The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper by E.L. Konigsburg Page B

The crooks might lose sight of them, too, and then they wouldn’t start anything, and then he couldn’t catch them. There was a clear stretch just beyond the detour, and the cars seemed anxious to make up for the delay caused by the construction. They zoomed down the open boulevard. Edie did the same, and Andy was furious. The van carrying the Port-ALets had to shift gears and couldn’t make as fast a getaway. There was a half block distance between them and the van, which meant that there was that distance plus the distance of one additional car between them and the gray Plymouth. Just as the van was catching up with them, Edie jammed on the brakes. The van carrying the Port-A-Lets did the same, stopping only inches from them. The portable toilets were jerked loose, and two of them fell off the truck and landed on the street. Three others hadsloshed forward and were dripping all over the back of the truck. Magnolia Boulevard had suddenly become the largest outdoor bathroom in Gainesboro.
    Every bit of traffic behind the truck was delayed. Every bit, including the gray Plymouth.
    â€œWell, boss,” Edie said, “we’ll make it home by 3:15 after all. Mary Jane’s dragon needs some flowers, I think.”
    â€œSo do Magnolia Boulevard,” Sister Henderson said, chuckling.
    Andy said, “Listen, Yakots, I expected to outsmart those crooks, not outhouse them, for God’s sake.”
    â€œWell, Andy,” Edie answered, “we don’t have time for any dragons except Mary Jane’s today.”
    â€œYou be right, Andrew,” Sister Henderson said. “You be very right. Miz Yakots do unnerstan’ dragons.”

C HAPTER N INE
    E die wanted to have Mary Jane’s dragon finished—stuffed and ready—on the Friday before the wedding. By Thursday there was still work to be done, but they had to take time out again. Andy had asked Edie if she were going to use foam rubber or dacron to stuff the dragon, and Edie had replied, “Not a wedding-gift pillow. They’re stuffed with rice, some laurel for smell and a penny for luck.”
    â€œIf she doesn’t decorate her sofa with it, she can feed it to the birds.”
    â€œOh, I hope not,” Edie said. ‘They can get copper poisoning from the penny, I think. Maybe. Maybe birds don’t.”
    Sister Henderson was waiting on the corner of Rutgers and Magnolia Boulevard, the very intersection where the Port-A-Let van had pulled in back of them the week before. Sister flagged them down with her umbrella. She scooted into the back seat and said, “Best go to Brother Folk’s place first. He say that he gone haf to carry his auntie to the throat doctor ‘long ‘bout now. Best westart with him and run the run backward this week.”
    â€œBut, Sister Henderson,” Edie protested, “that’s so roundabout, and we have to finish the needlepointing before we can do the stuffing.”
    â€œWon’ take too much extra time, an’ doin’ it this-away may jus’ save me from doin’ lotsa time later. Nex’ week, I figgers we be back to normalcy. It’s in the springtime that the Devil rise wit’ the sap. It happen every year.”
    After they finished their duly appointed (backward) rounds, they headed toward Brother Banks’s house. As Edie slowed down and signaled that she was about to make the right-hand turn onto the dirt road that led to Banks’s house, Andy spotted a car coming toward them. It wasn’t Brother Maytag’s. It was the gray Plymouth. As the car passed theirs, he saw two men. The man beside the driver rubbernecked to see into Edie’s car as they passed. Edie was concentrating on making her turn and seemed not to notice.
    Andy was convinced that the car was the one which had followed them the week before (the Devil’s car). He wondered if Sister Henderson had noticed it. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t want to