Dunc and Amos on Thin Ice

44 Pages·2016·0.33 MB·English

by  Paulsen Gary

A Mysterious Letter
“Look, Amos. There’s the girl who knocked you over.” Dunc pointed to
a beautiful dark-haired skater in a crimson costume. “I wonder who she
is.” He reached into his pocket for the program. As he did, a small gray
envelope fell out.
Amos picked it up and flipped it over. “What’s this? Could it possibly
be that Dunc, the boy genius, has a love letter?”
“Cut it out. It’s not mine. I must have picked it up by mistake
somewhere,” Dunc said. He snatched it out of Amos’s hand and read it
aloud.
Dear Brave American, You are my only hope. Please help me. Room
502.
Your servant, Kim Su-Yong
OTHER YEARLING BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY:
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are designed especially to entertain and enlighten young
YEARLING BOOKS
people. Patricia Reilly Giff, consultant to this series, received her
bachelor’s degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in
history from St. John’s University. She holds a Professional Diploma in
Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. She
was a teacher and reading consultant for many years, and is the author
of numerous books for young readers.
For a complete listing of all Yearling titles,
write to Dell Readers Service,
P.O. Box 1045, South Holland, IL 60473.

Published by
Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers
a division of
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
Copyright © 1997 by Gary Paulsen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where
permitted by law.
The trademarks Yearling® and Dell® are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and
in other countries.
eISBN: 978-0-30780403-7
v3.1
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
•1
Duncan—Dunc—Culpepper was in his garage installing a new state-of-
the-art speedometer on the handlebars of his bike.
“Pass me that wrench.”
Amos Binder, Dunc’s best friend for life, was slumped on a bench
staring out the window. He let out a long, deep sigh and, without
looking, handed Dunc a tool from the red box on the floor.
“I asked for a wrench, Amos, not a hammer. What’s wrong with you,
anyway? You’ve been moping around all morning.”
“Melissa.” Amos rested his chin on the back of the bench and sighed
again.
Dunc knew that Amos was crazy in love with a girl named Melissa
Hansen. He also knew that if he asked Amos any more questions he
would have to hear all about her—for the ten zillionth time. Dunc fished
the wrench out of the toolbox and continued working.
“She called me last night,” Amos said.
“Hand me the pliers.”
“At least I’m pretty sure it was her. I can always tell by the cute way
her phone makes my phone ring,” Amos said, not moving.
Dunc rolled his eyes and got the pliers himself. Amos had this funny
idea that deep down Melissa wanted to be his girlfriend and was just
hiding her true feelings. Amos was also convinced that even though she
had never so much as breathed in his direction, at any moment she was
going to break down and call him.
Dunc put the tools back in the box and wiped his hands on a rag.
“Well, that about does it. Want to take it out for a test ride?”
“She’s probably heartbroken.”
Dunc threw one leg over his bike and started to push off. “You
coming?”
Amos didn’t move. “It’s really too bad I disappointed her like that.
Maybe I should send her flowers or something. What do you think?”
The bike wheels rolled back and forth. Finally Dunc stepped off,
leaned his bike on its kickstand, and sat down on the bench. “All right,
Amos. I’m positive I’ll regret asking this—what happened?”
“Like I said, Melissa called me last night. Only I didn’t quite make it to
the phone and I know she’s depressed about it. I hope she doesn’t do
anything drastic. It was all Amy’s fault.”
Amy was Amos’s older sister. She was constantly trying to talk their
parents into moving away while Amos was down at the mall or over at
Dunc’s house. Once she answered an adoption ad in the newspaper and
sent the people Amos’s picture. The couple sent the picture back with a
nice letter saying they had decided not to adopt after all.
“Amy had one of her stupid boyfriends over,” Amos continued. “And
she told me that if I came downstairs while he was there, she’d chop me
into little pieces and feed me to Scruff.” Scruff was the Binder family’s
Border collie.
“Anyway, there I was, minding my own business up on the roof, when
—”
“Wait a minute. What were you doing on the roof?” Dunc asked.
“How else was I supposed to hear what Amy and that geek were
saying?”
“You were eavesdropping?”
“Let’s just say I was gathering incriminating evidence for use at some
future date.”
“I don’t get it. How could you hear anything they were saying from
the roof?”
“Easy. All I had to do was tie a rope to the TV antenna and lower
myself headfirst down the fireplace chimney. The tricky part was
holding the tape recorder low enough to pick up their voices.”
“Oh. Did you get anything you could use for blackmail?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t listened to the tape yet. The recorder sort of
got lost as I was flying around the living room.”
Dunc raised one eyebrow and waited.
Amos shifted on the bench. “See, just as I was all set to have control
over Amy for life, the phone rang. Of course I knew it was Melissa
calling to ask me if I wanted to come to her skating party.”
“Of course. The one she’s having this Saturday?”
Amos looked sharply at Dunc. “How did you know about it?”
“She sent me an invitation. Herman Snodgrass said she invited
everybody in school. Didn’t you get one?”
“No. Like I said, she was calling to invite me personally.”
“Right. You were explaining why you were flying around the room.”
“Oh yeah. The phone rang that Melissa-type ring I was telling you
about and I started for it because you know how she likes for me to get
it on that all-important first ring.”
That statment had always baffled Dunc. He could never figure out why
Amos was so sure Melissa wanted him to answer the phone on the first
ring when as far as Dunc knew she had never called Amos.
“I figured if I climbed out of the chimney, ran across the roof, slid
partway down the drainpipe, crawled up the trellis and through my
parents’ bedroom window, I could answer it with plenty of time to spare.
Only I didn’t count on the antenna breaking off when I was halfway out
of the chimney. When it busted, I dropped like a rock to the bottom of
the fireplace. The antenna’s still stuck in there.”
“Did Amy catch you?”
“No, but her boyfriend, who wrestles grizzly bears for a living, did. He
grabbed the rope and swung me around the living room until I barfed up
everything I’ve eaten since I was four. Then he tossed me in the broom
closet and pushed the bookshelf in front of it. I’d probably still be there,
except my dad needed his snow boots.”
“That’s rough. Did anybody answer the phone?”
“Amy did. She told my parents some ridiculous story about the
principal of our school calling to say I’d won two tickets to the Winter
Junior Championships. She’ll do anything to get rid of me.”
“Amos, I entered your name in that ticket contest.” Dunc sat up. “You
must have won!”
•2
“This is so great.” Dunc stared out the window of the bus. “I’m glad my
parents decided I could go with you. Almost every country in the world
will be represented at the Junior Championships.”
“Hrummp.” Amos folded his arms and slid down in the seat.
“What’s the matter with you? This is the opportunity of a lifetime.
Aren’t you happy you won the contest?”
“No. I would much rather be back home at Melissa’s skating party.”
“I hate to bring this up, Amos, but you never actually got an
invitation.”
“Are you trying to make a point?”
Dunc decided to take a different approach. “Think of it this way,
Amos. In the future, Melissa won’t wait until the last second to invite
you like she obviously did this time. Maybe she’ll stop taking you for
granted.”
Amos thought about it. “You think that’s what she’s doing?”
“I’m sure of it. Your going to the Junior Championships instead of her
party will teach her a lesson. When you get back home, she’ll probably
grovel at your feet for forgiveness.”
Amos’s face brightened. “You think?”
“No doubt about it. Now let’s forget about Melissa for a while and
concentrate on having a good time. This pamphlet”—Dunc took a glossy
white piece of paper out of the folder in his lap—“says you get an ice-
skating lesson from a top athlete and your picture taken with the
winning bobsled team.”
“That should impress Melissa.”
Dunc frowned. “I thought we were going to think about other things,
like having a good time.”
“You have fun your way and I’ll have fun mine.”
Dunc looked back at the brochure. “We’re also invited to a get-