Dunc and Amos on Thin Ice (5 page)

Kim stepped nimbly into the brown bag. This time she was dressed in a short white skating costume. Dunc pulled it up around her and zipped it shut. “You okay in there?”

A muffled
okay
came from inside the bag.

“Get your end, Amos. We don’t have much time left.”

“Are you sure this is the only way? I don’t think I should be lifting heavy things. She could have busted one of my ribs.”

“Your ribs are fine. Come on.”

“Oh, all right. I wouldn’t get any sympathy
around here if I was dying. At least we’re going downstairs this time.”

Because of the competition, the hotel was practically empty when they reached the bottom floor. One of the guards near the elevator gave them a strange look as they crossed the lobby, but he was busy talking on the phone and didn’t stop them.

When they reached the rink Dunc stopped and took a breath. “I hope the cavalry’s waiting on us.” He pushed the door open and headed downstairs.

“And just where do you think you two are going?” The guard at the desk stood up and folded his muscular arms.

Dunc swallowed. “We’re meeting some people here to deliver this bag. They picked up ours by mistake, so we came to switch.”

The guard’s eyes narrowed. He stepped around the desk and reached to unzip the duffel bag. “We’ll see about that.”

“Hold on there.” The entire Canadian hockey team swarmed around the guard. “Thanks for bringing our stuff, Dunc.” They dropped a large green bag on the
floor at Dunc’s feet, picked up the brown one, and whisked it down the hall.

“Say. What’s going on here?” The guard saw the green bag start to wiggle. He looked at Amos. “You. Open that bag.”

Amos rubbed his chin. “I could do that. But it would probably be a big mistake.”

“Why?”

“Because Ikchong’s in there.”

“You have a person in that bag?”

“I didn’t say Ikchong was a person.”

The guard stepped back. “If it’s not a person …” The bag started squirming furiously.

Dunc pointed at Amos. “My friend here won’t go anywhere without her, Officer. Ikchong is his pet cobra.”

•
15

Dunc rang Amos’s doorbell and tried to wait patiently for someone to answer. Mrs. Binder opened the front door still wearing her robe and curlers, carrying a cup of coffee.

Dunc rushed past her. “You look great this morning as usual, Mrs. B.” He took the stairs three at a time, reached to pat Scruff, and turned Amos’s doorknob.

Amos was standing on the top step of a tall metal ladder in the middle of his bedroom. He had pulled the mattress off his
bed and placed it a few feet from the ladder. “Hi, Dunc. Come on in. You can watch me work on my half Salchow.”

“Your what?”

“Half Salchow. It’s the half after the skater already jumps in the air. This is the landing part. Watch.”

Amos made a dramatic leap off the ladder, twisted in the air, threw out one hand, and nipped. It was beautiful. Except for the part where he caught his fingers in the light fixture, hung there for a moment, ripped most of the hide off his fingertips, and then dropped seat-first into the wastebasket.

“That’s interesting, Amos. Did it take you long to perfect it?”

“Shut up and get me out of this thing. It’s all your fault I’m doing this stuff, anyway.”

“My fault?”

“You promised I’d get my picture taken with all those athletes to impress Melissa. Did I? No. I not only didn’t get even one lousy picture, I got thrown out of the sports
complex for having a dangerous pet. By the time we got Ikchong on that bus to Cleveland, I didn’t even make it back in time to watch the final competition.”

“I know, Amos. But we kept Ikchong from skating. Kim wound up with a bronze medal.”

“And I wound up with sore ribs and no autographs. The only way I can awe Melissa now is to show her my smooth moves.”

“That’s why I’m here, Amos. It came in this morning’s mail. Kim sent you a present.”

“What is it, bandages?”

Dunc pulled something out of the manila envelope he was carrying. “Look. It’s a picture of her getting the bronze medal. She signed it at the bottom.”

“Let me see that.” Amos grabbed the picture. “All right!” He headed out the door.

Dunc yelled after him, “Where are you going?”

Amos was already halfway down the
stairs. “Maybe it’s not too late to impress Melissa after all.”

Dunc went to the door. He thought about telling Amos that he would make a better impression on Melissa if he took the wastebasket off his rear end. On the other hand … why spoil a perfect record?

When Dunc Culpepper and his best friend, Amos Binder, 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?

Dunc and Amos meet up with a new buddy named 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 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 were-puppy!

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, although 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 Blackbeard’s ghost so that he can live in the house in peace. But if that’s true, why are flames shooting from his mouth?

Deciphering a code they find in a library book, Amos and Dunc stumble onto a burglary ring. The burglars’ next target is the home of Melissa, the girl of Amos’s dreams (who doesn’t even know he’s alive). Amos longs to be a hero to Melissa, so nothing will stop him from solving this case—not even a mind-boggling collision with a jock, a chimpanzee, and a toilet.

To impress Melissa, Amos decides to perform on the trapeze at the visiting circus. Look out below! But before Dunc can talk him out of his plan, the two stumble across a mystery behind the scenes at the circus. Now Amos is in double trouble. What’s really going on under the big top?

Camouflaged as piles of rotting trash, Dunc and Amos are sneaking around the town dump. Dunc wants to find out who is polluting the garbage at the dump with hazardous and toxic waste. Amos just wants to impress Melissa. Can either of them succeed?

Dunc and Amos are at it again. Some older residents of their town have been bilked by con artists, and the two boys want to look into these crimes. They meet elderly Betsy Dell, whose nasty nephew Frank gives the boys the creeps. Then they notice some soft dirt in Ms. Dell’s shed, and a shovel. Does Frank have something horrible in store for Dunc and Amos?

Dunc and Amos head for camp and face two weeks of fresh air—along with regulations, demerits, KP, and inedible food. But where these two best friends go, trouble follows. They overhear a threat against the camp director and
discover that camp funds have been stolen. Do these crimes have anything to do with the tattoo of the exotic red flower that some of the camp staff have on their arms?

It’s Christmastime, and Dunc, Amos, and Amos’s cousin T.J. hit the mall for some serious shopping. But when the seasonal magic is threatened by disappearing presents, and Santa Claus himself is a prime suspect, the boys put their celebration on hold and go undercover in perfect Christmas disguises! Can the sleuthing trio protect Santa’s threatened reputation and catch the impostor before he strikes again?

When Amos wins a “Why I Love My Dog” contest, he and Dunc are off on the Caribbean cruise of their dreams! But there’s something downright fishy about Amos’s suitcase, and before they know it, the two best friends wind up with more high-seas adventure than they bargained for. Can Dunc and Amos figure out
who’s out to get them and salvage what’s left of their vacation?

When Dunc and Amos are invited to spend a week in Scotland, Dunc can already hear the bagpipes a-blowin’. But when the boys spend their first night in an ancient castle, it isn’t bagpipes they hear. It’s moans! Dunc hears groaning coming from inside his bedroom walls. Amos notices that the eyes of a painting follow him across the room! Could the castle really be haunted? Local legend has it that the castle’s former lord wanders the ramparts at night in search of his head! Team up with Dunc and Amos as they go ghostbusting in the Scottish Highlands!

Git along, little dogies! Dunc and Amos are bound for Uncle Woody Culpepper’s Santa Fe cattle ranch for a week of fun. But when they overhear a couple of cowpokes plotting to do Uncle Woody in, the two sleuths are back on the trail of some serious action! Who’s been
making off with all the prize cattle? Can Dunc and Amos stop the rustlers in time to save the ranch?

When their fifth-grade class spends a weekend interning at the state capitol, Dunc and Amos find themselves face-to-face with Amos’s walking double—Prince Gustav, Crown Prince of Moldavia! His Royal Highness is desperate to uncover a traitor in his ranks. And when he asks Amos to switch places with him, Dunc holds his breath to see what will happen next. Can Amos pull off the impersonation of a lifetime?

Amos and Dunc have their hands full when their school principal asks
them
to coach a local T-ball team. For one thing, nobody on the team even knows first base from left field, and the season opener is coming right up. And then there’s that sinister-looking gangster driving by in his long black limo and making threats. Can Dunc and Amos fend off screaming
tots, nervous mothers, and the mob, and be there when the ump yells “Play ball”?

When Amos and his best friend, Dunc, have a close encounter with an extraterrestrial named Girrk, Dunc thinks they should report their findings to NASA. But Amos has other plans. He not only promises to help Girrk find a way back to his planet, he invites him to hide out under his bed! Then weird things start to happen—Scruff can’t move, Amos scores a game-winning
touchdown
, and Dunc knows Girrk is behind Amos’s new powers. What’s the mysterious alien really up to?

Why is mild-mannered Amos dressed in leather, slicking back his hair, strutting around the cafeteria, and going by a phony name? Could it be because of that new kid, Slasher, who’s promised to eat Amos for lunch? Or has Amos secretly gone undercover? Amos and his pal Dunc have some hot leads and are close to cracking a stolen stereo
racket, but Dunc is worried Amos has taken things too far!