The Cow Incident

The Cow Incident was a prank pulled by The Terrible Two at the end of the first book. It resulted in the school being filled with cows, forcing Principal Barry Barkin to shut school down for the day.

## Setup

Miles Murphy and Niles Sparks wanted to come up with a prank that would close the school down. Having read the Yawnee Valley Dairy Council booklet, Miles brought up the fact that cows could walk up stairs but not down them, inspiring the Terrible Two to begin planning a way to get cows into the school. It takes them two weeks to fully plan out the prank.

From February 17th to March 31st, Miles and Niles constructed a treehouse in the forest. Miles painted "SECRET HQ" above the doorway and carved the initials of made-up people next to the window. On March 23rd, Miles deposited a letter in the mailbox on his corner, which went to Josh Barkin. The letter instructed Josh to spend the night of March 31st at the treehouse and, at the dawn of April 1st, carve his initials into the wall. This was in order to get into "Cody Burr-Tyler's Secret Pranking Club".

The two also spent two months researching the herding of cows. Miles in particular mentions a fictional book called *Herding with Dignity* by also fictional author J. M. Iverson.

## Execution

At midnight on April 1st, Miles snuck out of his house. He met up with Niles at their designated rendezvous point at 1:00. Niles calls over one of Bob Barkin's dairy herds and uses a wagon of hay to lure them towards him, riding along on his bike so as not to fall behind. Miles had the job of herding all 107 cows after Niles. After a quarter mile, the herd thins out into a line and passes through the gate of Bob Barkin's farm, which Miles had opened.

By 4:08, Niles has led the cows up the driveway of Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy. He unlocks the door and lures the boss cow inside; with Miles's prodding, the rest of the cows follow her into the building in only six minutes.

At 6:03, Principal Barkin pulls into the parking lot and soon discovers the prank. Miles and Niles return to the school with everyone else at 7:45, at which point Principal Barkin is forced to admit the school is filled with cows and thus must be closed down, ruining his perfect record of keeping school open. Another two hours and forty-five minutes later, Miles and Niles come back to the school and plant the idea in Principal Barkin's head that Josh was the culprit behind the prank. They reason that because Cody Burr-Tyler doesn't exist, Josh's alibi of having been at one of Cody Burr-Tyler's study parties during the prank is phony.

When Josh tries to tell his father the truth about where he's been, he discovers that the treehouse is gone. Miles and Niles had dismantled it completely. Principal Barkin puts Josh on probation, forcing him out of running for student council and therefore making Holly Rash the class president.

## Trivia

* Miles repeatedly refers to himself as an animal in these chapters... furry? LMAO like what are we supposed to think he keeps calling himself a coyote
* "He smelled like an animal" put on some deodorant. freak
* i thought he was gonna transform into a werewolf or some shit the way he kept talking about the shining moon and himself feeling like an animal
* "niles.... Stay away.... im TURNING!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH"
* he drops to the floor and starts convulsing
* niles standing there like maybe i dont need friends after all
* Miles's alarm is set to "These Boots Are Made For Walking" by Nancy Sinatra.