The movie was so exciting that Tommy forgot about the woods. Sure enough, the Blue Phantom escaped! He reached up high over his head and grabbed a chain that was just hanging there. With his hands still tied up he swung his body back and forth so that he just missed going into the vat of hot oil. Instead, he flew right into the Hawk. The Hawk lay there stunned. Then the Phantom kicked one of the bad guys and knocked him over too. Quickly he put his hands into the fire under the vat, and burned off his ropes. He didn’t even burn his arms! Before the other guys could get him he had escaped, right out of the warehouse doors. He did the Phantom scream that he did when he won a fight. It sent shivers down Tommy’s back, and he was glad that the Blue Phantom was a good guy.
After the cartoons and the double feature, they were on their way home, contented to know the Blue Phantom was okay and that they’d see another episode of the serial the next week.
They started to talk about the woods again, and the meteor.
“How are we ever going to find out?” asked Eddy.
“I don’t know.” Tommy commanded. “Keep asking your uncle questions, James. Try to get him to tell you about any weird things he’s heard about.”
“Gary. When you talk to Mrs. Reed again ask her if she knows where the sheriff is now. Maybe he’s dead already, he sure must be old.
If he’s not dead, then it should be easy to get him to talk, old people love to talk.”
“I can hang around Mr. Graham’s store a little bit. He won’t mind. He lets me dust his shelves sometimes after school, so he won’t think anything’s funny,” said Sammy.
“Good, said Tommy. Tomorrow’s Sunday. We’ll have to go to Sunday School and have our Sunday dinner. Let’s see what else we can find out today.
Chapter 5
The next day was quiet. Usually the guys stuck around their houses after church or went somewhere with their families. Tommy’s parents chose to do a bit of housework and rest.
Tommy was given some chores too. When he finally finished cleaning his room. He took a book out of the window. He had put it there to hold the window up so some fresh air could come in. The book was called Gravity Buster. He opened it up and read the first line.
“Right now I’m in study hall.”
Wow! He thought. That’s a good idea. I can go to the library and ask the librarian where would be a good place to look for the history of the towns around the forest. She wouldn’t get suspicious, and I might find something out.
He got the dog ready for his walk. Sparky knew what was coming. He barked and whined and got in Tommy’s way. Tommy knew a good place to tie Sparky while he was in the library. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Cagney played chess on the table in the park right beside it. They both liked Sparky. Every time they saw Tommy walking the dog they called him over and patted Sparky’s soft fur. He was sure that if he tied the dog to their picnic table they would keep an eye on him for a while. They sat at the same table every day for hours. If it wasn’t raining, he knew they’d be there.
Tommy went to the cupboard and got out some special treats for the old men to give to Sparky while they watched him. His mom had bought a new folding doggy cup. He’d bring that and a bottle of water. He could put them and the treats in his backpack. He’d take the dog for a good run before he hit the library. Sparky would be tired, so he would be good. He will probably sleep while I’m in the library. He thought. He wouldn’t want those two old guys to have any trouble with the dog.
“Mom, I’m taking Sparky out!” he announced.
He didn’t have to say it twice. That dog was upstairs sleeping, but suddenly he tore down the stairs and went for his leash that was on the table by the door. He pulled it off the table, and stood there with it in his mouth before Tommy’s mom even had time to answer.
“That’s great, honey. Thank you.”
“Oh, you silly dog, you got it all slobbery again!” said Tommy. He made a face and wiped his hands on his pants.
They went out and Tommy carefully locked the door. He and Sparky headed down the street.
They went past Mrs. Pearson’s house. If she was home she might be on her porch. Maybe she would call him and have him sit with her for a few minutes. She really liked Sparky. Maybe she would remember something about when the army men put up signs to keep people out.
Tommy was disappointed to see that she wasn’t home. He could tell because if she was out she took the cushion off of her lawn swing.
He remembered her saying many times:
“You never know when we’ll have a little shower.” she said. I don’t want my cushion ruined.”
“Okay Sparky. Let’s go see if somebody is hanging around the schoolyard.”
He let Sparky off his leash at the edge of the playground near the back fence. Usually the dog was good, and he just ran around real fast smelling everything. Tommy looked around. He saw Rose sitting on a swing. She was in his class, and he knew she liked the dog. He went over to the monkey bars to be closer to her and pretend that he wanted to work out. He didn’t know what to say to her, but he didn’t need to worry, because she talked first.
Rose was new at school. She was okay for a girl. She was pretty. All the guys in the class pretended that they thought she was yucky, but Tommy didn’t. She had long brown hair that looked soft. Her eyes were big, and gray. He knew because she sat beside him at school, and when she was busy doing her work sometimes he looked at her for a while. She was nice, too. Even though Tommy and his friends stayed away from girls he was happy to be near her.
“Hi Tommy. I don’t see you out much without your friends.”
“Yeah! But on Sundays I’ve got other things to do, like walking this dog”.
“He sure looks like he’s having fun.”
“Yea, he’s always smelling stuff. Too bad you don’t have a dog. They’re a lot of fun.”
She stopped swinging, and put her head down for a minute.” We did have a dog at our old house, but now we can’t have one.” She went on. “My mother’s allergic to dogs and cats and horses and almost every animal. She sneezes and coughs. When an animal is in our house she always seems to have a bad cold, so we can’t have any more pets.”
Tommy was sorry that he had said that to her. “I can share Sparky if you want. You can come with me sometimes when I walk him, and you can pet him anytime you want to.”
That made Rose so happy that she gave him a big smile. She reached out to pet the dog who was hanging around her now that she wasn’t swinging. She scratched his head. Sparky always wanted people to do that. He sat down in front of her so that she wouldn’t stop. She found a good spot to scratch, and Sparky’s head went back and his back leg started to wiggle a lot. She sure knew how to pet a dog!
“You’re walking him now, aren’t you? Can I come too?” she asked.
Tommy didn’t mean now, but he decided not to say that. He could do some investigation later. “Okay, he said. “Let’s go. “They left, following the dog across the playground. When they got to the sidewalk, Tommy got hold of Sparky and put his leash back on. He was surprised because Rose kept up good, for a girl. Sparky pulled really hard whenever he led the way.
When they got to the spot where the path to the woods started, Tommy stopped.
“This is as far as I’m going today. I have to do some things. and go home for supper. Maybe I’ll see you at school tomorrow.
Bye.” She said. “I had a good time today. I haven’t made many friends here yet.”
He didn’t want to tell the guys about her walking with him. but he