Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady by Betsy Byars

Author:Betsy Byars [Byars, Betsy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-0268-3
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2013-01-02T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

The Longest Day

The rest of the Blossoms were up at dawn too. They were in the kitchen, sitting around the table.

“Now, I know nobody’s hungry,” Vicki Blossom was saying, “but we all got to eat. It may be a long day.”

“I hope not,” Pap said. “I can’t take many more long days.”

“Then stay home.”

The sharpness of her tone made everybody look up. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I did not sleep one wink last night and I am worried sick.” She reached for a big spoon and began to serve the oatmeal. She shook raisins on top, but she was so nervous, the raisins rained onto the table.

“I’ll do that, Mom.” Maggie took the raisin box and finished the job.

“I’m sorry. Please just let me alone. I’ll be all right in a minute.” She put one hand to her forehead. “Did I call the beauty shop and tell them I wouldn’t be in?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“I can’t seem to remember anything.” She got up and stood with her back to them. She poured herself another cup of coffee and went to the window to drink it. “Well, one good thing,” she said, trying to sound as if she were in control of herself now, “the rain’s stopped. The search won’t be in the rain.”

“What time’s the search supposed to start?”

“Seven o’clock.”

“I hope there’s a lot of people,” Vern said. “I don’t know where Mad Mary lives, but I bet it’s a hundred miles from nowhere.”

“Will you please stop calling her that?” Vicki said without turning around.

“What?”

“Mad Mary.”

“Sure.”

A silence fell over the table then. Maggie was swinging her legs under the table, and she was the first to realize that Mud was not there. She never swung her legs without hitting Mud. Never. She leaned down and looked.

“Where’s Mud?”

Pap looked at Vicki’s tight, unyielding back and then at Vern. “Didn’t he go with you and your mom last night?”

“No.”

“I told him to.”

“I know, but he didn’t. I thought he followed you on back to the house.”

“No.” Pap sighed and dropped his spoon into his oatmeal. “Now we got two missing Blossoms.”

Vicki spun around. “A missing dog is not like a missing child.”

Again the fury in her face and voice startled Pap. He pulled back into his overalls to get out of her way. “I know that.”

“Well, you don’t act like it.”

Vicki Blossom threw her coffee mug in the sink. “I’m going out. People ought to be coming soon.”

“Mom’s really uptight,” Maggie said when they heard the screen door slam. She patted Pap’s arm. “Having Mud missing isn’t the same as having Junior missing. We all know that, but, Pap, Mud is just as much a Blossom as any of us.” She got up. “I’m going out too.”

Junior pulled back a laurel branch and peered outside. He gasped and stepped back. She was out there!

He flattened himself against the side of the cave and glanced around for somewhere to hide—under some rags maybe; but Junior knew he always trembled when he was scared, and so the rags would tremble too.

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