Free Philip and the Sneaky Trashmen (9781619502185) by John Paulits Page B

imaginary vacuum cleaner. “ roomroomroom. Yuk yuk.”
    Philip moaned. “Get started,
Leon.”
    “ Did I tell you about my
new friend? He likes to . . .”
    “ Never mind your new
friend. Take care of me, your old friend.”
    Leon shot another OK sign toward
Philip. “You do all the socks. They scare me.”
    “ Yeah, yeah,
yeah.”
    The boys got to work.
    Philip bustled in and out
of the room, taking any clothing Leon discovered to the bathroom
hamper. Leon scoured the room exclaiming “ yuck” and “ ugh” at finding all kinds of things
he never expected.
    “ Stop making all those
noises,” Philip finally shouted.
    “ I can’t help it. It had
ants on it.”
    Philip didn’t want to know what had
ants on it. He simply grabbed another sock and rushed off to the
bathroom with it.
    An hour later, the trash
bag could stand up by itself, so Philip twisted it closed and put
it outside the bedroom door. When he turned back to his room, he
stared in amazement. Now, all he could see was floor. Nothing, not socks,
shoes, shirts, pillows, broken crayons, crumpled toys, or
half-eaten sandwiches spoiled the view.
    “ You got a nice floor,”
Leon said, a wide smile showing off his broken tooth.
    Philip heard the front door open and
Becky babbling.
    “ Leon, listen. Make believe
you just got here. I’ll tell my mother I did all of this. She
probably won’t yell at me all summer if she thinks I cleaned like
this.”
    Leon shot an OK sign toward
Philip.
    “ That’s my new sign. I just
learned it. Did I tell you about my new friend Gordon?”
    “ You didn’t know about an
OK sign? Everybody knows about an OK sign.”
    “ I didn’t. My new friend
Gordon’s . . .”
    “ Never mind. Quiet. Here
comes my mother.”
    Philip’s eyes met his mother’s gaze
when she reached the top of the stairs.
    “ Philip, get started on
that room. If it’s not . . .” She had continued walking toward
Philip and now saw the inside of the room. “What happened here ?”
    Philip gave Leon a glance. “I just did
what you asked, Mom. How’s it look?”
    “ I can’t believe
it.”
    Leon spoke up. “Can I take the trash
bag?”
    Philip’s mother didn’t answer. She
walked around the room running her finger over things. Philip
wanted Leon out of the way before he said something stupid and gave
away the fact that he had been the one, not Philip, who’d cleaned
up the room.
    “ Sure. You go, Leon. I’ll
meet you in the yard.”
    “ I’ll be able to play with
Gordon again.”
    Philip wondered what Leon meant, but
didn’t want to delay him by asking. Leon lugged the trash bag down
the stairs, and Philip was happy to see him go.

Chapter
Three
     
    Philip could not remember feeling
happier. His mother complimented him repeatedly on how well he’d
cleaned up his room. Then she told him to invite Emery over for
dinner to celebrate. Besides, she said, she still had preparations
to make for Aunt Louise’s arrival and needed him entertained and
out of the way. When Emery arrived, the two boys went upstairs to
Philip’s room.
    “ Wow! Leon did a good job,”
said Emery. “I didn’t know your floor was this color.”
    “ It was always this color.
Blue.”
    “ It feels
funny.”
    “ What does?”
    Emery shrugged. “It doesn’t feel like
your room anymore.”
    “ Well it is.”
    “ Leon really did
this?”
    “ Yep, and he didn’t make
one problem. He acted dumb, but I’m used to that. Who’s
Gordon?”
    “ Gordon who?”
    “ That’s what I want to
know. Who’s Gordon?”
    “ Tell me Gordon who, and
maybe I can tell you who he is.”
    Philip’s voice went higher.
“If I could tell you Gordon who, I wouldn’t have to ask you Gordon
who.”
    Emery tilted his head.
“What?”
    Philip took a deep breath. “Do you know
anyone named Gordon? Leon kept mentioning his new friend
Gordon.”
    “ Oh, Leon. No. I don’t
know. If he’s got a new friend, maybe he won’t come around here and
mess things up this summer.” Emery