Uncivil Acts by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

8

Double Trouble

Quick, Harold, how much time have we got before this section of the explosives is set to fire?” I demanded.

He rubbed his brow anxiously. “I have no idea. Pam gave me a run-through of the whole show, but I didn’t listen too hard. I figured it was in the experts’ hands.”

A chrysanthemum-shaped purple light exploded in the sky. A chorus of approving aahhs rose from the crowd onshore.

“We’ve got to clear out the picnic grounds, now,” I decided. I grabbed Harold by the shoulders and shoved him toward the rowboat, scolding myself for leaving my cell phone in my car.

Luckily we weren’t far offshore. A few hard oar strokes was all we needed to reach the bank. As the second firework burst in the sky, Harold shouted frantically into his walkie-talkie. “Fire crew, fire crew, come in, please! This is Safer.”

As we landed, the firefighters on duty answered with a buzz of static. Climbing up the riverbank, I could hear him arguing. “Believe me, it’s an emergency. No time to explain—just clear the picnic area!”

At the top of the bank I saw a bunch of firefighters huddled uncertainly next to their truck. Then three men in loose black clothing hurtled past them. “Who executed the start command already?” one of them shouted.

“Why didn’t that blue whizzer go off yet?” a second one yelled. “I don’t like the looks of this malfunction!”

That had to be the pyrotechnical crew. The fire captain, seeing them so frantic, seemed to suddenly take the situation seriously. He hoisted his bullhorn. “Attention, attention,” he announced to the picnickers. “The grove must be evacuated immediately!”

The puzzled crowd didn’t react at first. Everyone was still too busy gaping at the sky, filled now with a yellow palm-tree effect. But the firefighters, once in action, were effective. I was impressed by how calm they were, ushering people toward the exits. In the distance I heard the siren of an additional truck arriving to help as an orange-and-blue roundel popped in the sky.

Following the crowd, I looked for Ned, George, Bess, anyone I knew. As we passed a row of picnic tables, I saw Ms. Waters’s prize canteen lying alone on a table. I tried to step aside to grab it, but I was pushed hard from behind. The human tide swept me toward the park gates.

And then, behind me, I heard a horrible dragonlike hiss. I twisted around to see a metal rocket whizzing across the park’s central pond, angling into the picnic area. The same area that, a minute and a half ago, had been filled with people!

Trailing a hot stream of purple sparks, the blazing shell struck the roof of a picnic shelter and burst into flame.

That was when the crowd lost it. Folks panicked, stampeding every which way. I felt a hard elbow in my ribs. Someone else stomped on my ankle. I scooped up a little girl in front of me just in time to keep her from being trampled.

Then, as if by magic, the park floodlights snapped on.

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