“No fires!” I shouted, then covered my mouth. “Sorry,” I whispered. “No fires. Don’t want to destroy the neighborhood.”
Again, he chuckled. “Yup, got it. Just follow my lead, boy.” He turned to Lothar. “Boys, I mean.” Then amended with, “Um, boy and giant Polack.”
Lucky for us, it took him no time at all to jimmy the lock and even less time for us to storm inside. I was counting down the time in my head as I watched him turn on the kitchen sink to full blast. “Smart.”
“Got that right, boy.”
And then we split up, Lothar to one side of the house, me to the other, Gramps tinkling with the alarm system all the while. Then my cousin and I turned on every spigot and tap and faucet in the place, blocking the drains as we did so before dumping as many of their valuables as we could find onto t
