Sneak-A-Peek

Have you ever wanted to look somewhere that you shouldn’t? Have you ever had a secret need to see what is in something that wasn’t yours? Well,if it was the last thing we do this summer. Bobby and I were going to sneak-a-peek and make history at Lindyman Middle School.
My family is always going somewhere or doing something.We did some great things this summer. On the fourth of July my best friend Bobby and his family traveled with us to my grandparents’ house.We spent the whole day together hiking and swimming.The best part of the day was when my dad fired off a bag full of really awesome fireworks. The neighbor called the cops because they made so much noise. Last month we went camping and I caught the biggest, ugliest, catfish in the whole river. When we went to the carnival we rode every ride in the park. Bobby and I rode the Twist and Hurl, twice; it’s the scariest roller coaster in the whole wide world. Last week, at the neighborhood picnic, Bobby ate so much ice cream and cake he puked on the neighbor’s dog.
My dad says he wouldn’t call us trouble makers, but, if trouble was missing

we’d be the first to find it.
It was Wednesday and we had a lot of errands to run thank goodness Bobby and his mom where along for the ride.“Well Oliver, Friday is the last time this summer you can sleepover Bobby’s house.” Mom said. “Why?” I asked. “Well boys, school starts Monday.” I turned to look at my mom so fast I almost got whip lash. I couldn’t believe summer vacation was over. Bobby’s mom turned around, smiled, and said, “Don’t you boys remember what tonight is? It’s the open house at the middle school!” Bobby and I both lit up like someone set fire to our backsides. “That’s right!! Mr. Klingaman here we come!”I hollered.

When Tommy and Frank told us all about what happens at the open house. They made us swear we wouldn’t say anything. Tommy said that after the tour was over the parents stand around in the auditorium talking. The kids get twenty minutes to look anywhere in the school. Frank said we can look in drawers, closets, cupboards, and cubbies. Kids rule for twenty minutes.

Nothing is off limits, every year, one time, twenty minutes, and this year, it is our turn. Frank and Tommy told us about last years big finds.They said, Greg Mahoney opened the filing cabinet in the principal’s office and found a rotten apple core with a huge spider on it. Natalie Eldridge went to the science closet and found a baby pig in a jar filled with green liquid. Sarah Sanders found a three pound block of cheese, in the refrigerator with hair and mold on it. Charlie Cooper looked in the girl’s locker room he found a box marked, “Lost & Found” it was full of girls bras and panties.
Bobby and I have been thinking about where to go all summer. We decided we are going to go to Janitors closet and see what we could find in there. We just had to get through the day and the evening was ours. “So mom, where are we going?” I asked. Her reply was like listening to the principal talking on the pa. Both Bobby and I slouched in our seats. I leaned over to Bobby and

whispered, “I can’t wait until this is over.” Bobby shrugged, “me too.”We spent all day jumping in and out of the car. Our moms pulled us by our collars, getting us out of the path of oncoming carts. Listening to them say look this is on sale, let’s check it out. Rounding out a perfectly awful day we had to wait in line twenty minutes before we could sit down, order, and eat our pizza.
When we finally got to the school Bobby and I ran up to the door. A poster stuck on the door read, “You’re just thirty minutes to Sneak-A-Peek! Come on in and take a seat.” Bobby and I grinned from ear to ear then we gave each other our secret handshake. We moved quickly so we could find a seat as close to the double doors as we could get. After the teachers were introduced, we watched the slideshow, and last the principal’s speech. It was finally time, they even handed us a map. I quickly marked a great big X where the janitor’s closet was. Bobby leaned over, grinned ear to ear and whispered, “Finally.” Principal Rackshaw stood up again and made the announcement. “One more thing!” he said. “Please be careful, do not to take, break, or smash anything.” Then he made all of us raise our right hand to the square. We swore not to tell anyone except the kids who were there and our parents about what we found. All the kids paired up in rows of two and lined up at the double doors. All that could be heard was giggling and the shuffling of feet. “Remember to listen for the buzzer; your twenty minutes begins now!” yelled Mr. Rackshaw. The school buzzer went off.

Bobby and I took off like pop rockets on the fourth of July. We ran as fast as we could go.

There wasn't anyone in front of us to slow us down. When we finally reached the janitor’s closet Bobby yelled, “Bingo! We’ve got you Mr. Klingaman! Let’s see what you keep behind door number one!” Then he threw open the door. I just fell over laughing. I’ve seen Bobby act crazy but, not like that. As I leaned into the closet to begin my search a broom handle fell and hit me square on the head. Bobby almost wet his pants laughing. We looked around to see what could find. It was just the usual things you’d expect to find in a janitors closet. There were brooms,

dust cloths, pledge, Windex, floor cleaner, buckets, paper towels, and toilet paper.

There wasn’t anything special at all. Dashed and disappointed I asked Bobby, “Do you think we chose the wrong place to look?” Just then Bobby flipped on the light switch on. There before us was door number two. Bobby and I looked at each other and without another thought. Slowly we opened the squeaky closet door. There before our eyes marked very clearly above a sink built into the floor was a sign that said, “Dispose of vomit here.” There hanging on the wall was

Mr. Kingman’s boots, a container of what looked like cat litter, a mop, and a bucket clearly

marked none of your business. I dared Bobby to smell the mop to see what it smelled like.

He said it smelled like 100 year old vomit coming out of a troll’s mouth.

Not finding anything else we knew we had to look into the bucket. It was full of ABC (already been chewed) gum. I leaned against the door still disappointed. I heard a tack drop to the floor followed by a photograph. “Where did this come from?” Bobby asked. I looked behind the door and there was a third smaller door. Bobby looked at the photo. It was fantastic; the picture was of Mr. Klingaman. He held a sign that read ‘Siones Book of World’s Record holder for the largest ball of ABC gum July 12, 1980!’ Behind him was a mountain of gum. Mr. Ernie Klingaman was the Worlds record holder for the largest ball of ABC gum. Bobby and I held our breath opened the door and there it was the ball of gum.We knew no one could have ever gotten past the second room to make such a historical find.Just then the school bell rang.“We got it!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

It was the best Sneak-A-Peek secret in Lindyman Middle School history.”

Sneak- A-Peek [a story of a janitor’s secret]

written by: Alisa Lucas-Aka. Max Lucas
Copyright © 2008