Amos Gets Famous (6 page)

.13

“Wasn’t it nice of them to put us in the same room?” Dunc was sitting on the edge of his bed in Clairview Memorial Hospital. They had been in overnight for observation, and the police had questioned them, or rather Dunc—Amos was still out—in the morning. Dunc had told the truth exactly as he knew it, and the police had believed him, or almost did—they remembered having run into Dunc and Amos before, when about half the town was blown up along the river and appliances were flying around like UFOs.

Amos shook his head. “Look, I know you and remember you—you’re the one who got me into
this. But I can’t remember anything or anyone except my parents, who have grounded me until I’m drawing social security, and my sister, who calls me names that have
butt
in them.”

He trailed off as a girl came into the room without knocking. She had blond hair and blue eyes and freckles, and Amos fought to keep the hospital gown closed in back.

The girl came to his bed, read his chart and looked up at him. “Are you Amos?”

Amos nodded.

She came around the side of the bed and reached over and hugged Amos. “I think you’re very brave, and I want to thank you for saving me.”

She turned and walked out.

Amos looked at the door. “Who was that?”

“That,” Dunc said, smiling, “was Melissa.”

“Who is Melissa?”

“Come, on, you really don’t know?”

Amos shook his head. “Some crazy girl comes in and hugs me, and I’m supposed to know her?”

“Melissa Hansen, Amos—that was
Melissa
.”

Amos looked at the door to the room, struggled with his memories, and finally shrugged. “Doesn’t ring a bell. She looks nice, but I’ve got
other problems. I keep having this dream or vision or something about a monkey driving a car and putting a toilet on my head—”

Dunc shook his head.

“—and it’s so real. I mean, I can smell the toilet and feel the porcelain on my head. How can that be?”

Dunc looked out the window. Melissa was leaving the hospital. He watched her walking to where her parents were waiting in the parking lot two floors below, and he thought that when it finally came back, when Amos finally remembered, he was going to come apart.

“Monkeys and cars and men and driving and toilets—man, it’s all so weird,” Amos said.

I’ll have to help him
, Dunc thought.
I’m going to have to help him a lot when he comes out of this one
.

When Dunc Culpepper and his best friend, Amos, first see the parrot in a pet store, they’re not impressed—it’s smelly, scruffy, and missing half its feathers. They’re only slightly impressed when they learn that the parrot speaks four languages, has outlived ten of its owners, and is probably 150 years old. But when the bird starts mouthing off about buried treasure, Dunc and Amos get pretty excited—let the amateur sleuthing begin!

Dunc and his accident-prone friend, Amos, are up to their old sleuthing habits once again. This time they’re after a band of doll thieves! When a doll that once belonged to Charles Dickens’s daughter is stolen from an exhibition at the local mall, the two boys put on their detective gear and do some serious snooping. Will a vicious watchdog keep them from retrieving the valuable missing doll?

Dunc and Amos are researching the Civil War cannon that stands in the town square when they find a note inside telling them about a time portal. Entering it through the dressing room of La Petite, a women’s clothing store, the boys find themselves in downtown Chatham on March 8, 1862—the day before the historic clash between the
Monitor
and the
Merrimac
. But the Confederate soldiers they meet mistake them for Yankee spies. Will they make it back to the future in one piece?

Best friends Dunc and Amos meet up with Amos’s cousin Lash when they enter the radical world of skateboard competition. When somebody “cops”—steals—Lash’s prototype skateboard, the boys are determined to get it back. After all, Lash is about to shoot for a totally rad world’s record! Along the way they learn a major lesson:
Never
kiss a monkey!

Dunc and his best friend, Amos, are planning the best route to get the most candy on Halloween. But their plans change when Amos is
slightly bitten by a werewolf. He begins scratching himself and chasing UPS trucks: He’s become a werepuppy!

Best-friends-for-life Dunc and Amos have a small problem when they try hang gliding—they crash in the wilderness. Luckily Amos has read a book about a boy who survived in the wilderness for fifty-four days. Too bad Amos doesn’t have a hatchet. Things go from bad to worse when a wild man holds the boys captive. Can anything save them now?

Dunc’s not afraid of ghosts, but Amos is sure that the old Rambridge house is haunted by the ghost of Blackbeard the Pirate. Then the best friends meet Eddie, a meek man who claims to be impersonating Blackboard’s ghost in order to live in the house in peace. But if that’s true, why are flames shooting from his mouth?