Free Freddie Ramos Makes a Splash by Jacqueline Jules

1. Bubble Gum on the Sidewalk

    It was so hot, I was melting into the sidewalk, like the purple bubble gum I stepped in on my way home from summer camp.
    “ICK!” I was stuck.
    My shoes were special. They gave me Zapato Power, the power to run faster than a train. A little grape bubble gum shouldn’t have stopped me.

    I bent down and pulled on my right foot. That unstuck my sneaker but unbalanced me. SPLAT!
    My bottom hit the ground, and I felt something underneath me. I hoped it wasn’t dog poop.
    Sometimes superheroes have to be brave even when they don’t want to be. I looked to see what I was sitting on.
    Luckily, it wasn’t dog poop. It was a pink wallet.

    Who dropped a wallet? I opened it. Superheroes don’t steal, but they do snoop. There were two twenty-dollar bills inside. Wow!
    Before I could find out more, a girl with short, dark hair rode up on a green bike. Maybe the wallet was hers.

    “Is this yours?” I asked, holding it out.
    “NO!” she said, swiping the wallet from my hand. “But it’s not yours either.”
    The girl rode off on her green bike. I couldn’t let her get away with that! I had Zapato Power, and I could outrun a bike.

    I stood up and put on my silver goggles, the ones that almost make me look like a superhero. Then I pressed the button on my purple wristband, the one that controls my Zapato Power. I was ready to catch that girl crook in the blink of an eye.

    I fell backward on my bottom again.

    Huh? My Zapato Power wasn’t working!
    “Freddie?” a deep voice called. “What happened?”
    It was Mr. Vaslov. He’s the man who takes care of Starwood Park, where I live. He’s also the only other person who knows about my Zapato Power, because he’s the guy who made my special shoes.
    “I don’t know,” I said, looking at the purple wad of bubble gum underneath my right sneaker.
    Mr. Vaslov took a flat blade out of his pocket. He’s an inventor and a fixer, so he always has tools handy.
    “Looks like you need a cleanup,” he said.
    While Mr. Vaslov scraped the gum, I told him about the girl on the green bike.
    “I think I’ve seen her before,” I said.
    “Maybe she goes to your school.”
    “Maybe,” I agreed, trying to remember. She was bigger than I was, so I guessed she was older.
    “There!” Mr. Vaslov said. “The gum is gone. See if you can run now.”
    I stood up on my purple zapatos. I could feel them humming, itching to race. And there was a girl on a green bike with a stolen wallet. I had a hero job to do.

2. The Girl on the Green Bike

    When I run, smoke whooshes out of my shoes. No one can see me, but I can see just fine. The smoke from my super sneakers gives me Zapato Power eyes. That means I can see things way down the block.

    At the very end of the street, I saw something shiny and green.

    I was there in half a blink, ready to face the girl on the green bike. But it wasn’t her. It was my friend Geraldo on a green scooter. He opened his mouth like a fish.
    “Hey, Freddie! Did you just step out of that puff of smoke?”
    Zapato Power is the best thing in the world. But keeping it a secret sometimes confuses my friends.
    I raced off, leaving Geraldo on his green scooter with his mouth hanging open.

    The next green thing I saw was over by the entrance sign to Starwood Park. I zoomed over, hoping it was the girl on the green bike. Instead, it was my next-door neighbor, Gio, pulling a green wagon.
    “Look, Freddie! Puppy likes to ride!”

    Gio’s little black dog, Puppy, stood in the wagon.
    Sometimes it takes more than superspeed to catch a crook.
    Sometimes, you have to ask questions, too.
    “Did you see a girl on a green bike?”
    “Did she have black hair?” Gio asked.
    “Yes,” I said. “When did you see her?”
    “Right now!” Gio pointed over my shoulder. “Behind you.”
    I turned around. The girl on the green bike was speeding past us.

    She rode down the sidewalk fast, but that was no trouble for a guy with Zapato Power. In