The Mystery of Wandering Caveman - M. V. Carey [6]
A sign was tacked to the porch railing of the McAfee house. It advised visitors who needed accommodations to go around to the back. The boys trudged obediently around the house, and they saw a meadow that stretched away from the road to a patch of woodland. Quite close to the house was a barn, silvery with age. On the side of the house that was farthest from town, the meadow extended a short way along the road until it ran into a nearby hill. Huddled against the hillside was a spanking new building. It was trim and modern, built of redwood, and windowless. Above the double doors a sign read: “Entrance to Cave Man Cavern”.
“Hey, hey!” said Pete. “The guy is making a real production out of it.”
“Do you want something?” said a soft voice behind the boys.
They turned and Jupe saw pale hair and a pale face. He remembered a bleak and foggy day in Rocky Beach, and a man who walked in from the highway to die.
“Oh!” said Eleanor Hess. “It’s you!”
“Hi.” Jupe put his hand out and she took it.
“I … uh … I was going to write to your aunt,” she said. “You were so nice. But I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to be bothered.”
“I’m glad we could help,” said Jupe, and he introduced Bob and Pete.
As Eleanor acknowledged the introductions, the back door of the house opened and a plump woman with short, frizzy hair looked out.
“Ellie, what do those boys want?” she called. She spoke rudely, as if the boys couldn’t hear her.
“Aunt Thalia, this is Jupiter Jones,” said Eleanor. She looked flushed and unhappy. “I told you about him. He and his aunt helped me when Dr. Birkensteen was sick up in Rocky Beach. And this is Pete Crenshaw and this is Bob Andrews.
They’re Jupiter’s friends. I guess they’ve come to see the cave man. Aunt Thalia, couldn’t we put them up?”
The man who had been on so many talk shows appeared suddenly in the doorway beside the woman. Eleanor Hess introduced the boys again, and Jupe’s jaw dropped when he realized that Aunt Thalia must be Newt McAfee’s wife — which meant that Newt was Eleanor’s uncle!
“So you’re the one who was so nice to Ellie,” said Newt. “Well, we’d be glad to put you up. We don’t have room in the house for the three of you, but you can spread your bedrolls in the loft above the barn and use the old outhouse behind the barn.
There’s a tap on the side of the house for washing.”
McAfee’s small eyes crinkled. “I’ll make you a real good rate. Just ten dollars a night for the three of you.”
“Uncle Newt!” cried Eleanor Hess.
“Now, there, missy!” said McAfee. He shot a warning look at Eleanor, and she looked away.
“You can’t get in any place for ten dollars,” McAfee told the boys.
“Why don’t we just find a clearing in the woods?” said Bob. He gestured towards the trees beyond the meadow.
“Fire danger’s high this year,” said McAfee. “Them woods are closed to campers.”
Jupe took out his wallet and held a ten-dollar bill towards McAfee.
“Here,” he said. “This is for tonight.”
“Good enough.” McAfee pocketed the money. “Ellie, show the boys where the outside tap is.”
“Now, you boys be careful,” warned Thalia McAfee. “Don’t you mess things up or set fire to anything.”
“You don’t smoke, do you?” asked McAfee.
“We don’t smoke,” said Pete sullenly. “Hey, Jupe, we shouldn’t bother the McAfees. Why don’t we go down to the little park in town and … “
“No camping in the park,” said McAfee. “Besides, there’s an automatic sprinkler system there that goes off at midnight every night.”
McAfee went chuckling into the house, and Eleanor started towards the barn, her face red with shame.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Listen, if you stay over tomorrow, don’t pay him. I’ve got some money and I’ll take care of it.”
“It’s okay,” said Jupe. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I hate it when he does things like that,” said Eleanor bitterly. “And I’m never supposed to say anything because . . . well, because he and Aunt Thalia have taken care of me since I was eight. My parents died in a car accident.”
Each of the boys wondered privately how well McAfee and his wife took care of Eleanor. She was very thin, and she had a faded,