lift.
So I grabbed onto the door handle, and he grabbed my wrist and peeled rubber, and in eight seconds I was going sixty on that
bike. So when he finally let go of me, all I could do was plow off the road into the tall grass and wreck myself and follow
you here on foot. So I dragged my ass out of the field and found your slimy-snail bike tracks in the dirt, and between those
and the Twinkie wrappers Chunk dribbles behind him wherever he goes, it wasn't too hard to keep tabs on you yahoos. So when
I saw your little Hobbit sneaker prints toddling up to the lighthouse, I just used my massive powers of deduction and zeroed
in on you.”
“Way to go, Brand,” said Mouth. “You've earned your decoder ring for sure.”
“Shut your face, Mouth, or I'll shut it for you.”
“I'm trembling,” said Mouth.
Brand glared at him and then at me. “And after Mom finishes with you,
then
you got
me
to deal with.”
I looked over at Chunk for some support, but he'd eatenmost of his Fish Surprise and was real obviously wishing he hadn't. “Can we go now, you guys?” he whispered. “I think I'm
gonna be sick.”
I looked over at Data, but before I could say anything about anything, Mama walked back into the room from the kitchen. She
looked fed up.
“All right, boys. Go on home. It's on the house.” She pointed at Chunk's empty dish.
Chunk stuck his head under the table and barfed.
“And now it's on the floor!” Mouth laughed.
“Go on, get out of here,” Mama said with a smile she didn't mean but tryin' to sound like a mom. “Jake'll clean up. Now git.”
We got. Tried to beat each other to the front door is what we did, and we all won. And as soon as the door was shut behind
us, Mama put the C LOSED sign in the window.
We shivered a group shiver.
“Let's go,” said Brand, and he marched us off.
We were pretty quiet until we got to the graveyard, each of us thinking our own thoughts. Chunk spoke first.
“Hey, guys, I gotta stop here a minute. I still feel sick.”
So we stopped. It was getting on to dusk, and the shadows of the tombstones dissolved into the bushes all around us. We sat
there a minute while I got it all straight in my head, especially the stuff about this Mr. Gruesome that was so weird, I couldn't
even believe I'd actually seen him at first. But I had.
“Okay, now listen up, guys, this is hard to buy, but it's total truth, swear to God. When I went into the basement, I found
this room down there, and I'm tellin' you, they got an ‘it’ in there. A giant ‘it.’ And they got it chained to the wall, and
when it… when it came into the light and I saw it…” My chest got tight when I thought of that face, and I had to give myself
a puff on the inhaler. “Guys, youshould have seen its face. It was horrible. All the parts were mixed around—
“Like your brain, lame-o,” said Brand. He hadn't been there for the whole first part like the other guys, so he didn't know
how spooky it was. He didn't hear the growling, and he wasn't into finding the treasure. So he just pulled me up. “Say good-bye
to your little pals.”
Before he could pull me outta there, though, Chunk said, “Look,” and pointed back toward the lighthouse. We all looked.
Jake and Francis were coming out the side door, carrying a large, limp bag. Sort of body-sized. Then Mama came out right behind
them, carrying another bag all by herself.
Jake opened the garage door.
Chunk gasped. “Lookit there! That's it!” he said. “That's the car from the chase this morning!”
For the first time it occurred to me, maybe his story wasn't total bullshit after all.
Jake opened the back and then pulled up what looked like some kind of false bottom, but it was hard to see in the dark. Jake
and Francis stuck their back into the bottom and then tried to load in Mama's bag, but it wouldn't fit, so they closed the
trunk on the one and carried the other back into the restaurant.
“What do you
So I grabbed onto the door handle, and he grabbed my wrist and peeled rubber, and in eight seconds I was going sixty on that
bike. So when he finally let go of me, all I could do was plow off the road into the tall grass and wreck myself and follow
you here on foot. So I dragged my ass out of the field and found your slimy-snail bike tracks in the dirt, and between those
and the Twinkie wrappers Chunk dribbles behind him wherever he goes, it wasn't too hard to keep tabs on you yahoos. So when
I saw your little Hobbit sneaker prints toddling up to the lighthouse, I just used my massive powers of deduction and zeroed
in on you.”
“Way to go, Brand,” said Mouth. “You've earned your decoder ring for sure.”
“Shut your face, Mouth, or I'll shut it for you.”
“I'm trembling,” said Mouth.
Brand glared at him and then at me. “And after Mom finishes with you,
then
you got
me
to deal with.”
I looked over at Chunk for some support, but he'd eatenmost of his Fish Surprise and was real obviously wishing he hadn't. “Can we go now, you guys?” he whispered. “I think I'm
gonna be sick.”
I looked over at Data, but before I could say anything about anything, Mama walked back into the room from the kitchen. She
looked fed up.
“All right, boys. Go on home. It's on the house.” She pointed at Chunk's empty dish.
Chunk stuck his head under the table and barfed.
“And now it's on the floor!” Mouth laughed.
“Go on, get out of here,” Mama said with a smile she didn't mean but tryin' to sound like a mom. “Jake'll clean up. Now git.”
We got. Tried to beat each other to the front door is what we did, and we all won. And as soon as the door was shut behind
us, Mama put the C LOSED sign in the window.
We shivered a group shiver.
“Let's go,” said Brand, and he marched us off.
We were pretty quiet until we got to the graveyard, each of us thinking our own thoughts. Chunk spoke first.
“Hey, guys, I gotta stop here a minute. I still feel sick.”
So we stopped. It was getting on to dusk, and the shadows of the tombstones dissolved into the bushes all around us. We sat
there a minute while I got it all straight in my head, especially the stuff about this Mr. Gruesome that was so weird, I couldn't
even believe I'd actually seen him at first. But I had.
“Okay, now listen up, guys, this is hard to buy, but it's total truth, swear to God. When I went into the basement, I found
this room down there, and I'm tellin' you, they got an ‘it’ in there. A giant ‘it.’ And they got it chained to the wall, and
when it… when it came into the light and I saw it…” My chest got tight when I thought of that face, and I had to give myself
a puff on the inhaler. “Guys, youshould have seen its face. It was horrible. All the parts were mixed around—
“Like your brain, lame-o,” said Brand. He hadn't been there for the whole first part like the other guys, so he didn't know
how spooky it was. He didn't hear the growling, and he wasn't into finding the treasure. So he just pulled me up. “Say good-bye
to your little pals.”
Before he could pull me outta there, though, Chunk said, “Look,” and pointed back toward the lighthouse. We all looked.
Jake and Francis were coming out the side door, carrying a large, limp bag. Sort of body-sized. Then Mama came out right behind
them, carrying another bag all by herself.
Jake opened the garage door.
Chunk gasped. “Lookit there! That's it!” he said. “That's the car from the chase this morning!”
For the first time it occurred to me, maybe his story wasn't total bullshit after all.
Jake opened the back and then pulled up what looked like some kind of false bottom, but it was hard to see in the dark. Jake
and Francis stuck their back into the bottom and then tried to load in Mama's bag, but it wouldn't fit, so they closed the
trunk on the one and carried the other back into the restaurant.
“What do you
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