Read Online We Dine With Cannibals by C. Alexander London - Free Book Online

… I think that …” He rubbed his hand along the door frame, searching for the right words to say. “I’m sorry for everything that’s happened. I love you.”
    â€œLove you too,” the children said absently as they stared at the screen. Corey Brandt was trying to catch a squirrel in a trap made of dental floss, but neither of the twins was really watching.
    When they were alone, Oliver spoke.
    â€œThe professor just thought he was trying to help. He thought he would get Sir Edmund with that trap.”
    â€œWell, we don’t need his help,” Celia said. “His kind of help is bad for our life expectancy. I’d like to reach twelve.”
    â€œDo you think the professor will tell Dad about the Mnemones, and, you know, our destiny?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œDo you think he has that khipu Sir Edmund was looking for?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Celia said again.
    â€œDo you think Mom is in El Dorado?”
    Celia just shrugged. She was still staring at the screen, but there were tears on her cheeks.
    â€œDo you really think Mom won’t ever come back?”
    â€œI don’t know!” Celia snapped. “Okay? I. Don’t. Know!”
    She was fed up. Oliver’s curiosity was just the kind of thing that would send them off on another adventure, and adventures always ended up with missed television, lizard bites, and a lot of disappointment. Some things stayed lost for a reason, Celia thought. There wasn’t any point in looking for things that didn’t want to be found.
    â€œListen,” she said. “The more we know, the worse things
always
get for us.”
    â€œBut what were they talking about? What’s an itinerary?”
    â€œIt’s a plan for a trip, Oliver! A trip! An adventure! Do you really want to know more than that? The last time you wanted to know something, we got thrown out of an airplane into Tibet … by our own mother. You want to do that again?”
    â€œShe was trying to protect us.”
    â€œSo was the professor, and look how that went.”
    â€œI mean,
The
Celebrity Adventurist
is almostover. There’s nothing on TV now anyway. We might as well …”
    Corey Brandt was rappelling down a giant redwood on a rope he’d cut from tree bark in a harness padded with leaves. It made Celia think about when she rappelled down that chimney in Machu Picchu. She wondered if Corey Brandt would be impressed that she knew how to rappel.
    â€œI’m going to look,” Oliver said, and he picked up the remote control. He started to press the buttons in different combinations. The channel changed to a commercial for snack cakes. Then to another.
    â€œDo you even remember how to do it?” Celia asked.
    â€œJust gimme a second.”
    â€œYou’re doing it wrong!” she said, and reached out to grab the remote. “If you’re going to make us do this, at least do it right!”
    â€œHold on, I almost got it!” He kept pressing buttons and the channels kept flipping between commercials.
    The TV blared: “Velma Sue’s snack cakes, now in lemon-ginger cream!”
    And then: “Our cakes are wholesome because the towns that make them are wholesome. Try a Velma Sue’s snack cake today.”
    And: “This is not your grandmother’s snack cake!”
    â€œI heard that Velma Sue’s snack cakes blow up if you put them in water,” said Oliver.
    â€œThat’s just a myth,” said Celia. “You can’t believe everything you hear.”
    â€œI saw it on the local news,” Oliver said.
    â€œThen it’s definitely not true,” said Celia as Oliver kept flipping from commercial to commercial. Beverly blinked at the TV. She liked Velma Sue’s snack cakes as much as Oliver did.
    â€œJust give me the remote!” Celia lunged for it, and just as she did, Oliver pulled the remote away so that Celia ended