Lucky's Mountain by Dianne Maycock

Author:Dianne Maycock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2007-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The room exploded into motion. Lucky leapt off the bed, barking wildly. Louie dropped the cloth and lunged across the room. As if by magic, a shotgun appeared in his hands.

“Mama!” Maggie cried.

“Maggie!” Mama whooshed toward the bed like a tornado. She turned to face Louie, flinging her arms out to the sides.

The gun was pointing straight at Mama! Maggie grabbed the back of Mama’s skirt and tugged hard, trying to pull her down on the bed. Lucky’s bark turned into an earsplitting howl. “Quiet,” Louie ordered.

Lucky shut up instantly. Everyone else froze.

Then Mama held out her hand, palm facing up as if she were begging for coins. “Please,” she said in a low voice, “put that thing down.”

For an endless moment Louie scowled ferociously at Mama. Then, slowly, he lowered the gun. He clomped over to the table that stood in the middle of the room and yanked with his foot at one of the hard-backed chairs. Laying the gun on the table, he sat down heavily.

Mama turned to Maggie. “Are you all right?” she demanded. “What happened?”

Maggie had never been so glad to see her mother. More than anything in the world, she wanted to bury her head in Mama’s lap and burst into tears. But how could she, with everyone watching? She sucked in a deep, shuddery breath. “I...he...”

“Did he hurt you?” Mama said fiercely.

“No.” Maggie shook her head. “He helped me.” She clutched Mama’s arm. “My head hurts,” she wailed.

Ten minutes later her bones had been checked, her wounds cleaned and dressed, and she was half sitting, squished cozily between Mama and Lucky. The sharp pain in her head had shrunk to a dull throb.

“Here,” Mama said to Elly, handing her the cloth and the bowl of water she’d been using. “Wash this out at the sink, please.” She stood up, walked over to the door and opened it. “We’re finished,” she called.

Louie followed her into the room, a cigarette pinched between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. Jock appeared in the doorway behind him. He stared across the room at Maggie but didn’t step inside.

Maggie stared back at him, trying to decipher the look on his face.

“Mr....Jenkins, is it?” Mama said.

Louie nodded and dragged heavily on his cigarette. Lifting his chin, he blew a stream of smoke toward the ceiling.

Maggie blinked. Would Mama say anything? She hated cigars and cigarettes with a passion. Of course, it wasn’t her house Louie was smoking in.

Mama raised a hand to her mouth, coughed delicately and said, “I must apologize for rushing into your home the way I did. My daughter has explained to me how you helped her.” She held out her hand. “I owe you my thanks.”

Louie stared at the hand as if he thought it might slap him. A red stain flooded his forehead and the portion of his cheeks that wasn’t hidden by his beard. He cleared his throat as if to speak, but no words came out. Instead he jammed the cigarette between his lips and brushed Mama’s fingers for the tiniest instant.

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