On the Road to Mr. Mineo's (10 page)

“Gol-dern it!” Mutt hollered, shaking his fists at the kids. “Look what y'all done!” He pointed at the sky over Emmaline's house. “That was the pigeon I told y'all about.”

“What pigeon?” Byron said.

“The one that landed on my head.” Mutt tapped the top of his head.

“I didn't see no pigeon,” Brassy said.

“Me neither,” Becka said.

“He's only got one leg.” Mutt held a finger in Becka's face and she slapped at it.

Then one of the kids said, “You're such a liar, Mutt.”

“Yeah, you're such a liar, Mutt,” another one said.

Then they all started hopping around the yard on one leg, chanting, “Mutt is a liar. Mutt is a liar.” Mutt chased them and yanked their hair and slapped their legs and punched their arms until they ran off toward home.

Mutt glared up at the sky. Now he was more determined than ever to catch that pigeon.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY

By the Side of the Road

“I give up,” Mr. Mineo said to Ernie. “That dern fool bird is gone, and I say good riddance to him.”

He studied the cloudless sky. “If he gets hungry enough, he'll come home.”

He scanned the tops of the trees on the side of the road. “Aw, heck with him, right?” He glanced over at Ernie, curled up on the seat beside him.

“Let's go get some lunch.” He turned the pickup truck in the direction of the bait shop.

Just as he rounded a curve in the road, he spied something on the side of the road ahead.

A white delivery van.

“That's
Edsel's
van,” he said.

He turned the truck onto the grass by the roadside and stopped. Just as he was getting out, a car pulled in behind him.

A blue-and-white station wagon.

Amos Roper got out of the passenger side and waved to Mr. Mineo. “Got trouble?” he said.

Mr. Mineo shook his head. “Not me.” He nodded toward Edsel's van.

The hood was up.

Edsel's feet were hanging out of the side door.

Luther's feet were hanging out of the back doors.

And snores echoed across the Carolina countryside.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Levi Has Another Plan

Levi and C.J. and Jiggs sat glumly on the curb in front of the barbershop, tossing pebbles into the storm drain and listening to them hit the water below the grate.

Ploink

Ploink

Ploink

“What do y'all want to do now?” C.J. said.

Levi shrugged. He glanced across the street at Luther's Chinese Takeout. A sign hung on the door:

G
ONE
F
ISHING

The three of them sat in silence.

Suddenly, Levi sat up straight and whispered, “Don't move.”

C.J. and Jiggs didn't move.

“That pigeon is over yonder,” Levi whispered.

Sure enough, the one-legged pigeon hopped around in front of the restaurant, pecking at the sidewalk.

“What do we do now?” Jiggs whispered.

Levi thought.

Then he told C.J. and Jiggs his plan.

Two of them would stay here and keep an eye on the pigeon, while one of them went to the convenience store up the street to buy something to lure him. Crackers or chips or popcorn.

Then they would tiptoe across the street, and one of them would make a trail of crumbs up the sidewalk while the other two waited in the alley.

The pigeon would hop up the sidewalk, eating the crumbs.

And then, when he got near the alley …

…
bingo!

They would nab him.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Mutt was steaming mad. As he made his way up the side of the road, he kicked at rocks.

Hard.

Each time he kicked a rock, he called out one of his cousins' names that started with the letter
B
.

He was so busy being mad and kicking rocks that he didn't notice Stella and Gerald riding toward him until he nearly ran smack into them.

Stella stopped. “What are
you
doing out here?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“I
live
out here,” he said. “What are
you
doing out here?”

Stella glanced at Gerald, who stood there looking tired and red-faced. “We're just riding our bikes.” She gave Gerald a poke. “Right, Gerald?”

“Right,” he said, shifting from foot to foot in that nervous way of his.

“Bye.” Mutt waved at them and continued up the road toward town.

“Wait!” Stella called after him. “Have you seen that one-legged pigeon?”

“Yes.” Mutt called over his shoulder as he continued up the road.

Stella jumped off her bike and ran after him. “Really?”

“Yes.” Mutt kept walking, looking straight ahead, wanting Stella to go away.

“You have not.” Stella stomped her foot. “You're such a liar.”

Mutt stopped. His face turned red. He clenched his fists and kicked at the dirt on the side of the road, sending up swirls of dust. He yanked at weeds and threw rocks and stomped on his baseball cap.

Stella and Gerald watched with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

When Mutt was through kicking and clenching and throwing and yanking and stomping, he picked his baseball cap up, dusted it off, and looked coolly at Stella. “I
did
see that pigeon,” he said. “He landed on top of my head yesterday at the lake. I put him under my shirt and took him home. I made a nest for him in a cardboard box and kept him in Emmaline's garage all night. This morning, I went to check on him and he got out of the box and Emmaline's cats tried to catch him. Then a stray dog showed up and chased the cats away, but all my crazy cousins made a commotion and scared the dog and the pigeon away.”

Then Mutt put his baseball cap back on and continued up the road, leaving Stella and Gerald standing in silence.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

When Levi's Plan Didn't Work

Levi and C.J. and Jiggs stood slump-shouldered on the sidewalk in front of Luther's Chinese Takeout, watching the one-legged pigeon swoop through the summer sky toward the outskirts of town.

Levi's plan hadn't worked.

They had made a trail of crumbs on the sidewalk and hidden in the alley and jumped out to grab the pigeon. But C.J. had tripped and fallen, Jiggs had made too much noise, and Levi hadn't been quick enough.

After they argued for a minute or two about whose fault it was, they ran home to get their bikes. Then they raced up Main Street, past the bank and the post office, toward the fields and farms outside of town, looking for the pigeon.

While Levi and C.J. and Jiggs raced
out
of town, Mutt Raynard stomped angrily up the middle of the road
toward
town. He kicked rocks and mumbled under his breath about being sick and tired of everyone calling him a liar.

Suddenly, he caught sight of the pigeon flying in the opposite direction toward the lake. So he quit all of his kicking and mumbling, turned around, and raced back down the road after him.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Stella Doesn't Like What She Hears

On the road to Mr. Mineo's, Stella and Gerald pedaled their bikes toward the bait shop. Stella searched the treetops, and Gerald huffed and puffed and hollered, “Wait up!”

When she rounded a curve and saw a blue-and-white station wagon, a pickup truck, and a white delivery van on the side of the road ahead, she slowed down.

Luther and Edsel sat in the weeds at the edge of the woods, yawning and looking sleepy-eyed.

Mr. Mineo leaned over the engine of the van and twisted wrenches and jiggled wires. His fat dog, Ernie, scratched at fleas and snapped at flies.

Amos Roper sat behind the wheel of the van and turned the key. The engine whirred and clanked and rattled.

Ethel Roper stood beside the station wagon and searched up and down the road, looking worried.

Stella jumped off her bike. “Have y'all seen a pigeon?”

Mr. Mineo straightened up so fast he hit his head on the hood of the van.

Bang.

Gerald stopped his bike beside Stella, panting. His freckled arms were pink with sunburn.

Mr. Mineo adjusted his straw hat and wiped his greasy hands on his trousers. “I'm looking for a pigeon, too,” he said.

“So are me and Amos.” Ethel glanced into the treetops. “And a dog,” she added. “A little brown dog.”

Stella felt a tiny knot in her stomach. “The pigeon I'm looking for only has one leg,” she said.

“That's Sherman!” Mr. Mineo nudged his dog scratching and snapping beside him. “How about that, Ernie?” He turned back to Stella. “Sherman is one of my homing pigeons.”

Sherman?

Stella's heart sank. “His name is Harvey,” she said in a soft, pitiful voice. “Right, Gerald?” The tiny knot in her stomach was growing into a very large knot.

Gerald wiped sweat off the back of his neck and mumbled, “I guess.”

Stella clutched her stomach and looked down at the ground. She almost always knew what to do, but now she didn't.

She wanted to stomp her feet and cry like a baby.

She wanted to punch Gerald.

She wanted to tell Mr. Mineo he was wrong. That pigeon was
not
Sherman. That pigeon was Harvey, and he belonged to
her
.

But before she could do anything, Mutt Raynard came trotting up the road toward them.

Not far behind him, Levi and C.J. and Jiggs raced full steam ahead on their bikes hollering at each other about which one of them had messed up Levi's plan.

Then right in the middle of all that trotting and racing and hollering, the one-legged pigeon appeared overhead. He circled the deserted peach orchard a few times and then swooped down and landed on the telephone wires along the side of the road.

And the little brown dog darted out of the orchard, barking up a storm.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Everyone Watches Sherman

Mr. Mineo's heavy heart lifted when he saw his one-legged pigeon with the shiny green neck and two black stripes on his wings.

He whistled to the bird.

Sherman cocked his head and cooed.

The little brown dog stopped barking.

Mr. Mineo whistled again and held his finger up. Sherman blinked down at him with his round orange eyes, but he stayed put.

“Dern fool bird,” Mr. Mineo mumbled. He shuffled over to his pickup truck and got the can of birdseed. He rattled the can while everyone watched.

Stella and Gerald.

Amos and Ethel Roper.

Luther and Edsel.

Mutt Raynard.

Levi and C.J. and Jiggs.

Ernie and the little brown dog.

But Sherman would not come down.

“I'm so aggravated,” Mr. Mineo muttered. He rattled the can again.

But Sherman would not come down.

Mr. Mineo scratched his chin. Then he snapped his fingers. “I have an idea!”

Everyone looked at Mr. Mineo, waiting to hear his idea.

“I'll go home and get Amy. Sherman will listen to
her
.”

Then he explained to everyone about Amy and that temper of hers and how she was liable to be mad as all get-out but could make Sherman go back home where he belonged.

So he called for Ernie, and the two of them took off in the pickup truck toward the rusty trailer beside the lake.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Little Brown Dog

Ethel Roper reached into the pocket of her skirt and took out a limp slice of orange cheese wrapped in a paper towel. She held it out toward the little brown dog.

The dog looked from the pigeon to the cheese.

From the cheese to the pigeon.

From the pigeon to the cheese.

Ethel handed the cheese to Stella. “You give it to him,” she said.

Stella took the cheese from Ethel and held it out in the palm of her hand.

The dog took one more glance at the pigeon and then trotted over to Stella. He ate the cheese in one big gulp and licked Stella's hand.

He licked and licked and licked.

Then he sat in front of her, wagging his tail.

Stella grinned at Ethel. “He likes me.”

Ethel smiled at Stella and nodded.

As the minutes ticked by, Stella stopped worrying so much about the one-legged pigeon hopping up and down the telephone wires above her. She sat on the side of the road and hugged the little brown dog.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Waiting

While everyone waited for Mr. Mineo to return with Amy, Sherman fluttered from the telephone wires to the trees. From the trees to the top of a rotting fence post beside the orchard. From the fence post back to the telephone wires.

Stella sat beside the little brown dog, stroking his fur and scratching behind his ears. The knot in her stomach was getting smaller and smaller.

Ethel Roper smiled at them and wished she had another piece of cheese.

Amos Roper fiddled with the engine of the delivery van while Luther and Edsel dozed in the grass beside the road.

Levi and C.J. and Jiggs hurled rocks into the woods, sending loud
thwacks
echoing through the trees.

Gerald watched them, wishing he could hurl rocks, too, and hoping those scabby-kneed boys wouldn't call him Wormy.

Mutt Raynard thought about going home, but he knew his dirty-faced cousins would be there, hopping and flapping and calling him a liar. So he hurled a few rocks into the woods and wished Sherman would fly down and land on his head.

But Sherman didn't move.

 

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Mr. Mineo's Spirits Are Lifted