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nodded. “I do now.”
    Mouth cracked up. “And you never had nightmares?”
    “Not until I met you,” Crunch snapped back.
    “Okay, okay,” I said, taking control and using some of Crunch’s words. “Everybody who doesn’t want to use any of Crunch’s balderdash, codswallop, hokum, hooey versions of any of the fairy tales, put up their hands.”
    All the hands in the room shot up, one faster than the other. The Wahoos put up both their hands, and I think I even saw a foot or two sticking out in the middle somewhere.
    “Okay, Korie,” I said. “Pick the next one.”
    “ The Emperor’s New Clothes ,” Korie said.
    “Naked!” Mouth yelled. Then cracked up.
    “Crunch,” I said, “any weird twist your parents put on this one?”
    “Suntan lotion,” Crunch said quietly. “So once the people of the kingdom realized that he’s naked, he won’t get a sunburn.”
    “Perfect,” I said, “but no.”
    Tank raised his hand.
    Oh, this ought to be good . “Tank, what’s the first word that comes to your mind? Mouth already used naked.”
    “Suitcase,” Tank said.
    I laughed. “Is this a little teeny, tiny suitcase that Crunch’s dentist is carrying?”
    “No, wait. Seriously,” Tank said. “Just a suitcase. So when the Emperor’s people open it, they see nothing’s in it. Then they realize the tailor tricked him and made him look like an idiot in front of all his kingdomers.”
    I nodded. “That was great up until the word kingdomers .”
    Staring at Tank, I wrote The Emperor’s New Clothes on one side of the board, “suitcase” on the other, and checked it off.
    This went on for a couple of hours. I put Jacob Grimm’s pen in as our last item for several reasons. First, the Grimm Brothers did write a lot of the fairy tales. Second, we thought that the kids coming to the library to see the exhibit would love it. And third, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that it might lead to one of the answers we were looking for.
    “I did a great job,” Mouth said, “and you’re all welcome. You couldn’t have done it without me … well, you could have, but it would’ve been terrible.”
    I laughed. “Maybe you shouldn’t break your arm trying to pat yourself on the back. We all did a great job, now we just have to find the best example of each thing we’re looking for.”
    “What does that mean?” Crunch asked.
    Korie smiled. “The difference between handing in a helmet for a knight versus a bedpan. They’re both made of metal, but one is a lot better than the other. Sorry, Tank.”
    “That’s okay.” Tank waved. “Jax’ll pay for it in the end.”
    “Wait! What? Why will Jax pay for it in the end?”
    Everybody cracked up.
    Even I had to laugh. I knew they were right.
    Running down the stairs, our footsteps sounding like the “thundering herd,” as my dad liked to call us. And, of course, he was there, waiting at the bottom. Slowing down to a nice, easy crawl, we walked past him. “Good night, kids.”
    “Thank you so much for everything.” Crunch stopped right in front of my dad and looked up at him. “We weren’t planning any criminal activity upstairs at all, so there is nothing to worry about. Good night, Mr. M.”
    As Crunch left to join the others on the porch, I shut the door quickly. Then I tried to step past my dad and into the hallway going to the kitchen like nothing had happened. He put out one of his beefy arms and stopped me in my place.
    “What’s he talking about?” my dad asked.
    I laughed. “Nobody ever knows what Crunch is talking about. In fact, he thinks it was a dentist who saved Little Red Riding Hood from the Wolf.”
    I raised his arm up so I could scoot under, and as he stood there wondering what the heck we were up to … I was gone.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    I had to get up early and get to school, which I hated doing two days in a row, but I was on a mission.
    I wanted to thank Mr. Bartholomew for all his help with Crunch and to tell him how far