Why don’t you practice in your room Malcolm asked Because Grandma Eunice kept yelling The sky is falling Mom said it made her nervous So Dad said I could practice down here Fine Malcolm stomped toward the stairs He’d chased Cocoa out of his laboratory before He could do it again He just needed a plan Come on Dandy Dandy wrestled out of the beanbag Hold it Wait a minute Cocoa yelled I might have a job for you two We are not interested in doing your chores Malcolm yelled over his shoulder Not my chores I’m talking about a case an investigation Malcolm turned around to see his sister smirk Cocoa’s bright pink twisted lips 8
looked like two slugs waltzing It was gross I know you two are always slinking around poking your noses where they don’t belong I need you to do that for me We’re listening Malcolm said though he was pretty sure Dandy wasn’t listening His friend was shaking the beanbag chair and eating whatever fell out Someone in my dance class is trying to ruin the recital Stuff keeps disappearing The lights flip off and on And at the last rehearsal someone put gum on the stage and we all stuck to it Cocoa’s sneer slid off her face She chewed some of the gloss from her lower lip All the dancers are getting scared Miss Nan said if the pranks don’t stop she will cancel the recital 9
Since Malcolm couldn’t think of too many things worse than being stuck watching a dance recital he couldn’t see why he should help So So this is my big chance Cocoa wailed clutching her chest dramatically There could be a talent agent in the audience I could be discovered I could become a star She flung her arms wide And I could become a lizard Malcolm said But it’s not likely Cocoa dropped her arms and leaned toward Malcolm You’re already a lizard Now I need you to scamper around and figure out what’s going on Malcolm folded his arms over his chest He and Dandy were Ghost Detectors They had faced the scariest ghosts anyone could imagine They certainly weren’t going to 10
be ordered around by Cocoa not without a sweet deal Say we figure it out What do we get Cocoa glared at him If you don’t do this I’ll tell Mom about all the sneaking around you do You already do that Malcolm said You put the tail in tattletale I think that’s a different kind of tail Dandy said He shook the beanbag chair some more Not when the tattletale is a rat Malcolm said like Cocoa Cocoa looked so mad Malcolm thought steam might come out of her ears Her face turned as bright pink as her lip gloss But she finally said Fine What do you want You do my chores for a month A week Cocoa countered 11
