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Help a Story—Become a Weekly Writer.
Welcome David Lubar—the newest author to join Weekly Writer. Lubar has published 13 books, including the brand new My Rotten Life (Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie) as well as Hidden Talents, and Invasion of the Road Weenies. During his career, Lubar has also designed and programmed video games and written jokes for magazines. He much prefers what he is doing now—writing scary books and helping YOU create a story.
"Breakfast is on the counter," Troy's mom said as she ran past his bedroom. "I'm late. Bye." She blew him a kiss and dashed down the hall. "Bye." Troy got dressed, and then went downstairs, wondering what sort of cereal his mother had picked up. "Super Puffy Wheat Wonders," Troy said, reading the front of the box. Under that, in big red letters, he saw "Model Race Car Inside. Collect All Seven." Troy got a large bowl and dumped out enough cereal so he could reach the car. The small, hard puffs clinked against the bowl like pieces of gravel. "Vroom," he said, rolling the car along the table. "Boring," he added, reaching for the milk. He filled the bowl to the top. As Troy finished pouring, he noticed a sentence at the bottom of the box: "Caution: Read Warning on Back!" Warning? Troy turned the box around. 1
On the other side of the box, the message read: "Warning: The toy included inside this box is very dangerous. Do not feed it or dance with it. And most of all, NEVER get it wet."
"Why in the heck would I feed a car?" Troy wondered as he trudged to the table to finish the rest of his homework from last night. But all he could think about were the words on the box, "Do not feed it."
Suddenly, he stared up at the clock. He was late! He threw his backpack onto his back—leaving his homework behind.
All the way to school, Troy thought about the box. He couldn't wait to tell his best friend Bob about the box in homeroom. Finally, he got to school and rushed into the room.
"Troy, where were you 10 seconds ago when the bell rang?" Mrs. Smith yelled.
"Ugghh ... late bus?" he spluttered.
"Troy, you have been at this school for six years and you use the same excuse every time so let me clear my throat to say it again," she said. "OK, WE DON'T HAVE BUSES!"
Troy jumped into the seat next to Bob.
"Hey, Bob, today there was a car in my cereal and there was a warning on the side saying—"
"Can you two quit talking for maybe, THE REST OF THE DAY?!" Mrs. Smith scolded.
"Sorry," they replied together.
"Tell me at lunch," Bob whispered.
During lunch, Troy told Bob everything that happened, but he didn't believe it.
"There is no way that's true!" Bob exclaimed
"Keep it down, will you?" Troy whispered. "I don't want every kid in the school to know this!"
When Troy got home ... 2
...his car was in the kitchen sink, where his mom was washing the dishes. Troy looked at the car in horror, for it seemed to have had a face painted on the front.
He picked up the car and took it to his room. The car was covered in debris from that morning's cereal. Troy tried to pick it up, but he pinched his finger on the door.
"Did this car just bite me?" wondered Troy.
Suddenly, the car jumped off his bed and roared out the door.3
The car zoomed down the hall! Troy was surprised.
"I can't believe it," he mumbled in shock.
The car grumbled. The lights went on. Troy was scared.4
The car continued to roar down the hallway. Troy ran after it yelling, "Stop! Stop!"
But it was no use. The car drifted to the left, its rear pulling right. After the car gripped the carpet, it once again went VROOM and sped toward the banister.
It drove between the railing and sailed through the air with its hood pointing down. It hit the carpet 10 feet below the stairs. Troy picked it up just as his mother walked in.
"Why are you screaming?" she asked.
Troy looked at his mother and shook his head.5
Troy didn't know whether he should tell his mother. What were the chances she'd believe him, anyway? He had been planning to talk to Bob about it, but Troy knew his mom was more reliable than his best friend, so he decided to tell her.
"The car ... the one in that new cereal you got me. The box said, 'Don't get the car wet or feed it' ... or ... oh, yeah ... 'and don't dance with it,'" Troy spat out. Telling his mom the truth was harder than he thought.
"What new cereal?" Troy's mom asked. "I got you the same cereal last week."
Troy became as confused as his mom.
"Are you joking? Do you mean a real car? Oh, that toy car in the sink! Now I remember. I wondered where you got that. But I don't remember Whole Grain Puffs offering a prize inside," she said.
"But the cereal was called Super Puffy Wheat Wonders!" Troy shouted.
Just then, the car growled. Now Troy knew what was going on. No one bought the cereal! The cereal came to Troy. Someone wanted Troy to get that car. And he or she succeeded because all of a sudden the car bit down hard on Troy's hand.
It didn't let go.6
"Awwackka!" Troy screeched out in pain.
"Honey, you are either seriously ill or putting on some sort of a weird show. Let's try this one more time. If it still doesn't make sense ... well, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do," Troy's mom explained slowly as if she were afraid he wouldn't understand.
If I try to tell Mom the truth again, she'll think I'm hallucinating. But if I lie to her ... wait, actually nothing will happen if I lie to her, thought Troy. So Troy opened his mouth as if to announce something, but quickly thought otherwise. Hmm ... maybe I could just run! 7
Wait! That isn't a very good idea—to run from my problems like that, Troy thought.
"Ouch!" Troy almost forgot about the gargantuan pain in his hand. He had to find a place to hide the car or his mom might get suspicious. 8
"Mom, I got to go to Bob's house. See you later!" he said. Troy picked up the cereal box, stuffed the car inside, and rushed out the door.
"That was close," Troy said to himself. When he got to his friend's house, he and Bob went to Bob's room. Troy explained what happened. 9
"Hey, Bob, look! Here it is," said Troy.
"I told you, Troy! You're lying, you can't feed cars!" screamed Bob.
"This is no ordinary car," said Troy. "This car has a face!" He opened the cereal box and took out the car.
"Sure, some face on that car," Bob said sarcastically.
Troy looked at the car. The face was gone! 10
Troy looked at his car once more, but there still was no face! He did not know what to do! If Bob thought he was lying and his mom thought he was lying, then what was he going to do?
He tried to explain it to Bob, but he got nowhere.
Bob began, "I really don't know why you think this car is real. Are you trying to play a prank?"
Troy answered, "No, I'm not trying to play a prank."
After Troy finally got a chance to explain, Bob and Troy came up with a plan ... 11
"Okay," Troy said. "What we're going to do is sit in the closet and wait."
"Just wait?" Bob asked.
"Yeah, I think the car is hiding its face somehow. If we wait, it might come back to life," Troy replied.
"Okay, but I don't think this will work," Bob muttered.
As they stepped into the closet, they heard, "Bob, Troy! Where are you?"
"Oh no!" Bob whispered, "My mom!"
As Bob's mom walked toward the closet, she clumsily spilled a glass of water all over the car.
"Oh no!" Troy yelled. "Catch that car!" 12
The car raced out of the room. His mom stood there, stunned.
"What just happened?" she asked.
"No time to explain," yelled Tony. "Now let's go get that car!"
They ran out of the room and started to look around. Then they noticed that the front door was wide open.
"It must have gone out the front door!" Tony exclaimed. At that exact moment, they heard barking.
"Uh-oh,' Bob said in a worried voice. "We are dog-sitting my grandma's bulldog!"13
"Even better!" Troy exclaimed.
"How is that good?" Bob asked.
"We can use your grandma's dog to help us find the car!" Troy said.
"Well ... OK," Bob said.
Bob led Troy to the laundry room near the back of the house.
"Is the dog in there?" Troy asked.
"No," Bob replied sarcastically. "I just wanted to take a walk around my house."
"Oh," Troy said, confused.
"Of course the dog's in there!" Bob yelled.
"OK!"
Bob turned the brass doorknob. When the door opened, a dog tackled Troy.
"That dog is crazy," Troy said after he'd recovered.
"What makes you think that?" Bob asked.
"That dog jumped on me faster than a football player ... Oh, never mind," Troy said.
Bob opened the drawer near the back of the laundry room. He pulled out a thick red leash that had Noodles on a silver plaque.
"The dog's name is Noodles?" Troy asked Bob.
"Nope, my grandma didn't want to buy another leash after her other dog named Noodles was hit by a motorcycle."
"So then what is this dog's name?"
"Fluffy," Bob replied with a smile. "But come on now—we've got to catch that car." 14
1. David Lubar
2. Sam L., Grade 6
3. Joey P., Grade 7
4. Emily T., Grade 6
5. Evan H., Grade 6
6. Savannah M., Grade 6
7. Yael M., Grade 6
8. Michael L., Grade 6
9. Alice L., Grade 6
10. Emily R., Grade 4
11. Kayla R., Grade 5
12. Michael L., Grade 5
13. Samantha S., Grade 3
14. Evan H., Grade 6
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Have a question about writing? Send them to weeklywriter@weeklyreader.com. David Lubar will answer the first ten of them.
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