“Is it over?” Josh whispered.

“Hard to say. Sometimes there are aftershocks.”

“What’s up Doughnut Boy?” It was Andy Hubbard, king of the Ice Kings.

“Hey, Hubb,” Josh said.

“You guys have any butterscotch cream left?” He crossed his fingers.

“Yup.” I took the gun down from its hook.

“How’s it going in town?” Josh took out a doughnut and made a hole in the side.

“Good,” Hubb said. “I mean, it’s fun. It’s just, you know, there aren’t a ton of people.”

“I don’t understand why we got so few visitors.” Josh shook his head. “I thought Jim ran ads in the Crellin paper and the Albany Times.”

“He did,” I said.

“My dad said he even heard Jim talk about it on 92.2,” Hubb said.

“Whatever he did, it just wasn’t enough,” I said.

“Well, it will all change after Can You Cut It? Right?” Hubb knocked my shoulder with his fist.

“Oh, yeah,” Josh agreed.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, I’m going to do my best to talk up Petersville. You know, wear the T-shirt and everything, but I don’t know how much of a difference it can really make. People are watching the show for the competition.”

“Millions of people will hear you talk about Petersville,” Hubb said. “It has to make a difference, right?”

Right, and that’s just what was worrying me.

Chapter 12

“Mexican. Go!” Mom spun around from the kitchen sink, clicked down the button on the stopwatch, then held up the screen with the glowing numbers so I could see them ticking by.

“Uh, chicken and…”

6…7…

“Tick-tock,” Zoe said through a mouthful of pasty oatmeal. It didn’t matter how excited Mom was about Can You Cut It? She was still off her food game.

“Cut it out, Zo!”

“You know, she’s actually helping,” Jeanine said from the kitchen floor where she was outlining VISIT PETERSVILLE, NY! in silver paint on poster board. “It’s all about getting used to real competition conditions.”

“Can everyone be quiet so I can think?”

I’d been training round the clock for the past week, ever since school broke for summer vacation. Now there were just three days left until the show, and Can You Cut It? was all anybody could talk about, especially since Jim had unveiled the Petersmobile, an Airstream he’d tricked out with bunk beds for nine—there were three racks held up by chains like on navy ships. He’d even gotten Dr. C to paint a mural of Petersville on its sides, complete with all the shops on Main Street and the mountains that rise above the town. An old-timey airplane flew across the sky above the mountains pulling a sign that said, Petersville: Sometimes the Best Things Come in the Smallest Packages. Visit once and you’ll want to stay forever!

Jim had won the Airstream years ago at a county fair, and besides a few road trips down to Florida, it had sat unused in his front yard. But the idea to turn it into the Petersmobile? That was all Josh.