slightly interesting to hang around Rattler Springs just a little longer. Long enough, at least, to see what the geologists were actually going to do way out there in Linda’s run-down, dusty old ranch house.
The first thing they did was to truck in a lot of heavy equipment. Only a few days after the Smithsons paid their first month’s rent, a lot of trucks began to head up Silver Avenue in the direction of the ranch. Big trucks that seemed to be carrying all kinds of lumber and strange-looking machinery. Linda said she thought the machinery was just the generator and maybe some scientific equipment, but other people had other ideas about what it might be.
One of the trucks looked like a big, long moving van. Dani was heading up Silver Avenue and just passing the Grand Hotel when the van went by. It was so long that it had to back and turn to get around the corner and for a while it got kind of hung up. Dani stopped to watch and before long some other people did too.
One of the first ones to show up was Stormy, of course, and a little later most of the people who’d been in the bar straggled out. Even Stormy’s mother, Gorgeous Gloria, came out and joined the crowd, wearing a stretchy red dress with a silver thread woven into it, and still carrying a dish towel and the glass she’d been drying. After a while Dani got bored with the truck and started watching Gloria instead. It was interesting because you didn’t see Stormy’s mother out-of-doors very often, at least during the daytime.
Dani had always thought that Gloria Arigotti was very young looking to be the mother of a great big nine-year-old kid like Stormy. She had a movie-star-type figure and lots of superblond hair, and she always wore very glamorous-looking clothing, like tight sweaters and short skirts. But seeing her now in the bright sunshine Dani could see how she might be pretty old after all. Like maybe even thirty, which was nearly as old as Dani’s mother.
Gloria was chatting and joking with some of the other people who’d come out of the bar to watch. People, men mostly, seemed to enjoy talking to Gloria even though the rumor was that she could be pretty dangerous at times. Like getting mad at somebody and trying to hit them with a whiskey bottle. Or like the time she’d showed up at the O’Donnells’ in the middle of the night, yelling and screaming because she thought Stormy was staying over without permission. He hadn’t been there, so she’d gone off without him, but the next day he showed up with a black eye. Linda, who always worried about Stormy having a lousy mother, had been sure that Gloria had done it. Dani believed Stormy when he said he’d bumped into a door, and she’d told Linda so. She’d reminded Linda that the little klutz was always bumping into something or other, and she’d also hinted about how there were a lot of different ways to be a lousy parent. Right now, for instance, watching Gloria, it seemed to Dani that it might be kind of exciting to have such a glamorous mother.
Dani was still watching Gloria and the rest of the crowd and thinking about a town where there wasn’t anything more exciting to do than watch a stalled moving van, when someone punched her in the back. Hard. Not angry hard, actually, but just Stormy’s usual tooth-rattling substitute for a normal person’s “Hi” or “Hey, you.”
“Hey, watch it,” Dani said crossly, but then she saw his face and added, “What’s up?” Judging by his expression, something important definitely was.
There was a suspicious squint to Stormy’s eyes and his voice hissed excitedly when he said, “They’re spies. That’s what they are. Spies.”
Dani was puzzled. “What are you talking about? Who are spies?”
“Those ge—geo—” Giving up on ge-ol-o-gists, Stormy went on, “Those guys who are renting your ranch.”
“Oh yeah?” She couldn’t help grinning. “What makes you think they’re spies?”
“Because …” Stormy rolled
The first thing they did was to truck in a lot of heavy equipment. Only a few days after the Smithsons paid their first month’s rent, a lot of trucks began to head up Silver Avenue in the direction of the ranch. Big trucks that seemed to be carrying all kinds of lumber and strange-looking machinery. Linda said she thought the machinery was just the generator and maybe some scientific equipment, but other people had other ideas about what it might be.
One of the trucks looked like a big, long moving van. Dani was heading up Silver Avenue and just passing the Grand Hotel when the van went by. It was so long that it had to back and turn to get around the corner and for a while it got kind of hung up. Dani stopped to watch and before long some other people did too.
One of the first ones to show up was Stormy, of course, and a little later most of the people who’d been in the bar straggled out. Even Stormy’s mother, Gorgeous Gloria, came out and joined the crowd, wearing a stretchy red dress with a silver thread woven into it, and still carrying a dish towel and the glass she’d been drying. After a while Dani got bored with the truck and started watching Gloria instead. It was interesting because you didn’t see Stormy’s mother out-of-doors very often, at least during the daytime.
Dani had always thought that Gloria Arigotti was very young looking to be the mother of a great big nine-year-old kid like Stormy. She had a movie-star-type figure and lots of superblond hair, and she always wore very glamorous-looking clothing, like tight sweaters and short skirts. But seeing her now in the bright sunshine Dani could see how she might be pretty old after all. Like maybe even thirty, which was nearly as old as Dani’s mother.
Gloria was chatting and joking with some of the other people who’d come out of the bar to watch. People, men mostly, seemed to enjoy talking to Gloria even though the rumor was that she could be pretty dangerous at times. Like getting mad at somebody and trying to hit them with a whiskey bottle. Or like the time she’d showed up at the O’Donnells’ in the middle of the night, yelling and screaming because she thought Stormy was staying over without permission. He hadn’t been there, so she’d gone off without him, but the next day he showed up with a black eye. Linda, who always worried about Stormy having a lousy mother, had been sure that Gloria had done it. Dani believed Stormy when he said he’d bumped into a door, and she’d told Linda so. She’d reminded Linda that the little klutz was always bumping into something or other, and she’d also hinted about how there were a lot of different ways to be a lousy parent. Right now, for instance, watching Gloria, it seemed to Dani that it might be kind of exciting to have such a glamorous mother.
Dani was still watching Gloria and the rest of the crowd and thinking about a town where there wasn’t anything more exciting to do than watch a stalled moving van, when someone punched her in the back. Hard. Not angry hard, actually, but just Stormy’s usual tooth-rattling substitute for a normal person’s “Hi” or “Hey, you.”
“Hey, watch it,” Dani said crossly, but then she saw his face and added, “What’s up?” Judging by his expression, something important definitely was.
There was a suspicious squint to Stormy’s eyes and his voice hissed excitedly when he said, “They’re spies. That’s what they are. Spies.”
Dani was puzzled. “What are you talking about? Who are spies?”
“Those ge—geo—” Giving up on ge-ol-o-gists, Stormy went on, “Those guys who are renting your ranch.”
“Oh yeah?” She couldn’t help grinning. “What makes you think they’re spies?”
“Because …” Stormy rolled
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