Playing Up by David Warner Page A

I still had it.’
    â€˜Urgh!’ Davey pulled a face. ‘Trundle and Mudge – so gross!’ It was enough to turn him off his pizza. ‘But what’s that got to do with Kaboom?’
    â€˜I had to give Mudge something to keep him quiet. We sneaked into Penguin Palace RSL and found Mudge’s bag. Sure enough, there was Kaboom. Remember he was taking it with him everywhere? So we took Kaboom, but we left Mudge his book.’
    â€˜So he’d know to keep quiet or we’d spill about his little crush!’ Davey exclaimed. ‘That’s gold!’
    George nodded smugly. ‘I tell you one thing,’ he said, before taking another bite of pizza and munching happily. ‘I won’t be doing rubbish pick-up for a long time!’
    â€˜Cheers to that!’ Kevin agreed.
    The friends clinked their glasses of lemonade. There was a day–night game of cricket on TV to watch and they had plenty to celebrate.
    Just then they heard a loud cry from the kitchen.
    â€˜Max, you thieving mongrel!’ A split second later, Max flew into the room past the boys with a whole salami gripped in his teeth. Max and Davey locked eyes for an instant before Max pinned his ears back and flattened himself under the couch.
    â€˜Have you seen Max?’ Davey’s mum appeared in the doorway, her apron covered in flour and pasta sauce. She was brandishing a wooden rolling pin.
    George, Sunil and Kevin all looked at Davey.
    â€˜Sorry, Mum, he’s not in here.’
    â€˜Hmm.’ Davey’s mum looked unconvinced, but after a quick glance around the room shestalked back to the kitchen. ‘When I get my hands on that dog . . .’
    Davey stuck his head under the couch. Max was gnawing enthusiastically on the sausage.
    â€˜Max, you’re a mutt!’ laughed Davey. ‘But I’m glad someone else is in trouble with Mum for once!’

More adventures with The Kaboom Kid available now!

THE KABOOM KID – PLAYING UP
    First published in Australia in 2014 by
    Simon & Schuster (Australia) Pty Limited
    Suite 19A, Level 1, 450 Miller Street, Cammeray, NSW 2062
    www.SimonandSchuster.com
    A CBS Company
    Sydney New York London Toronto New Delhi
    Visit our website at www.simonandschuster.com.au
    Â© David Warner and J.S. Black 2014
    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
    National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
    Author: Warner, David Andrew author.
    Title: The kaboom kid: playing up/David Warner and J. S. Black.
    ISBN: 9781925030808 (paperback)
    9781925030815 (ebook)
    Target Audience: Upper primary school students.
    Subjects: Warner, David Andrew.
    Cricket – Australia – Juvenile literature.
    Cricket players – Australia – Juvenile literature.
    Cricket – Batting – Juvenile literature.
    Other Authors: Black, J. S., author.
    Dewey Number: 796.3580994
    Cover design by Hannah Janzen
    Cover and internal illustrations by Jules Faber
    Inside cover photograph of adult David Warner © Quinn Rooney/Getty Images