Planet Doom by Anne Schraff

Author:Anne Schraff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing
Published: 2014-08-06T17:51:58+00:00

Chapter 6

The fence was nowhere in sight. Instead, Reggie and Joanna found themselves slipping and sliding down a steep hillside. Finally, they came to rest in a deep round pit.

The cowboy’s grinning face appeared at the upper rim of the pit. “Uh-oh. Guess I forgot to tell you about the ice hole. It’s another fun ride. It was supposed to have water and frozen icicles, but the fire messed up the system. There used to be a stairway running up the other side so the fun-seekers could climb out. But the ladder got lost somehow….”

“Just throw us a rope, man,” Reggie cried out in a desperate voice.

“Now don’t get all riled up,” the cowboy said. “Why are you young folks always in such a hurry? Come on now, you kids had some fun here tonight, didn’t you? Why, this amusement park was built just so kids like you would have someplace to go! It was meant to relieve the boredom of living in this rundown neighborhood. Tell me—you did have fun here, didn’t you?”

Reggie knew that the old cowboy wanted to hear that they had a great time. He figured that if he got on the crazy old fool’s good side, maybe he’d toss them a rope so they could get out of the pit. So Reggie said, “Oh, yeah, we had a lot of fun. This is really a cool place. And we’re coming back soon, believe you me.”

“This is the best amusement park we ever visited,” Joanna joined in. “We’ll come back every chance we get.”

“Did you know that the city plans to tear all this down?” the cowboy asked. “They want to build a shopping mall here! Can you imagine such a thing? What fun is that? For a long time, I thought they’d rebuild it as an amusement park. But now I hear they’re gonna tear it all down,” the old man’s voice had been sad, but now it hardened with anger. “They’re even gonna tear down Eddie Scott’s museum. Can you believe that! They’re gonna erase the memory of the fine young man who tried to give a little fun to the kids of his neighborhood.”

“Uh, that’s too bad,” Reggie said.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire,” the old cowboy said bitterly, a harsh insane tone coming into his voice. “You didn’t think much of Eddie Scott, now did you? You were probably one of those little creeps who screamed at him and threw stuff at him when he was having a bad year. He was trying to live up to his whiz kid reputation the best he could. But guys like you wouldn’t give him a chance. No, you were too busy throwing trash and peanut shells at him.”

“Look, I hardly know who the guy was,” Reggie lied. The truth was that he and his dad had gone down to the stadium for Eddie’s last game. Like many others in the crowd, they had jeered when Eddie struck out for the third time that day.

“You called him a chump and a bum, kid,” the cowboy hissed.

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