Chapter Twenty-Seven
~ Glen Thornton ~
The lockpicksI bought from that pawn shop work better than paperclips.
The dogs are sniffing and grunting behind the door, waiting to jump all over me and lick me. Mom says they are therapy dogs and they make people feel better. I like them because they’re like big black bears.
I grunt and huff back at them and work the lock open.
Melia and Sierra rush out, wiggling and dancing all around me, making me burst out in a shrill, high-pitched laughter that annoys my dad.
“Ha, ha, ha, hooo!!!”
“Woof, woof.”
“Hoo, ha, hhooo, haaaa, heee!” I wrestle Sierra onto the floor while Melia jumps over me, making a dog sandwich.
Actually it’s a me sandwich because I’m in the middle. Mom calls it an Oreo cookie with me as the frosting. I wonder if they have any cookies inside.
My stomach rumbles because I haven’t eaten since I hid inside the camper. I stuffed myself with Twinkies and chips. I’m so hungry I can eat dog food, but I like cookies better.
“Whoa. Mother lode!” I bounce in front of the refrigerator and salivate over the steak, lasagna, mashed potatoes, rotisserie chicken, and ham inside.
Sierra and Melia want some of it too, so I rip off chunks of meat for them and fill my stomach.
After eating, I finally get a chance to look around the cabin. I switch on the TV, but there’s no signal. They still have an old VCR player hooked up to it, and a cabinet of ancient video tapes.
Where’s the Xbox? Do they even have wifi?
I go to the bedroom to see if they have a computer. I need to erase my messages from the Realm of Rogues. Someone must have squealed to the cops, because they were definitely looking for me earlier.
There’s a cell phone lying on the nightstand, still plugged in.
I wake it up, but there is a passcode attached to it. I try 1, 2, 3, 4, but it doesn’t work. 4, 3, 2, 1, no dice. 1, 3, 9, 7, tapping the square, then 2, 4, 6, 8. Hmmm… if I knew these people a little better, I might be able to guess.
Looking through the closet, I find a suitcase. The luggage tag reads “Cait Hart,” so I try the numbers associated with the letters. 2, 2, 4, 8 for C, A, I, T.
Bingo! I’m in.
There’s unfortunately, no signal, so I pocket the phone and the charger.
I’m not a thief, but there’s also a golden locket on the nightstand I can pawn. I’m going to need money since I spent the last of it on the GPS watch and lockpick tools.
I feel a little bad taking it, but Wonderman’s my friend and he did invite me over, well, sort of, with the longitude and latitude clue.
There are no purses and wallets anywhere, and no laptops and tablets. What do these people do all day? Play cards and read paper books?
It’s time to get out of here, so I go to the kitchen to gather food.
That’s when the dogs start barking.
I peek out the window and spy a car rolling onto the crunchy snowy driveway.
“Shhh!” I point to the dogs. “I have to hide now. Don’t give me away, you two.”
There’s a ladder behind the kitchen and it leads to a trapdoor. I have no idea who’s coming home, but I don’t want to be caught and sent to my dad’s house.
I scramble up the ladder in the nick of time as someone comes in the door. I leave the trapdoor open a crack so I can see what’s going on.
