Dogs Don't Tell Jokes (Someday Angeline 2)

“Gary, you can’t keep quitting and then signing up, then quitting again,” she said.

“I’m in it,” Gary said. “I’m not going to quit.”

“Well, you’ll have to talk to Brenda Thompson. It may be too late.”

He found Brenda as she was coming up the stairs along with Julie Rose.

It took Brenda a while to figure out what Gary was talking about because she didn’t know he’d ever quit the show.

“So then I’m in?” asked Gary.

“Yes. You were never out,” said Brenda.

Julie Rose stared oddly at him. He wondered what Matt or Paul told her about why he had come to her house the other day. Well, he couldn’t worry about it. He was back in the talent show—that was the most important thing.

“You gonna stick around for some football?” asked Joe.

Gary sighed. “I can’t.”

“What’s with you anyway, Goon?” Zack asked.

“I have to work on my act for the talent show. It’s tomorrow night.”

Joe and Zack looked uneasily at each other.

“C’mon, Goon, we really need you,” said Joe.

“I thought you were going to do a rap,” Gary said.

“I am,” said Joe. “I made it up last week. It took about twenty minutes. No big deal. It’s just a stupid talent show.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Gary.

“So what do you say?” asked Joe.

“No, I really need to go home,” Gary said. “I guess things don’t come as easy for me as they do for you.”

“Personally, Goon, I think you need a change in attitude,” said Joe. “Lighten up. It’s supposed to be fun. Who knows? Anything can happen. Do you hear what I’m saying? Anything can happen.”

“I know that,” said Gary.

“So how about it?” asked Zack. “Are you going to play football or not?”

“I can’t.”

“Suit yourself,” said Joe. “But don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

He tried not to think about it. He remembered what Angeline had said: “Don’t think about Friday. Think about Saturday.

“No matter what happens, by Saturday it will all be over—forever.”

21.

“How could I think that was funny?” Gary asked as he went over his routine. He shook his head in disbelief.

The jokes he used to think were great now didn’t seem funny at all. Especially the ones he had made up yesterday.

He decided two of the new jokes were kind of funny. He threw away the other three.