Monday, June 30, 2008

Undercover...Mother?

Karen Maxwell is the heroine of George Washington Stepped Here, the first mystery by K.D. Hays. Since Karen gets to do all the talking in the book, her son Evan asked for some time here to share his side of the story...

My mom is so embarrassing! While most other moms have normal jobs like working in a doctor’s office or some nice building where everyone wears suits, my mom works in my uncle’s office in a crummy building that’s like 600 years old and looks like it could fall down any minute. But that’s not the worst part about her job. Uncle Dave is a private investigator and now Mom thinks that just because she works for him, she should be an investigator, too. An undercover investigator.

Yeah, maybe it sounds cool, but it really isn’t. She’s going “undercover” as a mom taking her kids to volunteer at a historic site. That means taking me along. And my useless sister, Alicia. The people there dress up in weird clothes and pretend like they’re living back at the time of George Washington. Mom won’t let me bring my Nintendo or even my soccer ball.

I think I’ll probably die of boredom.

I don’t know why she has to go there anyway. She said somebody stole something, but I’ve never seen anything there worth stealing. Except maybe the sodas in the gift shop.

There is one good thing about the place, and that’s when I get to help this guy in the blacksmith shop. He showed me how to make stuff by heating up metal until its burning red super mega hot and then you can bend it and flatten it and stuff. No other kids get to do this, just me. Since I’m a volunteer.

Or maybe it’s because the blacksmith guy went on a date with my mom. She said it wasn’t a date but Alicia says it was and she’s always reading magazines with boys on the cover and pretending she knows something about dates.

So, anyway, don’t read George Washington Stepped Here because it’s really embarrassing. (But you can read the next book, Worth Its Weight in Old, since we don’t have to wear funny clothes in that one.)

And you can read pages from my sister’s diary if you visit the author’s website at http://www.kdhays.com/. You can also read more about the author at the site, too, but I don’t think you should. She’ll probably just say something that would embarrass her kids.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Evan, it wasn't THAT embarrassing. I should know, I already read the book. And it's a great story so be proud of your mother.

Unknown said...

Hilarious post. Can't wait to read the book!

Anonymous said...

Evan here. I would have come back sooner but my mom made me pull weeds while she was mowing the lawn. I don't see why she couldn't just mow the weeds. I mean, they are green, they'd look just like grass. And I don't know why she complains about mowing, either. I can't wait until I'm old enough to use the lawn mower.

Diane M. Wylie said...

Hey, Evan,

Mom Power is pretty strong, didn't you know that? Your mom is one of the best at what she does. Some day you'll look back at this experience and think it was pretty great. Then you'll telling your kids all about it.

Good luck with book, Kate!

Anonymous said...

I don't want my mom to be one of the best at what she does. I just want her to be Mom, and just not do anything embarassing in front of my friends. But if she could get one of those really good GPS things for the van, that would be cool. And maybe a fingerprinting kit. And I wonder if she can test people's DNA...

Linda Kozar said...

Funny--sounds like a really good read!

Ausjenny said...

Great post now i cant wait for the book to come!

Evan I hope your mom gets the kits so you can have a try with them.

i agree with the mowing weeds only it may also mow the flowers.

Mary Connealy said...

A mom embarrassing her kids. Now THERE'S something I could write with some authority. My kids spent about twenty years apiece being mortified by me. :)

Great idea.