Blackwater (Harper Trophy Books) by Eve Bunting

Author:Eve Bunting [Bunting, Eve]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

When Mrs. McCandless had gone, I stood, trembling. “I didn’t mean to do it,” I whispered to myself, jamming my elbows into my sides to hold my bones together. I was staring blankly at the hole where Alex and I had hidden the towels, and I suddenly knew where the missing flip-flop was. It probably fell out inside there.

I peered over my shoulder. Nobody there. Nobody watching. But there had been yesterday. I got down on my hands and knees and poked my stick into the opening. It hit something, pushed it further back. The flip-flop came out on the third try, and I hunched there, holding it.

On the other side of the river, Gloria Webster was jogging along the path. I recognized her red hair and the yellow nylon shorts she wears when she trains for the Gainsville marathon. Was it Gloria who’d seen us yesterday?

I stood up. Now that I had the flip-flop, what could I do with it? I should give it to Raoul. I could say I’d found it. But would he believe me? Or would it be something else to point a finger at me? I could put it back in the hole. Or throw it, and let the Blackwater take it the way it had taken Pauline. That would be safest. The rubber sole had little dents made by Pauline’s toes. I remembered her dangling feet, and I was shaking again. I stuffed the flip-flop deep in my jacket pocket and curled my hand around it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about who wore it and what happened here.

Now I couldn’t get home fast enough, tripping over myself as I half walked, half ran along the path.

The Batman was standing in his open doorway, wearing striped pajamas, drinking from a bright blue mug. “Hi, young man,” he said. “How are you feeling this morning? How’s the head?”

I slowed reluctantly. “OK.”

Hannah came out, already dressed in cut-off jeans and a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pushed back. She was eating something from a bowl. “Hi,” she said. “Like some cereal?”

“No,” I said. “Thanks.”

“The cops were here last night, asking questions.” She wiped a trickle of milk off her chin.

“Oh?” My fingers tightened around the flip-flop.

“They wanted to know if we’d seen anything.” The Batman pulled hard on one ear. His ears were long and droopy. I looked at them, trying not to hear what he was saying. Maybe he pulled at his ears a lot.

“I told them we can’t see the pond from the house,” he said. “The bend’s right there. We can’t see past it.” He pointed with the blue mug and I looked where he was looking. The bend was there all right.

I shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I’d better get home.” Then I remembered. “Thanks for bringing over the book,” I told Hannah.

“Sure.”

I began edging away.

“Wait up,” she said. “I’ll walk with you.” She set the empty dish and spoon on the porch next to her bicycle. The backpack had been thrown there, too.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.