Horrible Harry and the Top-Secret Hideout Read online

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  Horrible Harry and the Green Slime

  Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion

  Horrible Harry’s Secret

  Horrible Harry and the Christmas Surprise

  Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding

  Horrible Harry and the Dungeon

  Horrible Harry and the Purple People

  Horrible Harry and the Drop of Doom

  Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade

  Horrible Harry Goes to the Moon

  Horrible Harry at Halloween

  Horrible Harry Goes to Sea

  Horrible Harry and the Dragon War

  Horrible Harry and the Mud Gremlins

  Horrible Harry and the Holidaze

  Horrible Harry and the Locked Closet

  Horrible Harry and The Goog

  Horrible Harry Takes the Cake

  Horrible Harry and the Triple Revenge

  Horrible Harry Cracks the Code

  Horrible Harry Bugs the Three Bears

  Horrible Harry and the Dead Letters

  Horrible Harry on the Ropes

  Horrible Harry Goes Cuckoo

  Horrible Harry and the Secret Treasure

  Horrible Harry and the June Box

  Horrible Harry and the Scarlet Scissors

  Horrible Harry and the Stolen Cookie

  Horrible Harry and the Missing Diamond

  Horrible Harry and the Hallway Bully

  Horrible Harry and the Wedding Spies

  VIKING

  Penguin Young Readers Group

  An Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2015

  Text copyright © 2015 by Suzy Kline

  Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Penguin Group (USA)

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Kline, Suzy. Horrible Harry and the top-secret hideout / by Suzy Kline ; illustrations by Amy Wummer.

  pages cm. — (Horrible Harry ; 33)

  Summary: “When his best friend Doug discovers his top-secret handout, Harry enlists his friends’ help to save it from being developed into an apartment building”— Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-698-18446-6

  [1. Natural areas—Fiction. 2. Hiding places—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. Behavior—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.K6797Hnsk 2015

  [Fic]—dc23

  2015000658

  Manufactured in China

  Version_1

  DEDICATED TO

  the boys and girls at Castlewood School in Bellerose, Queens, New York, for inspiring this story. Thank you, Tamara Restrepo, the teacher who asked me to come to Castlewood for an Authors for Earth Day visit, and Dolores Quinn, principal, for encouraging the students to care about all living things on our planet, including the nature preserve next door, Queens County Farm Museum.

  Contents

  Also by Suzy Kline

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Harry's Hideout

  Oh No!

  Pineapple Underwear

  The Empty Lot

  The Hole Truth

  Deal or No Deal?

  After School

  The Hideout!

  A Few Surprises

  Epilogue

  Special appreciation to . . .

  my granddaughter Kenna for her interest in this manuscript and love of writing; my daughter, Emily, for arranging all my wonderful school visits; my copyeditor, Krista Ahlberg, for her very helpful queries; my husband, Rufus, for his many readings; and especially my hardworking editor, Leila Sales, for her valuable criticism, questions, and suggestions.

  Harry's Hideout

  I never knew Harry had a hideout.

  It came as a complete surprise.

  He didn’t tell anyone, not even me—and I’m Doug, his best friend in the third grade!

  I finally found out about it one morning in May, when we were playing kickball before school.

  “Roll it fast with a little bounce, Dougo!” Harry demanded.

  “Okay,” I answered, sending my best pitch his way.

  Harry was waiting at the plate. Bam! He kicked the swirling red ball hard. It went zooming into the air high above Song Lee in left field. After it hit the ground and bounced four times, it rolled through the one hole in our school fence!

  Everyone groaned.

  “Game over!” Mary snapped.

  “Oh, Harry!” Sidney complained.

  As Harry rounded the bases, Song Lee and I curled our fingers through the chain-link fence. The ball had landed by the oak tree in the empty lot.

  Harry jumped into the air when he landed on home plate. “Home run!” he screamed.

  His team wasn’t cheering. Dexter plopped down on the playground. “Game over,” he repeated.

  Harry stopped cheering. “No problem, guys. I’ll get it!”

  “Harry Spooger!” Mary objected. “There is a fence around that empty lot for a reason. It’s private property! You’re not supposed to go in there. Look, the yard teacher is standing over by the steps. She’ll see you go through the hole!”

  “No, she won’t!” Harry exclaimed. He rushed over to Song Lee and me. “Okay, guys, I need you to make a human wall.”

  Song Lee and I rolled our eyes. We had done that once before, when Harry had gone into the lot to look at stinkhorn mushrooms.

  Song Lee and I slowly stepped together till we were side by side. Our backs were two feet from the fence. We were standing so close, a fly couldn’t get between us. Harry rattled the fence as he crawled through the hole into the lot.

  “Don’t move,” I whispered.

  “I won’t,” Song Lee replied.

  Just as Harry reappeared with the ball, Mary, Ida, and Sidney came over and joined us.

  “Harry!” Mary scolded. “I told you not to go in that lot!”

  Harry flashed a toothy grin. “Look, Mare! I saved our custodian, Mr. Beausoleil, some work. He shouldn’t have to find stuff for us. Now we can continue our game.” Harry tossed the ball to Mary.

  She exhaled loudly as she caught it. Then she ran back to the kickball diamond with Sid and Ida, screaming, “I’m up!”

  Song Lee chuckled.

  Harry and I shook our heads.

  Mary! I thought, stepping away.

  “Hang on, Doug,” Harry said. “I have to check on something. When I was in the lot, I noticed a new sign had been put up. It faces the street. I have to go back and read what it says.”

  Probably “No trespassing!” I thought.

  Before we had a chance to object, Harry dropped to his knees and headed for the hole. We had to protect him! Quickly, Song Lee and I stepped together to make another human wall. Seconds later, the morning bell rang.

  Everyon
e raced over to line up. Mr. Ollie, the fourth grade teacher, was standing at the red double doors at the entrance of the school, greeting everyone.

  “Harry, hurry up!” I said.

  “Mr. Ollie will see us here!” Song Lee added.

  “You guys go on!” Harry yelled back. “I have to read that sign in front of the lot. I’ll stay in my hideout until it’s all clear.”

  “Hideout?” we both repeated. That was news!

  Song Lee and I turned around to face the lot. Neither of us could see Harry. “Where are you?” I called.

  “I’ll sneak back in a few minutes. I’ve been tardy before. Go ahead!” Harry called out from somewhere.

  “Well, we can’t stand here,” Song Lee said. “Let’s go, Doug!”

  So we ran to the end of Room 3B’s line.

  When we turned around, all we could see was the empty lot behind the fence.

  Where was Harry’s hideout?

  Oh No!

  I couldn’t believe what followed in the classroom.

  There we were, sitting in Room 3B, watching the South School TV station, when Mr. Cardini, the principal, appeared on the screen. “I have a very special announcement to make,” he said. “Miss Mackle got married last weekend. She took her husband’s last name, so you should now call her Mrs. Flaubert. That’s pronounced flow-bear! As a wedding gift to her, I am asking Mr. Beausoleil to repair the hole in our school fence this morning. It’s been something she has wanted for several years now, so I think it’s the perfect present. Have a great day, everyone!”

  Our class cheered, except Song Lee and me. We knew it was bad news for Harry! I was worried the custodian would repair the hole before Harry had a chance to make it back through.

  “Finally!” the teacher exclaimed, turning off the TV. “Now we’ll have fewer lost balls.”

  Mary looked around. “Hey, where’s Harry?” she asked. “We were just playing kickball together outside.”

  Miss Mackle looked at me. (I know her name isn’t that anymore, but it’s what I was still thinking in my brain.) “Doug, do you know where Harry is?”

  “Ah . . . in the bathroom,” I fibbed. “He’ll be here soon.” I immediately got up to sharpen my pencil. I didn’t feel good about lying.

  When I looked out the open window, I could see the playground and the empty lot beyond the fence. I stood there as long as I could, just staring at the tall grass, bushes, and trees. I was hoping to spot Harry.

  Yes! There he was, crawling toward the fence! Just as he was about to duck down and go through the hole, I saw Mr. Beausoleil wheeling a barrow of tools and new chain links across the playground. He was headed for the same place Harry was! Harry couldn’t miss him. The rickety wheel was making a loud noise.

  “Doug!” the teacher called out. “Please join our circle for morning conversation.”

  Oh no! Harry would be caught sneaking out of school and trespassing on private property for sure!

  As I sat down on the yellow moon rug, I had horrible thoughts about Harry being caught. Would he be suspended? Or would Mr. Beausoleil let him off because Harry helps him clean up after spaghetti day in the cafeteria?

  When I snapped back to the present, Sidney was talking about his weekend in New York City. “Saturday night, Mom and I got to go with my stepdad to his convention! The best part was the four-star hotel we stayed in. You should see all the free stuff I got!” He pulled out a shower cap and put it on his head.

  “It fits perfectly, Sidney,” the teacher replied. Then she looked over at me and whispered, “Doug, would you check on Harry in the boys’ bathroom?”

  “Sure.” I jumped up.

  As I hustled toward the door, Song Lee shot me a look. I had the same desperate feeling.

  This was crunch time! When I got to the stairway, I began thinking . . . What was I going to say to Miss Mackle when I got back?

  I stepped into the boys’ bathroom and started pumping the soap dispenser. I needed more time to think. As I washed my hands, I glanced into the mirror.

  Harry was standing there behind me!

  I nearly jumped out of my skin. “You made it!” I said, turning around.

  “I did,” Harry replied, walking into a bathroom stall.

  “But . . .” I gasped. “Didn’t Mr. Beausoleil see you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Wasn’t he repairing the hole in the fence?”

  “He was, so I went over it.”

  “You climbed over the school fence?” I said.

  “Yup, down by the Dumpster, away from Mr. Beausoleil’s view.”

  “Man, that was daring!” I exclaimed.

  “Not really. The playground was empty.” Harry groaned.

  “How come you’re so bummed?” I asked.

  “I read the sign, Dougo.” He flushed the toilet. When he opened the stall door, he had a long face. “It was a For Sale sign. I’m going to lose my hideout!”

  “Oh, gee, Harry,” I said, as he washed his hands. “I’m sorry about that.”

  We didn’t say anything more going up the stairs. But I did notice something.

  Harry had another problem.

  There was a big hole in his jeans, and I could see his white underwear!

  Oh no!

  Pineapple Underwear

  “Harry!” I called.

  He didn’t stop. He was deep in thought.

  “You’ve got a hole in your pants!”

  Harry skidded to a halt. “Where?”

  “Your rear!”

  Harry put a hand back there and felt the three-inch rip. “It was that chain-link fence. Can you see my underwear?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I groaned. “It’s your white pair with pineapples on them.”

  “Oh, man!”

  “I’ll stick close behind you.”

  I was right on his heels all the way back to Room 3B. “Hey, Harry,” I whispered. “Where is your hideout, anyway? And how come you didn’t tell me about it?”

  “I haven’t told anyone about it!” Harry replied. “Just you and Song Lee today, but now . . . it’s probably going to be knocked down by a bulldozer.”

  Harry sank into his seat quickly. I don’t think anyone noticed his rip. Everyone was getting their homework out.

  “I have to mark you tardy, Harry,” our teacher said firmly. “Next time, report to the classroom first, and then go to the bathroom.”

  Harry immediately sat up straighter. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Flaubert. It was kind of an emergency.” Then he added, “I like saying your new name.”

  The teacher smiled. I had a feeling Harry wasn’t going to get that tardy mark.

  “I told you you’d get in trouble,” Mary whispered to him.

  He wasn’t in trouble yet, I thought. But he was sure sitting on it!

  The Empty Lot

  The rest of the morning, we wrote about true adventures we’d had. Sidney’s story had three pages on New York City.

  Harry’s was the best, though. He wrote about the empty lot next to our school. He didn’t say anything about his hideout, but he listed some of the wildlife there in A to Z order.

  When Harry finished sharing his writing, the teacher smiled. “So you think the empty lot next to our school could be a nature center?”

  “Absolutely!” he replied.

  “When do you visit that lot, Harry?” she quizzed. Her eyebrows were lowered now. “You know that land is private property.”

  “I know who it belongs to,” Harry said. “Mr. and Mrs. Jordan. They live in the green and white house next to the lot. My grandma is friends with them and delivers their orders for her cakes and cookies. I go sometimes after school and on weekends. The Jordans said it was okay for me to play there.”

  Mary cleared her throat. She knew Harry had conveniently left
out the part where he sometimes went into the lot during school hours, too, to get lost kickballs or check out stinkhorn mushrooms.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Jordan just put it up for sale,” Harry added. “I saw the For Sale sign.”

  The teacher wrote something down in her pocket notebook. “Well, I agree with you, Harry. That empty lot could be a great place for our science studies.”

  Harry started rubbing his hands together, and I knew why. If the school bought the lot, then he could keep playing there!

  “I did see some bleeding hearts and jack-in-the-pulpits blooming on the other side of the fence,” Mary added. “I’d like to study wildflowers in that lot. And draw pictures of them.”

  Song Lee joined the conversation. “Salamanders are beautiful. Have you ever seen any by the creek, Harry?”

  “Yes! One crawled out from a hole in the ground near the water. It had yellow spots.”

  Mary shivered while Song Lee beamed.

  “I wonder if there are any tadpoles in the creek,” Ida said.

  “There are lots now that it’s spring!” Harry answered.

  “I’ll have a talk with Mr. Cardini,” Mrs. Flaubert continued. “But no one should be playing in that lot without permission. Harry wisely goes there only when his grandma is visiting the owners.”

  Harry was tying his shoe so he could avoid the teacher’s eyes. He knew that wasn’t always the case. Like this morning, when he’d ripped his jeans going over the fence after checking out the sign.

  There were two holes that had to be repaired that day.

  The one in the fence was done. The second one was going to be a challenge.

  The Hole Truth

  When the lunch bell rang, I found out how Harry was going to cover that hole in his pants. He leaned over and whispered something to Song Lee. After she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from giggling, she handed him her sweater.