38 - The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page A

said.
    “Could be,” Dad replied.
    Mom and Dad are divorced. Mom just moved to Pennsylvania. We’re going to
spend the summer with her. But we stayed in California with Dad to finish out
the school year.
    Mom sent us some pictures of her new house. It was covered with snow. I
stared at the pictures, trying to imagine the cold.
    “I wish we stayed at Mom’s house while you were gone,” I said.
    “Jordan, we’ve been over this.” Dad sounded a little impatient. “You can
visit your mother when she’s settled. She hasn’t even bought furniture yet.
Where would you sleep?”
    “I’d rather sleep on a bare floor than listen to Mrs. Witchens snoring on the
couch,” I grumbled.
    Mrs. Witchens stayed with Nicole and me while Dad was away. She was a
nightmare. Every morning we had to clean our rooms—she actually inspected them
for dust. Every single night she served us liver, brussels sprouts, and
fish-head soup with a tall glass of soy milk.
    “Her name’s not Witchens,” Nicole corrected me.
“It’s Hitchens .”
    “I know that, Sicole ,” I retorted.
    Under the red light in the darkroom, the photos grew clearer. I heard
excitement in Dad’s voice.
    “If these shots come out well, I can publish them in a book,” he said. “I
will call it The Brown Bears of Wyoming, by Garrison Blake. Yes, that has
a nice ring to it.”
    He stopped to pull a photo out of the liquid. It dripped as he stared at it.
    “That’s weird,” he murmured.
    “What’s weird?” Nicole asked.
    He set the picture down without saying anything. Nicole and I glanced at it.
    “Dad—” Nicole said. “I hate to break it to you, but that looks like a teddy
bear.”
    It was a picture of a teddy bear. A stuffed brown toy bear with a
lopsided grin, sitting in the grass. Not the kind of creature you usually find
in the Grand Tetons.
    “There must be some mistake,” Dad said. “Wait until the rest of the photos
develop. You’ll see. They’re amazing.”
    He pulled up another picture. He studied it. “Huh?”
    I grabbed the photo. Another teddy bear.
    Dad picked up a third picture. Then a fourth. He moved faster and faster.
    “More teddy bears!” he cried. He was frantic. Even in the darkroom, I could
see the panic on his face.
    “What’s going on?” he shouted. “Where are the photos I took?”

 
 
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    “Dad—” Nicole began. “Are you sure those bears you saw were real?”
    “Of course I’m sure!” Dad boomed at her. “I know the difference between a
brown bear and a teddy bear!”
    He began to pace back and forth across the darkroom floor. “Did I lose the
film somehow?” he murmured, clutching his head with one hand. “Could someone
have switched it?”
    “The weird part is that you were taking pictures of bears,” Nicole noted.
“And you ended up with teddy bears. That’s just so strange.”
    Dad furiously tapped his hands on the developing table. He muttered to
himself. He was starting to lose it.
    “Did I lose the film on the plane somehow? Switch carry-on bags with someone
else, maybe?”
    I turned my back to Dad, my shoulders shaking.
    “Jordan? What’s the matter?” Dad grabbed my shoulders. “Are you all right?”
    He spun me around. “Jordan!” Dad cried. “You’re—laughing!”
    Nicole crossed her arms. She narrowed her eyes at me. “What did you do to
Dad’s pictures?”
    Dad frowned. His voice was calmer now. “All right, Jordan. What’s the big
joke?”
    I gasped for breath, trying to stop laughing. “Don’t worry, Dad. Your
pictures are okay.”
    He shoved one of the teddy bear shots in my face. “Okay! You call this
okay?!”
    “I borrowed your camera before you left for Wyoming,” I explained. “I took a
bunch of shots of my old teddy bear, for a joke. The rest of the film should
have your real bears on it.”
    I can’t resist a good practical joke.
    Nicole said, “I had nothing to do with it, Dad. I swear.”
    Little Miss Goody-Goody.
    Dad shook his