"Where is he taking you?"
I groaned loudly. "He's probably already taken me."
Charlie frowned.
"I hope you're getting the Spanish Inquisition out of your system now. We're going to play airplanes with his family."
His face puckered, and then finally chuckled. "You're playing what?"
"Well, I'll probably just watch most of the time."
"You must really like this guy," he observed suspiciously, probably wondering where, exactly, Fredward had already taken me...
I sighed and rolled my eyes.
I heard the roar of an engine other than my own pull up in front of the house. I jumped for joy, and started cleaning my dishes.
"Leave the dishes, I can do them tonight. You baby me too much."
The doorbell rang and Charlie stalked off to answer it, with me half of a step behind him.
I hadn't realized how hard it was pouring outside—probably because I'd been inside for so long. Fredward stood in the halo of the porch light, looking like a male model in an advertisement for raincoats, except that he wasn't wearing a raincoat. Just a V-neck shirt and some wet galoshes.
"Come on in, Fredward," Charlie invited, tugging at his perfect arm.
I breathed a sigh of relief when Charlie got his name right.
"Thanks, Chief Duck," Fredward stumbled in a respectful voice.
Charlie smiled. "Go ahead and call me Charlie. Here, I'll take your jacket."
"Thanks, sir," Fredward said, taking off his imaginary jacket and handing it to my father.
"Have a seat there, Fredward."
I grimaced, noticing that my father was pointing to a place at the table which lacked a seat.
Fredward squatted down in front of the table, forcing me to sit next to Chief Duck on the sofa. I quickly shot him a dirty look.

359

Chapter 17

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