The Hole in the Wall - Lisa Rowe Fraustino [9]
Back in the present, Pa’s voice came at me from the door: “Hey, youngster, I don’t hear any grass hitting the dust.” As I yanked the cord to restart the mower, I muttered all the curses I could think of and repeated the best ones.
The machine gave my hands a prickly feeling that wiggled all the way to my nose and ears. It brought back the aches and pains I’d suffered in the morning, only worse. I was in a hurry to finish and end the pain, so I didn’t even notice when the glossy black pickup truck with extralarge wheels pulled into the driveway. I only noticed it after I’d turned around and stopped short to avoid mowing a pair of pointy cowboy boots. Real leather. You could almost smell it mixed in with the mud and cut grass.
There was only one person who wore boots like that: none other than Mr. Stanley Odum. Behind his back some people even called him “Boots” because he wore the pointiest, clicketyclackiest, leatheriest cowboy boots on earth. People said you could smell those boots coming before you could hear them, and that was about three minutes before you could actually see them.
What was Boots Odum doing at our house? That made four strange things in one day. The sun was low and glaring right at me. I squinted to get a good look at him. I’d never seen him up close and personal before. I’d been spying on his secret compound the day he came around to taste our ultraviolet purified well water.
Boots Odum was on the tall side and husky up top, with a jean shirt straining the buttons over his belly. But skinny down bottom. His pants rode low with nothing to hold them up.
I’d have recognized his face anywhere, since it’s plastered all over the billboards for the Boys of Summer Stadium. It would’ve been a plain face if it weren’t for his big round nose planted in the middle like one of Grum’s dahlia bulbs. Average brown eyes. Hair military short on the sides but long on top—probably combed across a bald spot. Plain mouth. Smooth-shaven face, no dimples, crags, or clefts. A couple of crow’s feet around the eyes. Not counting the boots and pickup, the guy didn’t look rich or powerful or like a rocket scientist.
Then he grinned and became a walking billboard. Odum’s big warm smile lit up the whole front yard. Rich. Powerful. No question about it.
It had to be those teeth. Big, straight, shiny white teeth with just a little bit of a gap between the front two.
Stanley Odum was what Grum called “a Self-Made Man.” Like Pa, he had graduated from Kokadjo Prep, which was what Kokadjo Gore families used to call the public high school, owing to the fact they didn’t pay taxes and had to pay tuition. Unlike Pa, Boots went off to Exton City to work his way through college and graduate school. Then he got himself a fancy job in some faraway place. Pa said he was some kind of rocket scientist for the government. He discovered and invented things. Nobody knew exactly what he’d discovered or invented, but whatever it was had made him rich. Whenever he came home to visit, he quietly bought up land in the gore, making cash deals with the owners. Including Grum. She used the money to pay for her new dentures, bought the clunker that Ma’s driving now (which was an upgrade), and put the rest away for Jed’s college. Well, Barbie’s, too, and possibly mine, if I make it through sixth grade.
Finally, when Boots Odum owned it all, he moved back home to start ORC.
Jed had a joke: “Why did Stanley Odum start wearing cowboy boots? So he could pull himself up by his own bootstraps!”
I cut the motor to the lawn mower and waved a little hello to Boots Odum. He lifted his right hand and waved a little hello back with two fingers that fluttered faster than a movie starlet’s eyelashes. Nice trick!
“Hey there, buddy!” Pa’s voice boomed from the doorway. “What brings Kokadjo’s finest citizen by our humble abode today?”
“That.” Boots Odum pointed to Ma’s sign, written on cardboard with a marker and stapled to an oak tree by the road.
FRESH EGGS
4 SALE
$1.50 DOLLARS/DOZ
“Thought I might try my eggs fresh from the hen for a change. Only a