Scumble by Ingrid Law

Author:Ingrid Law
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-07-22T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

I HARDLY NOTICED THE CARS THAT passed me, or the heat radiating from the road as I ran east, tearing Sarah Jane’s newspaper into shreds as I went.

Running straight into town, I passed a utility truck parked in front of the post office and slowed briefly to look up at the workman checking the transformer and the power lines overhead. The only other thing that curbed my speed was the new red-and-white foreclosure sign on the door of Willie’s Five & Dime.

Just great. One more thing for Cabot to add to his collection.

Soon I was standing, out of breath and shaking, across the street from the Cabots’ hulking house and its forbidding spiked, iron fence. I wasn’t going to let Sarah Jane Cabot continue to ruin my life or threaten my family.

Trying to decide if I should knock or break down the door, I ducked into the shadows of a nearby shrub, keeping a safe distance between me and the mailboxes I’d leveled on my last visit. Though right now a “safe distance” might be somewhere in the eastern half of South Dakota, or the far side of the moon.

I stared at the fence surrounding the house and the forest of hodgepodge tree stumps inside its perimeter. The familiar metallic tang was in my mouth again, sticking to my tongue like I’d licked the iron posts.

My gaze settled on the single tall birch that leaned down to hug the house. I was surprised to find Sarah Jane beneath it. She lay on her stomach across a low marble bench, knees bent, ankles crossed behind her. Her hair hung free from its usual braids as she pressed her face against the cool stone, idly plucking at tufts of grass. Knowing Sarah Jane, she was probably dreaming up all new stories to further ruin my already wrecked-up life. I wondered if she had the butterfly chrysalis with her, or if it was upstairs in her room.

Moving out of my sheltered spot, I stepped onto the empty road. The thrum of grasshoppers on the hill behind the house sounded like the teeth of a thousand combs being dragged across cardboard. I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of Mr. Cabot—or of the bug-eyed housekeeper. I’d promised Autry that I wouldn’t put a shoe inside the Cabot house. With Sarah Jane outside already, I wouldn’t have to break my promise.

“Hey!” I shouted as I crossed the road, stopping at a distance from the fence. Sarah Jane looked up. She waved and smiled like I was her best friend forever, come over to jump rope and put the braids back in her hair. Slipping from the bench she strode toward me, still smiling.

“I knew I could get you to visit me again, Cowboy,” she said as she drew nearer, her hair a jumble in the breeze. “You got your mail?”

I balled my hands into tight fists, the truth dawning fast. Sarah Jane didn’t have one of the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwings. How could she? Autry or Gypsy would’ve seen right away that one was missing.

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