Strange Country Day (17 page)

Authors: Charles Curtis

Tags: #middle grade, #fantasy, #urban fantasy, #friendship, #boys, #action, #supernatural, #sports, #football

“Nice prayer,” huffed Freddie.

Startled, I bashed my shoulder on a tent pole.

“Sorry, I must have passed out for a second,” he said. “And I totally spaced on your name.”

“I’m Maverick,” I answered, wondering where his body was. Maybe he was a freak like me—like one of the famous ones that didn’t have all their parts? Maybe he was like Johnny Eck, who was born without legs, or Prince Randian, who only had a torso and a head. My imagination was spinning out of control, but I managed to snapback into reality. “Um, Freddie, you can call me Mav, or Maverick. Whatever.”

Freddie’s voice shook when he spoke. “Maverick, I’m not feeling so hot. I’m in a lot of pain and it’s just getting worse. It feels like an elephant is sitting on top of me and something really stinks…bad.”

That didn’t make any sense. All three of our nearly catatonic elephants were shackled to the ground in chains. That was when everything clicked. He wasn’t bleeding; it was just Bobo’s berry spit. And this kid wasn’t even in the animal tent, only his head was. Which meant the rest of his body was either a) outside, under something like a car or b) under something much scarier. If it was b, Freddie’s situation could be deadly. I had to figure out something quick, or else this fluffy chicken-haired kid could be flattened into a pancake.

“Hold on, Freddie, keep breathing. Sit tight, I’ll get you out of this,” I said, trying to sound confident. But if I was being honest, I panicked more with each passing second.

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