All I knew for sure was that if we stopped RUNNING we'd be DEAD.
I could hear shouting behind us, and it was getting CLOSER. But, just when it felt like the voices were right on TOP of us, we broke through the trees and into the open.
Luckily, Dad was paying ATTENTION, or me and Rowley would've been ROADKILL.
But at least it would've been over QUICK. Because if the MINGOS had caught us I'm sure they would've taken their TIME.
Friday
When I wake up this morning, I was totally EXHAUSTED. My legs felt like rubber from all that running yesterday, and I barely got any rest because I had a nightmare the Mingos were chasing me.
I was gonna tell Mom I couldn't go to school today, but when I looked out of the window I realized I didn't HAVE to.
It had snowed at least five inches overnight, which meant school was CLOSED. So I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing day of doing absolutely NOTHING.
Mon and Dad were already gone, and Manny was at nursery. Rodrick usually sleep past 1:00 pm. on snow days, so I more or less had the whole house to MYSELF.
I went downstairs to get a bowl of cereal and turn on the TV. But there was something wrong with the REMOTE.
I noticed it felt a little LIGHT. So I opened up the back of the remote to see if there was a missing battery.
It turns out there weren't ANY batteries inside, but there was a note from MOM. "To get the batteries for the remote, load the dishwasher."
I really didn't feel like doing chares on a SNOW DAY, so I looked around the house for some batteries I could put in the remote. But Mom must've KNOWN I'd do that because there wasn't a spare battery ANYWHERE.
I couldn't figure out how Mom was gonna know I'd loaded the dishwasher, since she wasn't even HOME. But when I put in the last plate and shut the door I found something.
It was another NOTE with a BATTERY taped to it. "Congratulations! clean the downstaire bathroom to get your next battery!"
I didn't like where this was heading. The TV remote takes FOUR batteries, adn at this rate I was gonna burn through my whole DAY doing chores.
But when I realized I didn't HAVE to. The remote in Mom and Dad's bedroom is really SKINNY, and I was pretty sure it only took ONE battery.
And it turned out I was RIGHT. I knew I was gonna have to finish all the chores before MOM and Dad get home, but I figured I had plenty of time and I deserved to enjoy myelf for a little while. So I made myself comfortable on their bed and turned on the TV.
Ordinarily I get a little weirded out being in Mom and Dad's bed, but today I decided to make an exception. ESPECIALLY when I realized one of their blankets was the one we got from Aunt Dorothy for Christmas.
Watching TV in bed was AWESOME, or at least for a WHILE. I was comfortable for the FIRST two hours, but afer that my neck started hurting from laying in that position.
I've already decided that when I get a place of my own I'm gonna attach my TV to the CEILING so I can look straight UP at it. But I'm gonna get someone who knows what they're DOING to install the TV. Because I don't need to be the next Flat Stanley.
I must've dozed off for a while, because when the phone rang it startled me. It was MOM, and I figured she was checking up on me to see if I'd finished my chores.
But the reason she was calling was to tell me she couldn't make it home in time to pick Manny up from nursery, so she was gonna have Mrs Drummond drop Manny off at the HOUSE.
That meant I had to BABYSIT, which was gonna really mess up the rest of my day.
When Mrs Drummond dropped Manny off half an hour later, I didn't know what to DO with him. I put him in Mom and Dad's room and turned on some cartoons, but he followed me back downstairs. So I guess Manny just wanted to be with ME.
It tried to remember what Rodrick used to do with me when I was little. But all I could think of was the time to give me lemon juice and told me it was SODA.