Far Far Away by Tom McNeal

Author:Tom McNeal
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780375896989
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-06-10T22:00:00+00:00

Why did you hide, Jeremy?

We were back in the bookstore, the children’s laughter over their escapade having finally been spent.

Jeremy, composed now, did not quite answer my question. He merely rephrased it. “You know what’s funny?” he said. “I’m not even sure why we hid.”

“I do,” Ginger said. “When a predator hunts you, you either run or hide. It’s called instinct.”

“But the truth is, we weren’t doing anything wrong.”

Ginger set her backpack on the floor. “With McRaven, you’re always doing something wrong. If he’d found us, he would’ve cited some ordinance about going through people’s trash.” Then she held her head still and wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell?” She sniffed at her bare arm. “Oh, my gosh! It’s me! I smell like spoiled armadillo!”

“What does spoiled armadillo smell like?”

She brought her arm close to his face. “Like this. And oh, by the way”—she pinched her nose for effect—“you smell like a month-old coyote carcass.” She took an exaggerated step back. “I’m putting you on a maggot watch.”

Jeremy stared at her and said that she was just hilarious.

Still, it had to be admitted that his scent was robust.

Ginger looked down at her soiled, sweaty shirt and then up at Jeremy. “Maybe you could offer a girl a change of clothes and a hot shower.”

I did not like the sound of this. No, Jeremy, I said. That would be unwise.

“I guess so,” he said.

Jeremy! Your father is not here. You should say no to her idea. It is not appro—

Well! Jeremy had begun to whistle.

And so Jeremy brought Ginger a clean shirt and pair of shorts, and gave her a clean towel in order that she might bathe while he sat in the bookstore pretending to read El Cid. Before long, she presented herself in her slightly oversized clothes, looking just scrubbed and smiling and running a comb through her long, wet hair.

“Okay,” she said. “That felt pretty terrific. You’ll feel like a whole new you.”

Jeremy set down his book and headed off for the shower.

And then, while Ginger was standing at the front window, combing her hair, the telephone rang.

For a moment, the sound froze her into statue-like stillness.

Then she set down her comb, flattened her hands to her eyes, whispered, “Please, God, please,” and hastened across the room. She took one final deep breath, lifted the receiver, and sounding quite official, said, “Two-Book Bookstore.”

It took only a second for her rosy freckled face to lose color. “Yes,” she said in an oddly formal voice. “He’s right here. Well, not right here. He’s in the shower. But I’ll get him.”

She hurried to the bathroom, pounded on the door, and shouted for Jeremy, who appeared with soap in his hair and a towel wrapped around his waist.

“They called!” she said. “They’re on the phone now! It’s Milo Castle’s assistant! He said he has Milo Castle on the line for Mr. Jeremy Johnson Johnson!”

Jeremy tightened the towel around his waist and went out front and put the phone to his ear. “Hello?” he said.

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