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STEVE PERSUADED MR DALTON to let him keep the flyer He said he wanted it for his bedrooive it to hied hisit over

After school, the four of us me, Steve, Alan Morris, and Tolossy flyer

"It’s got to be a fake," I said

"Why?" Alan asked

"They don’t allow freak shows anymore," I told hio Mr Dalton said so"

"It’s not a fake," Alan insisted

"Where’d you get it?" Tommy asked

"I stole it," Alan said softly "It belongs tobrother was Tony Morris, who used to be the school’s biggest bully until he got thrown out He’s huge and asped "Have you got a death wish?"

"He won’t knoas me," Alan said "He had it in a pair of pants thatmachine I stuck a blank piece of paper in when I took this out He’ll think the ink got washed off"

"Set it?" I asked

"There was a guy passing them out in an alley," Alan said "One of the circus performers, a Mr Crepsley"

"The one with the spider?" Tommy asked

"Yeah," Alan answered, "only he didn’t have the spider with hiht and Tony was on his way back froet served in bars, but hangs around with older guys who buy drinks for him "Mr Crepsley handed the paper to Tony and told hi freak shoho put on secret performances in towns and cities across the world He said you had to have a flyer to buy tickets and they only give them to people they trust You’re not supposed to tell anyone else about the show I only found out because Tony was in high spirits the way he gets when he drinks and couldn’t keep his mouth shut"

"How much are the tickets?" Steve asked

"Twenty-three dollars each," Alan said

"Twenty-three dollars!" we all shouted

"Nobody’s going to pay twenty-three bucks to see a bunch of freaks!" Steve snorted

"I would," I said

"Me, too," Toreed

"And me," Alan added

"Sure," Steve said, "but we don’t have twenty-three bucks to throay So it’s academic, isn’t it?"

"What does academic mean?" Alan asked