After Maniac Magee lost his dear friend, Grayson, he set off on his own again.  He went all around the surrounding area.  It was wintertime, and he needed to find shelter.  He wound up in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.  He came across the open-air museum at Valley Forge, where the "only buildings... were tiny log-and-mortar cabins, replicas of the army's shelters."  Feeling like a cold, weary, and defeated Revolutionary War soldier, Maniac wrapped himself in a blanket and settled in to one of the replica cabins.  In the middle of the night, he heard voices coming from outside his temporary home.  The voices were arguing and calling each other names.  Maniac did not know who the voices belonged to.  He soon got up to find out.  In the cabin next to his, Maniac found "two little boys" named Piper and Russell.  These boys, who were brothers, were running away from home.

Where did Maniac take Russell and Piper?  

Maniac Magee met Russell and Piper McNab when he was staying at Valley Forge.  The two brothers told him their plans to run away to Mexico.  Wanting to prevent this, Maniac told them that they won a contest and "'were chosen for a free pizza.'"  He informed them that they only had 24 hours to claim their prize. 

This was mostly a lie.  Maniac knew that the boys were too young to be traveling so far away.  He also knew that they were hungry and had been eating nothing but snack food.  Maniac had recently won a year of free pizzas at Cobble's Corner.  He had won this by untying the famous Cobble's Knot.  Maniac could not enjoy the pizzas because he was allergic to them.  He decided to tempt Russell and Piper with the pizza he could not eat.  They agreed to go.

Back in Two Mills, Maniac took the boys to "Cobble's Corner at Hector and Birch."  He ordered a large pizza for the hungry boys and showed his certificate which proved he had won free pizza.