Monster Blood IV

9

Evan leaned his elbows on the dinner table and stared down at the pile of spaghetti on his plate. Aunt Dee couldn’t mess up spaghetti — could she? he wondered.

“Evan — what happened to your ear?” Aunt Dee asked.

Evan sighed. His left ear was normal. But his right ear throbbed and burned. He knew it must look like a red cabbage!

“What on earth happened to you?” his aunt demanded.

Evan didn’t want to describe how Conan had won a tug-of-war with his ear. He mumbled something into his plate.

“Evan got into another fight with Conan,” Kermit told his mom.

She lowered her fork. “Evan — is that true?”

Evan nodded. “It wasn’t exactly a fight.”

“I warned you to stay away from that boy,” his aunt scolded. “You really should be smart enough not to pick a fight with someone so big.”

“And Evan lost all my white mice too,” Kermit whined.

His mother’s mouth dropped open. “Those mice cost a lot of money!” She narrowed her eyes at Evan.

Evan swallowed hard. “I’m not the one who brought them outside,” he choked out.

“I left you in charge,” Kermit’s mom said sternly. “You are responsible for what goes on here when I’m away.” She scowled and waved her fork at him. “If it’s too big a job for you, Evan, I can find a grownup to come stay with Kermit.”

“No!” Evan cried.

Being responsible for Kermit was impossible. But he didn’t want to lose the job. If he didn’t earn money, he couldn’t go to sleepaway camp.

“I can handle the job,” he told his aunt.

Across from him, Kermit gobbled down mouthful after mouthful of spaghetti. The orange sauce ran down his chin.

Evan rolled several spaghetti strands on his fork, then took a big bite.

He chewed for about three seconds. Then he let out a scream. “YAAAAAAIIIII!”

His mouth was on fire! His head felt about to explode!

“Is it spicy enough?” Aunt Dee asked. “Did I put in enough hot sauce?”

Later, as Evan changed into his pajamas, Kermit typed away on his computer. Evan’s lips were swollen from the spicy spaghetti. They looked like two big salamis hanging from his face.

He gazed at himself in the dresser mirror. His ear resembled a red cabbage.

He shook his head unhappily, thinking about Conan. “I have to do something about him,” he mumbled.

Kermit spun around from his keyboard. “What did you say?”

“Conan went too far this time,” Evan grumbled bitterly. “He’s making me look like a freak.”

“Yes, you do,” Kermit agreed.

“Shut up. I didn’t ask you,” Evan snapped. “You’re not exactly Brad Pitt!”

“Who’s that?” Kermit asked.

Evan ignored him. He climbed into bed. He hit the pillow a few times, fluffing it up. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep.

He was too angry.

“This time Conan went too far,” he repeated, muttering to himself. “This time I have to find a way to pay him back.”

Behind his red-framed glasses, Kermit’s round black eyes lit up. “You mean revenge?” he asked excitedly.

“Yeah. I guess,” Evan replied, settling his huge ear on the pillow. His hands were clenched into tight fists. His whole body felt tense.

“Revenge.” He repeated the word a few times. “That’s what I want. Someone has to show Conan that he cannot keep pushing everyone around and beating everyone up. Revenge…”

Kermit shut off his computer. When he turned back to Evan, he had a wide grin on his face. “I think I can help you,” he said.