Free I'm Game by Nancy Krulik Page A

breakfast table. “I don’t believe it.”
    “What?” Katie and her mom asked him at the same time.
    “ Tick, Tock, Clock ,” Mr. Carew replied. “The show is going on a tour. They will be filming in different cities all over the country. And on Friday they’re going to be here!”
    “In Cherrydale?” Katie’s mother exclaimed. “ This Friday?”
    “Daddy, you have to get on the show!” Katie cried out.
    “This article gives a phone number you can call to try out,” Mr. Carew told her.
    “How can you try out over the telephone?” Katie asked her dad.
    “It says here that there will be four questions you have to answer,” Mr. Carew read. “If you answer four correctly, then you may be picked to be on Tick, Tock, Clock .”
    “Call right away!” Katie shouted. “I’ll bet half of the people in Cherrydale are calling that phone number right now.”
    Mr. Carew leaped up and ran to the phone.
    “Katie, please go get your backpack,” Mrs. Carew said. “I’ll drive you to school on my way to work.”
    “But I want to see if Daddy can answer those four questions,” Katie pleaded.
    “Sorry,” her mom said. “We’ve got to get going or I’ll be late.”
    Katie frowned, but she hurried upstairs. Her chocolate and white cocker spaniel, Pepper, nipped at her heels as she ran.
    “Wouldn’t it be so exciting if Daddy got to be on TV?” Katie asked Pepper as she slipped her math worksheet into her homework folder.
    Pepper smiled and wagged his tail excitedly. Katie grinned. Sometimes she was sure that her dog understood everything she said.
    “See you later,” Katie told Pepper. Then she raced back to the kitchen. “Mom, I’m ready,” she said.
    Her mother was standing at the kitchen door. “Shhh . . .” she whispered. Mrs. Carew pointed to the phone. “Daddy’s answering those questions for the test.”
    Katie could hardly believe it!
    “Madagascar,” Katie’s father said into the phone.
    Katie crossed her fingers and her toes. She hoped it was the right answer.
    “Yes!” Mr. Carew shouted suddenly.
    Katie grinned.

    “That’s the third one he got right,” Mrs. Carew whispered to Katie. “One more to go!”
    Katie’s heart beat hard as her father listened to the last question. “How do cows sleep?” he repeated. “Hmm . . . standing up?”
    Katie bit her lip nervously.
    Was that the right answer?
    Suddenly, a huge smile spread across Katie’s father’s face. “Wow!” he shouted excitedly. “That’s great. Okay. Friday evening at six thirty. I’ll be there.”
    After he hung up the phone, Katie’s dad hugged her mom. “I don’t believe it. I made it!” he shouted. “This is incredible. I’m going to be on Tick, Tock, Clock !”
    “I guess wishes do come true,” Mrs. Carew said with a smile.
    Katie gulped. Her mother was right. Wishes did come true. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always so great when they did.

Chapter 3
    Katie knew all about wishes—especially the kind that came true. One of her wishes had come true—and it kept on coming true over and over again.
    It had all started one horrible day back in third grade. Katie had lost the ball game for her team. Then she’d splashed mud all over her favorite jeans. But the worst part of the day came when Katie let out a loud burp—right in front of the whole class. It had been so embarrassing!
    That night, Katie made a wish that she could be anyone but herself. There must have been a shooting star overhead when she made the wish, because the very next day the magic wind came.
    The magic wind was a really powerful tornado that blew only around Katie. It was so strong, it could blow her right out of her body . . . and into someone else’s !
    The first time the magic wind blew, it turned Katie into Speedy, the hamster in her third-grade classroom. Katie spent the whole morning running round and round on a hamster wheel and chewing on Speedy’s wooden chew sticks. They didn’t taste very good at all.
    The magic wind