The Hole in the Wall - Lisa Rowe Fraustino [19]
“No! That’s my rock!” I cried, lunging at her knees, taking her down. And we rolled around wrestling, like we’d done so many times before. Except this time, as I pushed on her and she pushed back, I felt like I was the stronger one, like it wasn’t even a fair fight anymore. I knew I ought to quit before she got hurt. But I wanted that rock. It was awesome. It might even contain the secret to what Boots Odum was doing in the gore.
No way could I let my sister throw it over the cliff.
6
On second thought, maybe me having superior strength was just enough to make things even. Barbie was really limber. When I pinned her down by the arms, she flipped her legs up around my waist and rolled me over. So then I pinned her by the legs, and that was even worse. She tickled me weak. Finally I sacrificed my sense of honor and pulled her shirt up. I’m not proud of that, but it got the job done. She let go of me in shock, and I got hold of the pebble long enough to sink it deep into my pants pocket where I knew she would leave it alone.
With her shirt tucked in Barbie hopped to her feet and stood nose-to-nose with me, practically hyperventilating with anger.
“You know that isn’t a normal rock, Sebby! Rocks are cold, dead things. That one is alive! It’s magic! And magic’s evil! You have no business keeping it.”
“Come off it, Barbie.” I sat on the guardrail to get some space, catch my breath, and put the gore behind me, out of sight. “That rock is just doing whatever comes naturally. There’s no such thing as magic. Everything has a scientific reason. We just don’t always know what it is.” Jed was always saying that.
“Sebby! That rock is scary! It even scared you at first! What if it’s radioactive or something? It might cause cancer. You might grow three heads with snakes for hair. Have you thought of that?”
“If it was radioactive, Madame Curie, do you think Boots would be leaving it next to his fruit bowl? He has a ton of them lying around, his mother even said.”
“You’d better pick up your bike before it gets run over, Boots Junior.”
“Yeah, go ahead and change the subject just because you’re losing,” I said, but I must admit that I heard a motor roaring up the hill, and my bike sat in the middle of the road where I’d let it drop when I got off it.
I wheeled it to the curb just as two balding tires smoked to a stop right next to us. And between them, a rusty red pickup door with faded lettering:
CRAIG “JACK OF ALL TRADES” DANIELS
HOME HANDY MAN
CALL FOR THE MOST REASONABLE PRICES ON EARTH!
The window rolled down and Pa’s hairy fist spilled over the edge of it, holding a plastic baggie with an egg inside. “I wanna know what’s going on, boy.”
If my stomach didn’t already hurt before, it would now.
“I d-d—I have no clue what you mean, Pa.” Had he seen me fighting with Barbie? If so, I was in for it. Pa thinks boys should never hit girls, unless of course they’re fathers instilling discipline.
“You know exactly what I mean. I wouldn’t put it past you to set up this whole egg thing to get out of your chores in the morning. Slip the chickens some d-CON, maybe? I’ve heard what a hard time you give your mother when she gets you out of bed, you lazy good-for-nothing kid.”
How could he hear that when he was snoring so hard? But I didn’t ask. I leaned hard on my bike and looked out over the gore. It was better than looking at Pa’s eyes.
“Pa, I didn’t do anything to the chickens, I swear!”
“Well, your mother nagged me to drive two hours all the way over to the state university agricultural lab and drop off this petrified egg. They told her on the phone they’d try to figure out what’s wrong. If I get over there only to find out you’ve been pulling one of your tricks, you’re gonna wish you were never born!”
I already do. Did I say it, or just think it?
Pa leaned at me. I could almost feel his three-day beard scratching my nose. I held my breath so I wouldn’t have to smell his.