Free The Venetian Job by Sally Gould Page B

to happen? Like
when you kick the football and it's heading straight for the window
of the library. Or when you've left your project on the dining-room
table and the next time you see it it's in your dog's mouth." I
didn't tell them that I'd been praying the whole time I was in
Venice that I'd get a bad feeling.
    I told my class about being on the police
boat, about the big art theft that'd happened at a New Year's Eve
party in a palace on the Grand Canal, about The Cursed Mansion,
about the movie being filmed in The Cursed Mansion, about Charlie
and me meeting the film director and about my bad feeling when I
met the first bad guy. Then I told them the details that didn't
make sense, like how the guy with the Save the Whales T-shirt had
pressed down the corner of a painting and about the strange silver
tubes that had been kept hidden.
    The whole class seemed to be holding their
breath. When I got to the bit about hiding in the storeroom, I
noticed looks of disbelief. Then by the time I got to the boat
chase, Thomo and Chook were sniggering up the back of the
classroom. They reckoned this was one of my 'Max stories'. By the
time I'd got to the bit about the reporter and the cameraman, even
Mrs. Kingston laughed at me.
    When I finished, she said to me, "Great
story, Max." Then she turned to the class and asked, "Hands up who
thinks that is a TRUE story?"
    Not one person put up their hand, not even
Mrs. Kingston. Just as I'd hoped.
    I picked up the yellow envelope that
everyone had probably thought was one of my tricks, and pulled out
the newspaper article and the photos showing the handcuffed bad
guys, me, Charlie and Santo with a bunch of Carabiniere . I handed the newspaper article to a
girl in the class who could read Italian. She read the whole
article aloud, while the photos were passed round the class.
    Kids squealed, gasped and carried on like
pork chops.
    Mrs. Kingston came over to me. "Max, are you
serious? Is your story really true?"
    I couldn't stop grinning. "Yep! Shows that
it's always important to take notice of your bad feelings. "

Book 1 of The Max Books
Max's Revenge: A wedding, a party and a plate of dog
food stew

Max's Revenge
1. THE WEDDING
    D ad cut the engine, jerked
on the handbrake and turned round. "These are the rules," he said,
looking from me to Charlie and back to me. "You're both to be
quiet, still and polite." His voice deepened. "At all times."
    "Yes, Dad," we answered like a pair of
robots.
    "This is Sophie and Dan's special day—"
    "Daniel," I interrupted, "Sophie wants
everyone to call him Daniel."
    Dad glared at me. "He's my brother and I'll
call him what I want."
    Another point to me. Charlie and me were
having a competition to see how many times we could annoy Dad
without getting into serious trouble. So far I was winning three to
one.
    "I don't want either of you ruining their
special day because you have the attention span of two year olds."
He stared at us as though that would make his message sink in.
"Okay, Charlie?"
    "Yes, Dad."
    "And Max, absolutely no trouble today!"
    "Yes, Dad." I tugged my collar. The tie was
choking me and I felt stupid. I could see myself in the rear-vision
mirror; I looked like a shrunken version of Dad going to work. "It
would be easier to be quiet and still if I didn't have to wear this
tie."
    "The tie stays on," Mum said, without
looking up from the murder mystery she was reading.
    After she'd read to the end of the page, we
were allowed to get out of the car and hang out at the front of the
stone church with everyone else. There were heaps of people. People
I'd never seen before. All the guys wore suits, which made me feel
less stupid. And there were heaps of gorgeous girls with long shiny
hair and suntans. Dan and Sophie had lived in London for years and
years, so how did they know all these people?
    The four of us stood in a circle looking at
each other because we didn't seem to know anyone else. Mum smiled.
"The sunshine is lovely," she