I said'd like to take a look and yes there was my story although the newspaper had turned yellow over the years It was the rest of the papers that were really interesting though They told an absolutely crazy story about these kids trying to go on an adventure I'll let you read all about it yourself After all that s the whole point to reprinting their official report in this book I haven't been able to find the kids but I bet they'd be really pleased to know their report got printed up But before you read it let me tell you what it was like back in 2000 Kids weren't running around with camera phones A camera and a phone were two separate things and most kids didn't have either Most of their parents didn't have cellphones yet or if they did they spent most of their time complaining that they didn't work very well People were just getting used to digital cameras but they were big and chunky and sometimes the photos were pretty cruddy plus they were expensive Most families had a computer by then but there wasn't as much to do with it no YouTube or Twitter and I think Facebook was maybe just getting started And the Internet was really slow so you couldn't watch streaming TV and there was no easy way to download
music either I'm having trouble remembering what we DID use computers for back then actually All of this meant that if you lived in a pretty boring town you couldn't just go online and find something cool to do You had to try to find something cool in the real world And that's what these kids had been trying to do Did they succeed Well you should find out for yourself So III stop now and let you start digging into that big crazy stack of papers the dude found at the Qwikpick also known as The Qwikpick Papers Tom Angleberger
SECTION I The Introduction This is the report of the first ever trip of The Qwikpick Adventure Society It has been written by Lyle Hertzog me with the help of co members Marilla Anderson who took the pictures and Dave Raskin who drew the maps and stuff Let me just say that Dave came up with the name for our group and Marilla and I voted for it too because we thought it was funny See we sometimes hang out at a place called the Qwikpick a big gas station and convenience store which is where my mom and dad work There's a break room with two old sofas a microwave and a TV that you have to turn on and off with a screwdriver It only gets channel seven The Qwikpick is down on South Franklin Street right in front of Crab Creek Estates Trailer Park where I've
lived for a long time and Marilla just moved to about a year ago So that's why we called ourselves The Qwikpick Adventure Society Society is iust a fancy word for club which is stretching it a bit since there's only three of us But the word adventure is stretching it a lot We didn't stop a smuggling ring or get mixed up with the mob or stop an ancient evil from rising up and spreading black terror across Crickenburg You should not be expecting some kind of crazy wild adventure If that's what you want then you need to read The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by D Manus Pinkwater which is the greatest book ever written But we did see something that not many other people have gotten to see and no one will get to see again the Amazing Poop Fountain at the Crickenburg Wastewater Treatment
