by Ronald Roy
“I’m not even a Cub Scout,” Nate added.
“Josh taught me this,” Brian said. He told Nate and Lucy to squat down. He showed them how to make a seat by crisscrossing their hands and arms. When they were ready, Brian put one foot on top of their joined hands. He balanced by holding on to Bradley’s head.
Nate and Lucy stood up, slowly lifting Brian.
“You’re heavy,” Nate grunted.
“You’re pulling my hair!” Bradley said.
Brian grabbed the top of the fence. “A little higher!” he said.
Bradley shoved his brother’s rear end.
“Okay, I’m up!” Brian said. “Go to the gate, and I’ll let you in!”
“Unless Killer eats you first!” Nate said.
Brian grinned in the moonlight. “Killer is in the house dreaming doggy dreams,” he said. Then he dropped out of sight into the neighbors’ yard.
Bradley, Nate, and Lucy raced toward the gate.
When they got there, Brian was shoving it open. “Come on in,” he whispered. “And be quiet!”
Single file, they followed Brian across the yard. In the moonlight, the tarp was a tall blue ghost. The green car sat in the driveway. Bradley thought it looked like a crouching dragon. Moonlight made the car’s headlights gleam like eyes.
Suddenly the house lit up.
A light went on inside the tarp.
The yard was filled with bright light, as if it were noon instead of midnight. Then the neighbors’ back door opened. Killer came bounding out, barking like crazy.
He charged across the yard, straight toward Bradley.
Killer barked like a maniac. His eyes and teeth shone in the moonlight. He reared up on his hind legs and slammed his giant front paws into Bradley’s chest.
My nightmare is coming true! Bradley thought as he landed on his back on the grass. One hundred pounds of hairy black dog piled on top of him. A huge pink tongue washed his face. Bradley was too scared to yell.
“Daisy, get off!” a voice shouted.
Bradley looked up. He saw a boy tugging on the dog’s collar. Then a girl was there, and she was tugging, too. They both had brown hair. They looked about ten years old.
Finally, Daisy got off, and Bradley looked up. Brian, Nate, and Lucy were standing with Bradley’s parents, who were wearing bathrobes. Josh was there, too, wearing sweatpants, a hoodie, and a silly grin.
Suddenly Pal raced through the gate, into the crowd. He and Daisy sniffed each other, then began racing around the yard, playing doggy tag.
“What’re you guys doing here?” Bradley asked his family.
“A better question,” his dad said, “is what are you doing here?”
Josh helped Bradley up off the ground. The two new kids were standing next to the neighbors.
“These are our grandchildren from Florida,” Mrs. Sargent said. “Charlie and Maddy.”
Everyone said hi.
“It’s cold out here,” Mr. Sargent said. “Let’s go inside.”
Eleven people crowded into the neighbors’ kitchen.
“Find your seat, everyone,” Mrs. Sargent said. “The hot chocolate is almost ready.”
Bradley blinked under a bright light. A long table was set with eleven places. There were eleven mugs, eleven napkins, eleven spoons. A plate of cookies sat in the middle of the table. The cookies were shaped like turkeys, with raisins for eyes.
On each place mat was a cardboard-turkey name tag. Bradley found his name and sat down. Then he laughed. Standing next to his mug was his flashlight!
Next to him, Brian laughed, too. There was his jar of money.
They knew we were coming! Bradley said to himself.
Soon everyone began sipping from the mugs and munching on cookies.
“How did you know about Operation Brian?” Brian asked.
“A little birdie told us,” Mr. Sargent said. “So we knew you were curious about what was going on under our tarp.”
“The same little birdie told us your plan about sneaking over here tonight,” Bradley’s mother said.
“What little birdie?” Bradley asked.
Josh grinned and patted himself on the chest. “Tweet, tweet!” he said. “I heard you guys talking in your room. You should keep your door closed!”
“We had fun sitting in the dark and watching you sneak into the yard,” Mrs. Sargent said.
“And I heard you creeping past my door,” Josh said. “You were about as quiet as a herd of elephants!”
“So I nearly broke my neck for nothing!” Brian said.
“And I got attacked by a giant dog for nothing!” Bradley said.
“Daisy wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Maddy said. “She just wanted to kiss you.”
“If you had asked, we would have told you,” Mrs. Sargent said. “We’re building a special Thanksgiving surprise for Charlie and Maddy.”
“Granddad, what is it?” Charlie asked. “I can’t wait till tomorrow!”
Mr. Sargent stood up and looked at his watch. “Well, since it’s almost one in the morning, it’s officially Thanksgiving Day,” he said. “Let’s go take a look!”
Charlie and Maddy raced out the door. Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy ran after them.
Everyone gathered in front of the blue tarp. Mrs. Sargent tugged on a rope, and the tarp fell to the ground.
The “surprise” was tall and silver and shiny. It gleamed in the moonlight.
“It’s a space shuttle!” Maddy shouted. “Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma!”
“Charlie and Maddy live near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida,” Mrs. Sargent explained. “They love to go there and see the launches. So we decided to build them their own shuttle in our backyard!”
“But where’s the tree?” Bradley asked.
“It’s inside,” Mr. Sargent said. “We cut off most of the branches and used some of the wood inside the shuttle. The tree is very old, so we used cement and steel bars to make it stronger.”
The spaceship was made of aluminum that covered the tree, and light shone through round windows. There was a door to go inside.
“It’s wonderful!” Bradley’s mother said. “What clever new neighbors we have!”
“Can we go in it?” Nate asked.
“Of course,” Mr. Sargent said.
The kids opened the door and stepped inside, where Bradley and Brian used to play. The wood from the tree branches had been turned into seats. A rope ladder hung from the top. One by one, the kids climbed the ladder. It led to a platform where they could sit on pillows.
Sticking up from the floor were a bike seat and two pedals attached to a chain. The chain was hooked up to a small motor.
Charlie sat on the bike seat, put his feet on the pedals, and pushed down. Suddenly one of the windows turned into a TV screen. At first, it was black, but then the kids saw planets and stars appear.
“Awesome!” Nate said. “I feel like an astronaut!”
Everyone got a chance to go inside the space shuttle. Finally, the kids began to yawn. “Okay, it’s time to call it a night,” Bradley’s father said. “Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!”
Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy went back to the twins’ room. Within minutes, they were all asleep.
On Thanksgiving morning, a loud barking woke Bradley. He crawled over Nate’s sleeping bag and looked down at the ground. On the other side of the fence, Daisy was barking. Pal was sitting on his side of the fence, barking right back!
Brian woke up and looked out the window.
Mr. Pinto and Mr. Sargent were standing by the fence, talking. Mr. Sargent was holding his chain saw.
Nate sat up. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“My dad and Mr. Sargent are out there talking,” Bradley said.
Lucy’s head popped up. She rested her chin on the sill and looked down.
Suddenly Mr. Sargent started the chain saw. He began cutting the fence. In two minutes, there was a big space where a section of the fence had fallen to the ground.
Pal raced into the Sargents’ yard. He and Daisy began chasing each other.
“Oh my gosh, there’s a big hole in the fence!” Bradley said.
“Charlie and Maddy are already playing in the shuttle!” Brian said.
The four kids ran downstairs and dashed outside. Charlie and Maddy waved to them. “Come on up!” they yelled.
The cutout section of fence was lying on the grass. Mr. Sargent was measuring it with his shiny tape. “I can make a nifty gate out of this wood,” he said.
“I think I’ve got some hinges in the barn,” Bradley’s father said.
“What’re you doing, Dad?” Bradley asked his father.
“Our new neighbor decided there should be a gate here,” Mr. Pinto said.
Mr. Sargent smiled. “Our grandkids will be leaving soon, and we want you kids to play in the space shuttle while they’re gone,” he said. “The gate will always be unlocked for you.”
Mrs. Sargent poked her head out the back door. “What’s all the racket?” she asked.
“Grandpa cut part of the fence down!” Charlie said.
“Oh, what a marvelous idea!” Mrs. Sargent said. “Now it will be so much easier to get to know our new friends!”
Bradley’s mother opened her back door. “Everyone come over for juice and muffins!” she called across the yard.
Charlie and Maddy came down, and they all walked through the hole where the fence once stood.
Bradley whispered to his mother, “Mom, can we invite everyone over for Thanksgiving dinner?”
His mother smiled. “I already asked them,” she whispered back. “Now I just have to figure out where to get a bigger table!”