Something There: Chapter 3

A few minutes later, Clarence was on the phone with his mom, asking if he could sleepover at Jeff's house. He was on the phone with her for about five minutes, as Jeff, Sumo, and Dusty watched him. Clarence hung up the phone, and said, "My mom said it's okay to sleepover at Jeff's, and Chad's bringing over my pajamas and all that stuff!"

Jeff smiled. "That's great!" He said. "Now we just have to see if Sumo can stay."

Sumo said, "Oh, I'm pretty sure my parents will let me stay. After all, they do have to take care of all of my brothers. They'd have one less child to watch over."

Clarence nodded and said, "Good point, good point."

Sumo walked over to where the wall phone was and grabbed it off of the wall. He dialed his home phone number and put the phone to his ear. It rang about four times when finally a woman's voice picked up. "This is the Sumozski Residence."

"Hey, mom," Sumo started. "I was wondering if I could spend the night at my friend's house."

There was a pause, when suddenly his mom said, "Which friend are you staying over at's?"

Sumo replied with, "You know him, mom. His name is Jeff. He's the one with the square head."

Jeff heard this and crossed his arms and frowned. "That's not true!" he said.

Dusty bit her lip and hesitated. She mumbled, "Are you sure?"

Jeff looked at her, angry at first, but then calm. He muttered, "I guess you're right," and chuckled a little.

"Oh," Mrs. Sumozski said. "That friend. Well, you know that I'll have to ask your father."

Sumo said, "Okay," and he could hear his mother yell to his father, "Hon!" there was another pause, and the both of them were waiting for Mr. Sumozski to reply. He said in the distance, "What?"

Mrs. Sumozski said, "Sumo wants to stay over at his friend's house, is that okay?"

Again, there was a pause. "Which friend?" Mr. Sumozski said, like his wife had said earlier.

Mrs. Sumozski turned away from her husband and said to Sumo, "Which friend is it again?"

Sumo rolled his eyes. "Jeff," he said. "Jeff Randell."

Mrs. Sumozski repeated the name to Mr. Sumozski and there was an even longer pause. Jeff had to keep Clarence from falling asleep from the silence.

"Okay," Mr. Sumozski said. "But tomorrow he's gonna have to catch up on his chores."

Sumo heard his father and said, "Dad, I promise I'll do it. Can you just bring over some pajamas?"

Mr. Sumozski said okay, and Sumo said goodbye to his mom. He hung up and said to his three friends, "It's okay for me to stay over. My dad's bringing my pajamas."

Clarence spread his arms and said, "Hooray!" He hugged Jeff and Sumo, and motioned for Dusty to join. "Come on," he said. "Join the Hug Force!"

Dusty rolled her eyes playfully and joined in on the group hug. She had a feeling this was going to be a fun night.