No Fair Ready set go Malcolm and Dandy took off racing toward the Quickie Mart It was a hot summer afternoon and Malcolm had just two things on his mind 1 Quench his tremendous thirst 2 Beat Dandy there He wanted to have first pick of the Bubbler’s Root Beer He wasn’t a big fan of root beer but Bubbler’s was holding 4
a contest Find the bottle cap with a red lightning bolt and win 100 of free video games Beat ya Dandy said even though they both pushed open the Quickie Mart door together A teenage boy working behind the counter gazed up from the smartphone in his hand Where’s the fire he smirked In my throat Malcolm answered realizing how parched he was He and Dandy rushed to the cooler section and huh Only one bottle left Hey Malcolm called to the boy behind the counter Where are all the Bubbler’s The boy never looked up He kept texting and grinning flashing the huge gap between his teeth 5
Guess he never needs a toothpick Malcolm thought Think he’s texting his girlfriend Dandy asked wiping his sweaty face with the hem of his oversized T-shirt Nah He’s way too dorky to have a girlfriend Finally the gap-toothed teenager raised his head Sorry about that I was texting my girlfriend What did you ask me I told you Dandy said to Malcolm There’s only one bottle of Bubbler’s in the cooler Malcolm said Do you have any more Gappy shrugged Sorry Everyone wants to find that winning bottle cap And by everyone he grinned big again I mean me He held up a bulging Quickie Mart bag and rattled it It was 6
full of Bubbler’s bottle caps He then let out a loud burrrrrrp No fair Dandy said Didn’t you leave any for the customers The boy smiled again Yeah He pointed to the one bottle left in the cooler Guess we’ll split it Malcolm mumbled to Dandy A whoosh of cool air rushed out the door as Malcolm took out the soda He was starting to open it when Hey Gappy barked You’ve got to pay for it first Malcolm rolled his eyes Fine He and Dandy hurried over and dropped one dollar and twenty-five cents on the counter 7
