Read Online The Summer Experiment by Cathie Pelletier - Free Book Online

no Tooth Fairy. I believed in her so much that I let Johnny pull my first loose tooth with a string tied to his bedroom doorknob. But at least I earned a dollar for my trouble. And Johnny seemed to really enjoy slamming that door. I lost four more teeth and earned another four dollars before Tommy Connors told me that the Tooth Fairy didn’t exist. I asked my mother if it was true, and she admitted it. There was no Tooth Fairy. I remember what I said to her that day. “Then why did you tell me there was?”
    If the Tooth Fairy could go down in flames that fast, the Easter Bunny didn’t stand a chance.
    So who was telling the truth now? The mayor or the UFO expert who wrote the book? The four Vermont men or the United States Air Force? Sheriff Mallory or Principal Purdy? Uncle Horace or Mrs. Cramer? I looked up into the gray and rainy sky and wondered if there were such things as stars. Would they shine again tonight, once the rain stopped and it grew dark enough to see them? Or had I just imagined them? Was everything I had ever believed in my life just one big lie?
    Sometimes, kids have good reasons to mistrust the alien world of adults.

8
    The Runaway
    It was the longest weekend in recorded history. For one thing, the whole town had lit up with gossip about Sheriff Mallory’s resignation, and what he did or didn’t see that night on Highway 42. Most people figured the mayor was behind it, and the Chamber of Commerce was behind the mayor. Sheriff Mallory wasn’t saying anything, but his wife, Emma, was. She told Aunt Betty, as Aunt Betty was cutting her hair, what Mr. Mallory said when he came home after resigning. “I love this town too much to hurt its economy. We’re hanging by a thread as it is.” A group calling itself “Bring Back Sheriff Mallory” had already formed and was making big plans. But first, they would have to hold a chicken stew and baked bean supper to raise the money they’d need for posters and bumper stickers.
    I tried to stay out of the way as I waited for Monday and Marilee. On Saturday, I helped Mom sweep the basement. I even tidied up my bedroom, cleaned out my aquarium, and then fed my fish. Ever notice how fish have eyes like aliens? Lidless and glowing. Needless to say, I was imagining those eyes everywhere. And speaking of fish eyes, when I biked over to the grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread for Mom, I ran into the 4 Hs of the Apocalypse: Henry Horton Harris Helmsby.
    â€œHey, Henry,” I said. He was standing in front of the aluminum foil as if maybe he had invented it. I figured he needed it to wrap up a poturn and see if it would bake, rather than blow up. After that night on Frog Hill when Marilee and I saw the fake alien, I had boycotted aluminum foil. So I was anxious to get out of that aisle.
    â€œGood afternoon to you, Miss McKinnon,” Henry said. He talks like that. He really does. If he were older and taller and had bigger teeth, Henry could be Barnabas on Dark Shadows . “A very rainy afternoon it is too,” he added.
    â€œI’m just getting a loaf of bread for my mom,” I said, and tried to step past him. But he shuffled his skinny body backward like a crab and blocked my way. I waited for him to push his big, round eyeglasses up on his skinny nose. They were always sliding down to his nostrils.
    â€œAnd how might your science project be advancing, pray tell?” he asked. “I have heard news that you and the girl from Boston—what’s her name, Marilyn?—have joined forces. A wise idea, indeed, for you will be able to rely upon the maxim that two brains are better than one. But, of course, it all depends on who owns that one brain.” God, it’s like someone created him in a laboratory and then cranked his key and set him loose.
    â€œHer name is Millicent,” I lied. “And she’s been living in Allagash for almost a year now. Surely you noticed her? She lives