Hey, Chicken Man! by Susan Brown

Author:Susan Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yellow Farmhouse Publishing
Published: 2017-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

End of the Cobras

Tom, Andrew and Mr. Donaldson stared at the ruin of the boys’ careful work.

“What do we do now?” Andrew asked glumly as he poked with his foot at the ruined rock samples.

“I’ll kill Billy!” Tom choked furiously. “He’s wrecked everything on purpose. I hate those Cobras!”

“Do you boys know who did this? Mr. Donaldson asked sharply. “Because this is a lot more than a harmless prank and I intend to treat it as such.”

“What do you mean, Dad?”

“Whoever did this has broken the law,” Mr. Donaldson replied grimly as he examined some of the damage. “They have trespassed on private property, broken into a building, and wantonly destroyed your belongings. The Cobras are that gang of boys who hang around the store sometimes, aren’t they?” he asked. “The ones who were giving you a hard time last night? I was going to chase them off, but I figure you’re old enough to fight your own battles. And,” he added angrily, “they are certainly old enough to be fully responsible for this.”

“But what can we do?” Tom asked helplessly as he picked up a wilted fern.

“I guess we had better salvage what we can,” Mr. Donaldson replied. “We’ll load it in the car with the other stuff and get you to the farmers market.”

“Yeah, there’s no point standing around looking at this mess,” Andrew agreed. At least we still have the stock in the car.”

“That stuff won’t look nearly as good by itself,” Tom said glumly. All he felt like doing was going home and getting back into bed. Billy would probably always manage to ruin his plans, and as far as he was concerned right now, it was hardly worth fighting him. Tom sat down on a box and sullenly stubbed his toe in the spilled dirt.

Andrew looked at him. “You don’t think we should give up, do you, Tom?” he asked anxiously. “I mean, you don’t want to call off the partnership, do you?”

“No.” Reluctantly, Tom stood up. “I guess we can do it today with the stuff in the car. But I’d sure like to get back at Billy,” he added viciously when his eyes lit again on the smashed sign. For a moment he bitterly regretted no having slashed the Cobras’ tires the night before when he had had the chance.

But he still didn’t want to be like Billy.

“I’ll drive you boys to the market,” Mr. Donaldson said, a trace of grimness still in his voice. “And then I’ll see what I can do while you’re gone.”

The drive was quieter than Tom would have thought possible the night before. But when they arrived and started to take stock of what they had left to sell, it wasn’t as bad as he and Andrew had thought. They still had some plants and all of the more valuable rocks, plus two or three of the small rock collections for children that Andrew had carefully prepared. But the one thing they both felt they couldn’t replace was the sign.

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