"Sure," Steve said, "but we don't have twenty-three bucks to throw away. So it's academic, isn't it?"
"What does academic mean?" Alan asked.
"It means we can't afford the tickets, so it doesn't matter if we would buy them or not," Steve explained. "It's easy to say you would buy something if you know you can't."
"I'd love to go," Tommy said sadly. "It sounds great." He studied the picture again.
"Mr. Dalton didn't think too much of it," Alan said.
"That's what I mean," Tommy said. "If Dalton doesn't like it, it must be super. Anything that adults hate is normally awesome."
"Are we sure we don't have enough?" I asked. "Maybe they have discounts for children."
"I don't think children are allowed in," Alan said, but he told me how much he had anyway. "Eight-fifty."
"I've got eighteen dollars exactly," Steve said.
"I have ten dollars and forty cents," Tommy said.
"And I have twelve dollars and thirty cents," I told them. "That's more than forty-nine dollars in all," I said, adding it up in my head. "We get our allowance tomorrow. If we pool our..."
"But the tickets are nearly sold out," Alan interrupted. "The first show was yesterday. It finishes Tuesday. If we go, it'll have to be tomorrow night or Saturday, because our parents won't let us out any other night. The guy who gave Tony the flyer said the tickets for both those nights were almost gone. We'd have to buy them tonight."
"Well, so much for that," I said, putting on a brave face.
"Maybe not," Steve said. "My mom keeps a wad of money in a jar at home. I could borrow some and put it back when we get our allowance..."
"You mean steal?" I asked.
"I mean borrow," he snapped. "It's only stealing if you don't put it back. What do you say?"
"How would we get the tickets?" Tommy asked. "It's a school night. We wouldn't be let out."
"I can sneak out," Steve said. "I'll buy them."
"But Mr. Dalton snipped off the address," I reminded him. "How will you know where to go?"
"I memorized it." He grinned. "Now, are we gonna stand here all night making up excuses, or are we gonna go for it?"
We looked at each other, then one by one nodded silently.
"Right," Steve said. "We hurry home, grab our money, and meet back here. Tell your parents you forgot a book or something. We'll lump the money together and I'll add the rest from the pot at home."
"What if you can't steal I mean, 'borrow, the money?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Then the deal's off. But we won't know unless we try. Now hurry!"
With that, he sprinted away. Moments later, making up our minds, Tommy, Alan, and I ran, too. THE FREAK SHOW WAS all I could think about that night. I tried forgetting it but couldn't, not even when I was watching my favorite TV shows. It sounded so weird: a snake-boy, a wolf-man, a performing spider. I was especially excited by the spider.
Mom and Dad didn't notice anything was up, but Annie did. Annie is my younger sister. She can be sort of annoying but most of the time she's cool. She doesn't run to Mom telling on me if I misbehave, and she knows how to keep a secret.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked after dinner. We were alone in the kitchen, washing the dishes.
"Nothing's wrong," I said.
"Yes there is," she said. "You've been acting weird all night."
I knew she'd keep asking until she got the truth, so I told her about the freak show.