Read Online Touchdown Tony Crowne and the Mystery of the Missing Cheerleader by Peter Guy George - Free Book Online

was so mad at me, he said I should be ashamed of myself and if I wasn’t ashamed of myself then he would be ashamed for me. Ever since then, I’ve never hit no one exceptin’ on the football field.” Judd picked up a gnarled tree limb and absentmindedly began poking the sidewalk with it as they walked home.
    “Well, I didn’t mean it that way, Judd,” Ash glanced up at him and continued, “I just meant that you shouldn’t become a scaredy cat when they raise their voices at you or point their fingers. Just because they’re loud doesn’t make them right and just because you made an innocent mistake in calling them toadies instead of ladies doesn’t mean you should let them walk all over you.”
    Judd nodded solemnly at her and poked the sidewalk a little more with the tree limb and said, “Oh, I know, I know, but my Dad said always treat people with good manners and they’ll treat you right and if they don’t then it’s not your fault. Besides, I overheard Felicity talkin’ about—”
    “AHEM!” Tony cut in sharply and changed the subject, “So Ash, what did you and Miss Brady talk about in your meeting?”
    “Hmm?” Ash looked upward, then over at Judd, then back over to Tony as they neared Lake Shore Drive and answered, “Isn’t that strange? I can’t remember what we talked about.”
    “Yeah, that’s really weird.” Tony muttered as he knitted his brow and wondered how someone could completely forget an entire meeting.
    “Hey! Look who’s waitin’for us at the edge of your yard! Come here, boy!” Judd clapped, flapped his arms like a bird, jumped up and down, slapped his thighs, clapped again, ran in place, danced his own peculiar ballet, but to no avail. Curly calmly sat and watched Judd perform his gyrations, occasionally tilting his head to one side when Judd would make an especially interesting pirouette. “Hey, what gives? We’re only a block away, surely he can see us?” An out-of-breath Judd panted to Tony.
    Ash, with both hands up to her mouth, is giggling too hard to answer and Tony has his face buried in the crook of his arm as he leans against a streetlight pole, his whole body shaking from laughing at Judd’s antics.
    “Come on, guys! I’m serious, I wanna learn how to get Curly to obey me. I thought I was his pal!” Judd begged as he stood with his hands on his hips in front of Ash and Tony.
    “Muh-muh-muh.” Tony couldn’t form words because his mouth would rather laugh than speak, but he was able to signal Curly to come without Judd knowing it.
    As soon as Curly saw Tony’s signal to come, he shot off like a rocket, woofing and wagging his tail all the way down the block. “Here comes Curly.” Tony said, laughing so hard he was almost crying. He shakily pointed his finger for Judd to turn around.
    A surprised Judd only had enough time to pivot halfway around before eighty pounds of Airedale landed in those same outstretched arms. Curly’s weight spun him around in a circle, but Judd held on tight, lifted him in the air and in between energetic licks on his face from Curly he proclaimed, “Whoa, you’re a good dog, ol’ Curly! Yes, you are! Haw-har, haw-har!”
    Tony and Ash stared at each other in amazement, their mouths wide open and uttered, “Wow!” Neither one had ever seen anybody catch Curly like that, much less hold onto him and cradle him like a baby. Usually, most kids that Tony signaled Curly to jump on would fall into a crumpled heap and be screaming “Uncle!” in two seconds flat, but not Judd.
    Tony had never seen such an athletic move and asked, “Judd, can you catch a football like that?”
    Judd put Curly down on the sidewalk, looked over at Tony and smirked, “Of course! I like to catch the ball, but with my size and all, I always get stuck playin’ the line. Don’t get me wrong, I like the line and I love to block and tackle. When my Dad would throw me the ball in the back yard, I never, ever dropped it. Not even when he tossed it a