Class Trip II by Bebe Faas Rice

Author:Bebe Faas Rice [Rice, Bebe Faas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alloy Entertainment
Published: 2016-11-29T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter THIRTEEN

Something was very, very wrong with Becky.

When Hallie and Adam returned to Mrs. Grigsby’s, they found their friend staring at the living room wall, distant and wide-eyed.

When they tried to talk to her, she responded pleasantly, but vacantly, in one-syllable words.

“Are you okay, Becky?” Hallie asked anxiously. “Is something wrong?”

Just then a smiling and rosy Mrs. Grigsby appeared in the doorway, taking Becky’s attention away from her friends. Frustrated, Hallie couldn’t help feeling that her landlady’s sweet-little-old-lady act was just that. An act.

“Oh, Becky,” Mrs. Grigsby said with a smile. “You said you wanted to watch me prepare the spinach soufflé for supper.”

She smiled apologetically at Hallie and Adam. “I’m usually a meat and potatoes cook, but I do make a lovely soufflé. Becky said she’d like to learn how it’s done.”

Without a word, Becky rose from her chair and followed Mrs. Grigsby out of the room.

“Did you see that, Hallie?” Adam asked. “I’m worried. I mean, really worried. Becky was zoning at lunch, but this is ridiculous! What does she care about a stupid soufflé? She’s acting like a zombie! If I didn’t know her better, I’d think she was on something.”

“I know, and it scares me, too,” Hallie admitted. “Talking to her was like talking to a wall. No response.”

“I saw it,” Adam agreed, “and I don’t know what to think. The only person she seems to listen to is Mrs. Grigsby. You don’t think she’s hypnotized Becky or anything, do you?”

Then he smiled and made a helpless gesture with his hands. “That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I just can’t figure out what’s going on with Becky.”

“Everything I’ve been thinking since we came to Holyoake would sound crazy if I said it aloud,” Hallie told him. “But the time has come to say it, no matter how far out it sounds.”

She glanced quickly over her shoulder to make sure Mrs. Grigsby wasn’t lurking in the shadows. Then she took Adam’s hands in hers, drew him over to the sofa, and sat down with him before the cold and empty fireplace. A slight wind in the chimney rattled the embers on the hearth.

“Listen, Adam. We’ve got to get out of this place. And soon,” she said. “I think Becky needs help.”

“I know. I realized that when we came in here this afternoon. But how are we going to do it? We can’t go anywhere until we get the van fixed, and the new fuel pump won’t get here until Tuesday morning.”

Hallie groaned. “This is a nightmare. Tuesday is three days away. What are we going to do in the meantime?”

A terrible thought struck her. “Adam . . . you don’t think Norman is lying about the van, do you? I mean, about it needing a new fuel pump?”

“Why would he do that?”

Something about Adam’s voice told Hallie that the thought had crossed his mind, too.

“Didn’t you say the man who sold you the van said the fuel pump was brand new?”

“Yes,” Adam said. “I thought he was a pretty straight guy, too.

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