by Nancy Krulik
“I’m keeping my eyes on you,” she told George. “This is Louie’s party. Nothing funny is going to happen. You got it?”
George nodded. Louie’s mom had that right. From the looks of things, nothing funny—or even fun—was going to happen here. Everyone was just sort of standing around staring at one another, while Louie’s brother, Sam, played music.
“We’re going to bob for apples now,” Louie’s mother announced. “Loo Loo Poo, you’ll go first!”
George burst out laughing. Loo Loo Poo. It got him every time.
Louie’s mother shot George a look. George stopped laughing. He’d almost forgotten. Nothing could be funny at Louie’s party.
But as Louie stuck his head into a big vat of ice water and apples, George felt something funny happen. Not ha-ha funny. More like uh-oh funny. The magical super burp was back! Already the bubbles were bouncing around in George’s belly, climbing up his colon, and invading his intestines.
Oh no! Not here! Not with Louie’s mom watching George’s every move!
But the burp didn’t care who was watching. It wanted to have Halloween fun! The bubbles ricocheted off George’s ribs. They trampled up his trachea. And then . . .
George let out a burp so powerful, and so strong, it could be heard by real aliens up in space!
“George!” Mrs. Farley shouted. “What do you say when you burp?”
George knew he was supposed to say, “Excuse me.” He wanted to say, “Excuse me.” But when he opened his mouth, all that came out was: “It’s T.P. time!”
George’s hands reached out and grabbed the toilet-paper rolls from Chris’s costume and started throwing them at the trees in the yard.
“George, don’t!” Chris shouted. “That’s four-ply. It’s expensive.”
“Dude, we gotta get you out of here,” Alex added.
But the burp wasn’t going anywhere. Not until there was toilet paper wrapped over the branches of every tree in Louie’s yard!
“Mom!” Louie shouted. “He’s ruining my party . . . again!”
Louie’s mother glared at George. “You need to stop teepee-ing my yard—right now!” she warned.
George looked down. There was no more toilet paper. Only cardboard rolls. That meant the burp would have to stop spreading toilet paper around the yard.
But it didn’t mean the burp would have to stop having fun. Before George knew what was happening, his hands picked up a big stick. His legs ran straight for the piñata. There was nothing he could do to stop them. And then . . .
Bam! George slammed the big stick into Louie’s pumpkin piñata. Candy exploded all over the yard. Kids dive-bombed to the ground, scooping up candy.
“MOM!” Louie shouted. “I was supposed to break the piñata.”
“George Brown, what have you done?” Louie’s mother shouted.
Pop. Just then, George felt something burst right in the bottom of his belly. The air rushed right out of him.
The super burp was gone. But George was still there, surrounded by candy and toilet paper. He opened his mouth to say, “I’m sorry.” And that’s exactly what came out.
“I think it’s time you leave,” Mrs. Farley told him.
George didn’t argue. He was thinking the same thing. He started to walk away.
“Wait up, dude,” Alex said. “I’ll go with you.”
“Me too,” Julianna said. “I’d rather trick-or-treat, anyway.”
“Yeah, trick-or-treating is the best part of Halloween,” Chris agreed.
George smiled at his friends. Chris was wrong about that. Trick-or-treating wasn’t the best part of Halloween. Being with your friends was.
But getting free candy wasn’t too bad, either!
“Come on, you guys!” George told his friends. “Let’s get moving. There’s a whole town’s worth of candy waiting for us out there. And I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it!”
About the Author
Nancy Krulik is the author of more than 150 books for children and young adults including three New York Times Best Sellers and the popular Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo books. She lives in New York City with her family, and many of George Brown’s escapades are based on things her own kids have done. (No one delivers a good burp quite like Nancy’s son, Ian!) Nancy’s favorite thing to do is laugh, which comes in pretty handy when you’re trying to write funny books!
About the Illustrator
Aaron Blecha was raised by a school of giant squid in Wisconsin and now lives with his family by the south English seaside. He works as an artist designing funny characters and illustrating humorous books, including the one you’re holding. You can enjoy more of his weird creations at www.monstersquid.com.