Read Online Jack on the Tracks by Jack Gantos - Free Book Online Page A

cars. She had jumped into car windows, dropped into truck beds and convertibles from trees, and even chased them down the street like a dog.
    “Is this your cat?” Miss Fry barked. She knew it was.
    I casually reached for the tag around Miss Kitty II’s neck, and examined it. “Yeah,” I said.
    “Well, I wish you would keep her from sleeping in my car. I got in just now and she crept up on my neck and batted my earrings and nearly scared me half to death. I thought a car-jacker was in the back seat. I almost had a coronary.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said, staring at her miniature handcuff earrings. “But she really likes cars.”
    “Then maybe you should
buy
her one,” Miss Fry suggested. She must have thought she said something very clever because her hips started to gyrate as if she were spinning an invisible Hula Hoop.
    “Buying her a car is a good idea,” I replied, snapping out of my trance and sticking to my manners. I really wanted to say,
Maybe I could buy that rusted piece of junk you keep up on cinder blocks in your front yard!
But I knew if Mom overheard me being rude I’d get instantly grounded and I wouldn’t be able to go waterskiing.
    “Don’t let it happen again!” Miss Fry ordered. “Or else!”
    I didn’t want to know what she meant by “Or else.” Miss Fry was a security guard at the high school. Once the mailman delivered her mail to our house by mistake and in with her letters there was something titled
SECUR-I-GARB: The Catalog Serving Security Professionals.
Inside were pictures of SWAT team outfits, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests, and lots more cool stuff. I wanted to keep it but Mom made me put it back on her front porch.
    “It won’t happen again,” I replied as sweetly as possible to Miss Fry. I didn’t want her to arrest me.
    After she stormed off, Betsy yelled out from the kitchen, “Who was that?”
    “Miss Fry,” I yelled back. “She forgot to take her medication.” The drugstore errand boy was always delivering little white bags to her door.
    “That’s not a nice thing to say,” Betsy said.
    “She threatened to do in Miss Kitty II,” I explained.
    “She’s just a big talker,” Betsy replied, and sneezed. “Don’t listen to her.”
    “Hey,” I asked, as I walked into the kitchen, “what are we having for dinner tonight?” Mom and Dad were going out to an Elks Club Halloween party and had given Betsy money for take-out food.
    Betsy held up a coupon for a pizza. “I got it out of the newspaper,” she said. “Halloween special. You can get two huge pizzas for the price of one, plus two free extra toppings each, plus they deliver.”
    “I want Hawaiian style,” I said. “Pineapple and macadamia nuts with tuna.”
    Betsy raised her eyebrow. “That’ll smell like puke—you’ll have to eat that outside.”
    “I want hot-dog pizza,” Pete said, “with sauerkraut.”
    “Believe it or not,” Betsy said, “he’s worse than you are.”
    Just then someone pounded on the door. “I’ll get it,” I yelled and pushed Pete to the floor. It was Tack.
    “Get a move on,” Tack said, panting. “My brother is ready to roll.”
    “In a lightning storm?”
    “Yeah, and we have to carry golf clubs too,” he said, grinning like a rotten-toothed pumpkin.
    I knew Mom wouldn’t let me go if I asked her, so I just hollered, “See you in a little bit,” and ran out the door.
    The thought of getting into a fast boat and skiing over jumps and doing flips and all sorts of stunts was pretty exciting. When I got into Jock’s beat-up Impala convertible I asked, “What lake are we going to?”
    Jock laughed. “You’ll see,” he said, and mashed down on the gas pedal. Just as the car lurched forward Miss Kitty II leapt through the window and onto my lap.
    “Ouch!” I yelped as Miss Kitty II’s claws dug into my thigh.
    “Cool cat,” Jock said, and whistled. Miss Kitty II climbed up onto his shoulder and stuck her head out the window as the car shot