. “I’m the lifeguard here. Will I see you out in the water tomorrow?”
    â€œYou bet!” I said. “I’m a great swimmer.”
    It was getting late. I said good-bye to Mr. Sunny and headed back to the beach house.
    â€œI have great news, A.J.!” my mom yelled from the porch. “I just got off the phone. One of your friends from school is going to be sharing the house with us!”
    â€œYippee!” I said. “Who is it? Ryan? Michael? Neil?”
    â€œNo,” my mother replied. “It’s Andrea Young.”
    WHAT?????????!!!!!!!!!!!

3
Bummer in the Summer!
    Nooooooooooooooo!
    Not Andrea! Why did it have to be Andrea? Anybody but Andrea! Weren’t there any bank robbers or criminals we could share our beach house with?
    Little Miss Perfect Know-It-All is so annoying. She thinks she is really smart. Iknow she’ll be hanging around me all summer, bothering me, and trying to show off how much she knows about everything.
    â€œPlease don’t let Andrea come here!” I begged my parents. “Please please please please?”
    Saying the word “please” over and over again will usually make grown-ups give you anything you want. Nobody knows why.
    But it didn’t work this time.
    â€œA.J., you be nice to Andrea,” my mother told me. “Her mother and I are good friends.”
    I don’t get it. Why do I have to befriends with somebody just because her mom and my mom are friends? It’s not fair.
    The next morning a car pulled into the driveway, and guess who got out?
    Little Miss Annoying and her parents! Andrea was wearing pink sunglasses and a bathing suit that had butterflies on it.
    â€œHi, Arlo!” said Andrea, who calls me by my real name because she knows I don’t like it. “Isn’t this going to bea great