The Third Evil (17 page)

Then she stepped off.

Kimmy caught her easily.

“Perfect!” Miss Green declared.

The girls all cheered.

“Way to go!” Hannah slapped Corky on the back.

“Are you putting on weight?” Kimmy teased.

After practice Corky, Kimmy, Ronnie, and Debra squeezed into a booth at The Corner, all four of them talking at once. One of the basketball players had told Ronnie a dirty joke she couldn't wait to share. Corky laughed hard at Ronnie's joke even though she'd heard it before. Debra had news about Gary Brandt's new girlfriend. Kimmy wanted to discuss how she should have her hair cut on Saturday.

The waitress stood impatiently, tapping her pencil against her pad, waiting for the four friends to stop talking so she could take their order.

“I'll just have a Coke,” Debra said finally.

“Me too,” Kimmy said. “A Coke and an order of fries.”

The waitress turned her attention to Corky.

“Know what I have a craving for?” Corky asked Kimmy, peering at her over the top of the menu.

Kimmy shrugged. “No. What?”

“Pea soup,” Corky said softly.

“No way!”
her three companions shouted in unison.

“I'll have a burger and fries,” Corky told the waitress.

All four girls collapsed in riotous laughter.

The waitress headed back to the kitchen, shaking her head, wondering what on earth could be funny about pea soup….

“Where do you get your ideas?”

That's the question that R.L. Stine is asked most often. “I don't know where my ideas come from,” he says. “But I do know that I have a lot more scary stories in my mind that I can't wait to write.”

So far, he has written over a hundred mysteries and thrillers for young people, all of them best-sellers.

Bob grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Today he lives in an apartment near Central Park in New York City with his wife, Jane.