The Terrible Two

Miles arrives at the pasture for the meeting carrying the rubber chicken. Niles looks different than the way he appears at school. He is wearing a turtleneck, which Miles thinks looks stylish: “And Miles had never seen Niles look cool at all. But he did tonight. He looked taller. He looked…in control” (89). Niles explains that the rubber chicken is a message delivery system, a common tactic used by pranksters. Miles tells Niles that he ruined his birthday party prank, but Niles insists that he saved the day. Niles explains that he paid a student from Hillsdale to impersonate Cody, but he kept the presents. According to Niles, Miles’s prank was doomed to fail because he tried to prank too many people at once. Instead of seeing him as a prankster mastermind, they would view him as a lying thief. Niles teaches Miles that all pranksters call their victims “goats” (91) and that the best pranks are those that punish goats who are bullies. He also teaches Miles that the best pranksters remain anonymous, and bragging pranksters are called “yaks” (92). For Niles, the glory comes in pulling off a genius prank, not in everyone knowing who did it. Miles must admit that some of his best pranks would be even better if he did not get caught.