Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (17 page)

Nana happened by
, looking
down at
Glory
through
the bifocals
at the end of her nose
.
“
Did you l
ose something, dearie?”

“Just h
er
dignity,”
Danny
replied.

“Impossible,” Randy quipped
.
“
C
an’t lose what
you
never had.
”

Glory
’s three brothers roared with laughter.

“Sprout,”
Grandpa
said when he noticed
Glory
lying on the floor in an overturned chair with food all over h
er
.
“You got egg on your face.”

H
er
brothers laughed themselves
into a ridiculous frenzy
, while
Glory
righted the chair.

Everybody froze
w
hen
Dad
barged through the back door, holding a soggy book and a green flashlight with
Glory
’s name written on it.
Glory
carefully sat down
.

Dad
looked directly at Brandon
.
“Do you mind telling me how this got in the middle of the yard?”

“It’s not mine,” Brandon answered, keeping his eyes on his plate.

“That’s not what I asked you
.
Glory
told me you threw it out the window last night.”

Randy, Danny and Brandon all turned to
Glory
, giving h
er
a look that spelled payback
.

“It’s true,” said Brandon
without the slightest hint of regret in his voice
.
“I did it, but for good reason.
Glory
’s been going up to the caverns again
—
even though you told h
er
not to.”

“So what?”
Glory
joined the tattle-fest
.
“Brandon’s been smoking in the barn.”

Brandon feigned shock, gasping
.
“
Glory
’s a liar!”

“Am not!”

“Devil-dogs as big as pick-up trucks chasing you through the cavern
s
?
Puh-leez!”

“Dirty magazines under your mattress
—
get a girlfriend
w
hy don’t you!”

Brandon rose from his chair, fists curled
.
“Right after I kick your little
...
”

“Sit down
!
And both of you shut your big pie holes!
”
Dad
pounded the table with his fist, causing the flatware to jump in the air
.
“There will be peace, and there will be quiet, or I shall know the reason why.”

Glory didn’t know what the heck it meant, but w
henever that phrase was spoken
, her brothers and sister knew they
should be very still
.
The only sound in the kitchen came from
Grandpa
sloshing eggs around inside his mouth.
Dad
went to the cupboard and found a bottle of vodka
.

“Ma,”
Dad
asked
Nana
.
“D
id you buy some
orange juice?”

She opened the refrigerator and found a half a carton
, handing it to him
with a silent look of disapproval
.
He poured half the carton into a pitcher and a third of the bottle of vodka, swishing them together.

“Brandon.”
Dad
set the pitcher down to look for a glass. “The barn is dry as kindling. One stray spark and it’ll go up like a bonfire
.
Smo
ke in there again
and
I’ll have to beat some sense into you.
D
id
I make myself clear?”

Brandon nodded
.
“
Crystal
.”

“
Glory
,
are we clear about the mesa?”

“
Yes, sir.
Now that I know the
Hoogula
is for real
,
I’m never going back again.”

Grandpa
stopped chewing, giving
Glory
a puzzled look
.
“
Hoogula
?
Where?”

“Hush, dear,”
Nana
said. “Eat your eggs.”

Dad
wordlessly left the kitchen with his pitcher and a tall glass
.
The television clicked on and the latest news from the Farm Report
blared
through the house
.

“Man, oh, man!” Randy squealed, looking to Brandon, and then to
Glory
, sounding disappointed
.
“You two got off easy!
”

“Easy
?
”
Glory
complained, feeling the welts on h
er
backside
.
“
Dad
whipped me out in the barn
.
And it’s all your fault, Brandon.”

“Mine
?
What did I do?”

“If you hadn’t thrown my things out the window, I wouldn’t have run into the
pink
-faced bums who stole my shoes.”

Brandon glanced at Randy,
and
then to Danny
, who curled up his lip to emphasize his disgust
. “What on
Tullah
are you talking about?”

“The hoboes with the blue dust, I think they’re the same ones I saw in the woods chomping the heads off squirrels
.
They were in the barn last night
.
They sa
id
something about me being the
soul they were looking for
.
Then they knocked me out and took my shoes
.
I bet they
’re the ones who murdered the chickens.
”
Glory
gave a paranoid glance behind
her
and
whispered
,
“I tell you
...
they’re trying to frame me or something.”

Eyebrows raised
,
h
er
brothers looked at each other with concern,
until Randy snickered.

“Or something, alright
.
You’ve gone plumb bonkers!”

Milk shot from Danny’s his nose. Randy’s shoulders shook from all the chuckling. Brandon punched both twins in the arms
.

“Ow
!
Why’d you go and do that for?”

“Just shut-up and leave h
er
alone,” Brandon snarled.

Glory
was astounded. Did Brandon just stand up for h
er
?
That was almost as u
nbelievable as
Hoogula
s and midget bums
lurking in the barn.

An unexpected knock rattled the front door.

“Who can that be so early in the morning?
”
Nana
said, wiping her hands on her apron
.
She shuffled out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the front door
.
Danny
hurried past her
. He
returned breathlessly to the kitchen.

“It’s the cops
!
They have
Patrice
!”

Dad
greeted the visitors on the front porch
. The
Alley
kids
gathered behind the staircase
where the
cellar door
was located,
to eavesdrop
.
Glory
watched
Patrice
through the glass
.
She stood between two officers, face puffy, tears rolling down her cheeks. A woman in a gray tweed coat knocked on the door.
She had a bony face, short brown hair, and looked familiar.

Keeping
one
hand on the door handle,
Dad
spoke with the visitors
on the other side of the screen.
Nana
stood beside him. A brisk wind blew
Patrice
’s fine strawberry hair
into her mouth. Her trembling hand
kept removing
it, but it
kept blowing back again.