His father put down his fork He and Malcolm faced one another across the table The staring contest began Malcolm knew this was a duel he had to win Otherwise his weekend was going to be ruined His mom cut in Malcolm you know this father-son tournament is important to Dandy When you think about how much trouble you drag him into I’m sure you’ll choose to be supportive of his interests for once Yeah Cocoa said Think about someone besides yourself for once Malcolm considered throwing food at his sister but he decided to ignore Cocoa instead Leave it to Mom to hit him where it hurt Malcolm did drag Dandy into scary places And they did end up in trouble a lot 8
But that was the life of a Ghost Detector Dandy understood that Probably This will be great his father said The park has completely redesigned the miniature golf course It’s Ghoulie Golf now That’s your kind of place Yeah Cocoa said Creepy and gross She shoved a spoonful of food into her mouth and chewed it with her mouth open I am not the gross one Malcolm yelled Are too Cocoa shouted back spewing bits of noodle around Aha Grandma Eunice crowed She stabbed her plate so hard that it flipped over Noodle surprise flew across the table and all over Cocoa Malcolm’s sister launched out of her chair screaming Noodles hung in her hair and sauce dripped from her nose 9
In the middle of all the shouting and running around Grandma Eunice calmly turned to Malcolm and gave him a wink It’s only as bad as you make it Malcolm flopped back in his chair He gave up He’d spend his Saturday hitting little balls with a stick But he wasn’t going to like it 10
Chapter 2 Attack of the Clown This This will be the best day ever Dandy shouted for the third time in the short drive to the park He also bounced in the seat so much that Malcolm was starting to feel a little carsick Dandy’s dad laughed and put his hands over his ears I know you’re excited But this is a little car You don’t have to be so loud Sorry Dandy whispered but he grinned at Malcolm Isn’t this great 11
