The Day Before Malcolm and his best friend Dandy sat quietly in Malcolm’s basement lab It was one of those late afternoons right before dinner when you wish there were more hours left to hang out Malcolm was perched on an old desk while Dandy slumped lazily in a beanbag chair I can’t believe it went by so fast Malcolm complained He flipped on his Ecto-Handheld-Automatic-Heat-Sensitive
Laser-Enhanced Specter Detector It was the gadget he used for hunting ghosts With the specter detector on he could play with his new dog Spooky Spooky was a phantom canine that had recently followed Malcolm home He eagerly wagged his tail at Malcolm I can’t believe summer is already over Malcolm said as he put his chin in his hand It seems like we just started ghost hunting yesterday Summer always goes fast Dandy reminded him Yeah but this one went too fast His hangdog expression practically touched the floor Look at the bright side Dandy said We’re fifth graders this year That was true Malcolm did like the
idea of being in the highest grade at Waxberry Elementary Dandy chewed a fingernail I bet fifth grade will be a lot harder than fourth Yeah Malcolm agreed But we’ll get to ride in the very back of the bus Dandy continued That’s the bumpiest part Malcolm said Dandy suddenly sat forward Oh no I just remembered fifth graders have the last lunch of the day Malcolm shook his head Let’s hope there’s enough food left Dandy looked like he’d just dropped his last piece of gum on the floor The only lively creature in the basement was Malcolm’s ghostly pet Yip Yip Spooky hopped and bounced jumping at Malcolm to play
Malcolm scooted off the desk onto the floor Spooky tried to grab Malcolm’s shirt for tug-of-war but his teeth went right through the shirt Once Spooky learned he couldn’t hang on he decided a game of run-through Malcolm would be more fun He dashed in and out one side then the other
