Was this supposed to be a change? No way. We lived here every day of the year. I knew every detail by heart. I knew the neighbor across the street would come out the next minute to water his lawn. And he did.

This wasn't going to be a vacation at all. A vacation is when you go somewhere special and see new things and do stuff you've never done before. A vacation means going, not staying . . .

"A stay-cation," I said to Max. "I wonder where Dad got that one."

"I'd rather go on a go-cation."

Then he laughed his head off.

* * *

"See that orange truck?" Max whispered. "The guy inside it is an ax murderer." He ducked his head. "Here he comes. Stay down!"

An ax murderer? What was Max talking about?

The next minute, an ancient truck moved past our house, so slowly I could have beaten it in a foot race. The truck didn't have any doors, and standing at the steering wheel was a man even more ancient than the truck. The lines on his face were so deep you could have drowned in them. He was steering with one hand and ringing a bell with the other.

The truck was covered with drawings of knives, scissors and axes.

"Look - knives!" Max whispered. "I told you so."

The truck stopped right in front of our house. I could have explained to Max that it was Tony the Knife Sharpener and not Tony the Bloodthirsty Criminal, but why not have a little fun? After all, there wasn't anything else to do.

"You're right," I said to Max. "We'd better go investigate."

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Excerpted from Summer in the City by Marie Louise Gay, David Homel
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.