On the Road to Mr. Mineo's (11 page)

Authors: Barbara O'Connor

BOOK: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's

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“Okay, now listen, Amy,” Mr. Mineo said to the pigeon in the wicker basket on the seat beside him. “I know you're fire-spittin' mad at that dern fool Sherman.” He patted the top of the basket. “And lord knows you've got every right to be.”

Ernie sniffed at the basket and Amy fluttered a little.

“You know how stubborn he is,” Mr. Mineo continued.

Amy cooed. The truck bounced along the driveway from the trailer to the road.

“If he's gonna listen to anyone, it's you. Right, Ernie?” Mr. Mineo nodded at his fat dog sitting on the other side of the basket.

As they turned onto the road and passed the bait shop, Mr. Mineo urged Amy to watch her temper and just persuade Sherman to follow her back to the weathered blue shed behind the trailer.

Amy blinked up at him through the holes in the basket.

As they drove along, the warm summer air swirled around inside the pickup truck, blowing Ernie's ears back and lifting Mr. Mineo's spirits.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Amy to the Rescue

With each wag of the brown dog's tail, the knot in Stella's stomach had grown smaller and smaller until it had disappeared completely.

When Mr. Mineo returned, Stella joined the others as they gathered around. The little brown dog trotted along behind her.

Mr. Mineo got out of the truck, carrying a small wicker basket with a cooing pigeon inside. He set the basket on the ground and opened the lid. A white pigeon with black speckles soared into the air.

The kids let out a whoop.

Luther and Edsel slapped their knees and hollered, “Go get him, Amy!” and “Thatta girl, Amy!”

Amos Roper leaned against the delivery van, looking grumpy, while Ethel smiled up at the speckled pigeon circling the sky above them.

The little brown dog let out one bark and sat in the road next to Stella, wagging his tail and watching the pigeons.

Mr. Mineo waved his straw hat in the air. “Come on, you dern fool bird.”

Amy circled and circled while Sherman stayed on the telephone wire, head bobbing and feathers ruffling.

Everyone waited.

Sherman hopped up and down the wire a few times.

Amy circled and circled.

Everyone waited and waited.

Suddenly, Sherman soared into the sky, circling above them with Amy.

The air was filled with whoops and hollers and claps and barks.

Then the two pigeons took off, side by side, toward the lake.

CHAPTER SIXTY

On the Road to Mr. Mineo's

“Come on!” Mr. Mineo hollered as he scrambled into his truck.

Luther and Edsel climbed in the front with Ernie squeezed between them, while Mutt jumped into the back.

Amos and Ethel hurried to their blue-and-white station wagon. Ethel opened the back door and the little brown dog jumped right in.

Stella and the others hopped on their bikes.

Then they all took off down the road to Mr. Mineo's.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

The Weathered Blue Shed

When he got to the bait shop, Mr. Mineo turned down the driveway that led to his rusty trailer by the lake. The Ropers' blue-and-white station wagon pulled in after him. Not far behind the Ropers, Stella and the others raced up on their bikes.

Mr. Mineo hurried down the path to the weathered blue shed, motioning for the others to follow. He stepped inside and pointed at the pigeons, calling their names, one by one:

Edna

Frankie

Martha

Samson

Leslie

Taylor

Joe

Christopher

and
Martin

But not Amy and Sherman.

Mr. Mineo's whiskery face drooped as he stepped out of the shed, shaking his head and telling the others that Amy and Sherman were not there.

A deep, heavy silence fell over them all.

But thenÂ â¦

â¦ the little brown dog raced down to the lake, barking up a storm.

The others hurried after him.

When they got to the water's edge, Mr. Mineo pointed at the sky.

Amy and Sherman were soaring over the lake, swooping and gliding with the late-afternoon sun sparkling across the still surface of the water. Then Sherman began to fly lowerÂ â¦

â¦ and lowerÂ â¦

â¦ until he fluttered down and landed right on top of Mutt Raynard's head.

At first, Mutt's mouth dropped open in surprise. Then he beamed at everyone while Amy circled above them. But suddenly, the little brown dog let out one sharp bark and Sherman soared back into the sky.

Mr. Mineo waved his straw hat, and the others waved their arms and whistled and called to the pigeons. They all watched as Amy and Sherman flew closer and closer, then skimmed the tops of the trees beside the lake and finally landed on the roof of the weathered blue shed.

Everyone raced back up to the shed just in time to see Amy give Sherman one sharp peck on the head before they both hopped through the bars of the window and disappeared inside.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Everyone Tells Their Stories

Everyone cheered when Amy and Sherman hopped into the shed.

Then they sat on the rickety porch of Mr. Mineo's trailer and told their stories.

Mr. Mineo told the others about his brother, Carl, who had gone to live in a nursing home and had given him the pigeons. The pigeons lived in the shed behind his trailer and twice a day they flew out across the lake and then came back. Except for Sherman, who had been missing for eight days and had worried him half to death.

Ethel Roper told them how the pigeon had been flying into their barn at night and the little brown dog chased after him and barked half the night, making Amos grumpy.

Mutt Raynard told them how the pigeon had landed on his head when he was fishing and how no one believed him. He explained how he had wanted to catch the pigeon to prove he had been telling the truth. But when he finally caught him, Emmaline's cats had chased him around the garage and the dog had chased the cats and his wild cousins had scared them both away.

Levi told them how the pigeon had swooped into the carport when he and C.J. and Jiggs were flipping bottle caps into the middle of an old tire. Then he had tried to catch the pigeon before Stella did because she didn't know diddly-squat about pigeons.

Luther and Edsel scratched their heads and yawned.

Gerald just sat there looking worried.

With the little brown dog snuggled next to her, Stella told the others how the pigeon had landed on the garage roof and she and Gerald had drawn a pigeon town with colored chalk. She told them she had named him Harvey and she had wanted to keep him because she wanted a pet.

After everyone told their stories, Mr. Mineo invited them to go up to the bait shop for a soda.

And so they did.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Where the Story Ends

As night settled over Meadville, the crickets chirped and eighteen-wheelers rumbled out on Highway 14. Streetlights cast a soft amber glow on the sidewalks of Main Street. The pecan trees that lined the street rustled softly in the gentle summer breeze, like a whisper.

The sound of snoring drifted out of the window of the tiny room over Luther's Chinese Takeout. Fishing gear rested against the wall by the door, ready for another day out at the lake with Edsel as soon as the delivery van was fixed.

Over on Waxhaw Lane, in the big white house with the blue-striped awnings, Gerald Baxter smiled in his sleep as he dreamed about giving Levi the Knuckle of Death.

Across the street, Stella sat by the window of her bedroom in the green house with muddy shoes on the porch and whispered into the night:

Harvey

Earlier that evening, she had begged and begged her parents to let her keep the little brown dog. When Ethel Roper told them what a good dog he was and how he needed a home, they had finally said yes.

Stella named him Harvey, and now he was fast asleep in the doghouse in the front yard.

On the outskirts of town, Ethel Roper sat on the side of the bed and gazed out at the moonlit yard, thinking about how nice it was that the dog had found a little girl to love him. Behind her, Amos slept peacefully under the crisp white sheet.

Just beyond the Ropers' small brick house, in one of the ramshackle houses at the end of the long dirt driveway, Mutt Raynard lay in his bed and grinned up at the cracked plaster ceiling. He
had
been telling the truth about the one-legged pigeon, and tomorrow he would take his wild cousins to see for themselves.

Out in the rusty trailer by the lake, Mr. Mineo snored softly in his old plaid lounge chair. His fat dog, Ernie, was curled up on the rug at his feet, dreaming about pork rinds.

And behind the trailer in the weathered blue shed, Sherman nestled on a perch beside Amy, cooing softly, while a full Carolina moon shone down on the road to Mr. Mineo's.

Also by Barbara O'Connor

Beethoven in Paradise

Me and Rupert Goody

Moonpie and Ivy

Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia

Taking Care of Moses

How to Steal a Dog

Greetings from Nowhere

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester

Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

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