Suckers - J.A. Konrath

THE LOST (FOR A GOOD REASON)
ADVENTURE OF ANDREW MAYHEM
An Andrew Mayhem Thriller by Jeff Strand
Hi. Andrew Mayhem here. I’m about to share a tale with you, and I do so with the best of
intentions: shameless promotion. Because I truly want you to buy my books, and I figured that
including this dorky little bonus story with your purchase might persuade you to empty your
wallet and/or purse for the longer stuff.
The challenge with this kind of promotional effort, of course, is that I had to figure out
which story I wanted to tell. It had to be something engaging, but yet not too engaging, because
Harry McGlade gets whiny when you upstage him.
Then Roger, my best friend and handy sidekick, suggested that I share the tale of how he
and I met for the first time. And even though Roger is scheduled to meet a ghastly death in book
#37, I thought that sounded like a great idea!
So let’s turn back the clocks to when I was but a wee lad of age thirteen, where every day
was filled with magic and wonder, where butterflies flapped their wings in meadows, and where
two best friends joined forces for the first time...
* * *
"I don’t want to hold the baby."
"I don’t want to hold the baby, either."
"Well, somebody has to hold the baby."
"I know! Let’s let Clumsy Joe hold the baby!"
"That’s a great idea! Clumsy Joe can hold the baby!"
"Hey, Clumsy Joe! Come over here for a minute!"
I walked up to the front of the classroom, which was currently functioning as a theatre stage.
"Hi, fellas. What’s going on?"
103