‘Little Mountain Side,’ she said.
‘Where?’
‘It’s in the Sequoia Mountains, wanna come?’
‘Why would I wanna go to the Sequoia Mountains?’
‘Are you kidding? The Sequoia Mountains are a UFO hotspot,’ said Ruby. ‘I’m hoping to spot one on my way through.’
‘You’re looking for unidentified flying objects?’
‘Mushrooms,’ called Ruby.
‘Same to you,’ shouted Clancy.
Somehow Lenny Rivers got the dying guy to the hospital in Ridgepoint before the dying guy actually died …
… the old man was relieved, not because he thought the fellow had a hope in Christmas of seeing Christmas, but because he didn’t want to see it happen. It was too sad, the idea that this Morgan Loveday could just pass away without a friend to hold his hand, die all alone on a deserted road or in the back of some stranger’s truck. Well, it was too tragic to contemplate.
It hadn’t been straightforward getting to the hospital. There had been some kind of incident on Pine Forest Pass, a cordoned-off road which Lenny had ignored – he’d had no choice.
Drive on, he thought, and have a chance of delivering a man with a pulse.
Turn back and he might as well have driven straight to the undertakers.
When Lenny Rivers handed him over to the ER team, Morgan Loveday was still breathing, but who knew for how long? Lenny gave his number to the triage nurse.
‘Would you mind calling me?’ he asked. ‘When he … you know, when … if … well, call me, his folks might want to speak to the guy that found him.’
‘Of course,’ said the nurse. ‘I promise I’ll call you when the time comes.’
DESPITE HIS RESISTANCE, Clancy Crew did join Ruby on her mission to find mushrooms. It took her no more than ten minutes of persuading before he reluctantly agreed. It took a lot longer than that to reach Little Mountain Side, but the journey was not the tedious experience Clancy had expected. As the bus wound up high into the Sequoia Mountains, the scenery became more and more spectacular, the great red trees rising from the rock. As the woodland thinned, they were confronted by staggering views to the south and west and far away in the distance one could just about see the ocean.
When at last the bus pulled up in Little Mountain Side there was no missing the perfect prettiness of the town either, perched high up there on the south side of the mountain, the sun slanting through the trees. As they stepped off the bus, Ruby and Clancy breathed in the mountain air; it was pretty good.
‘Sure doesn’t smell like Twinford,’ said Clancy.
‘You can almost taste the trees,’ said Ruby.
By the side of the road was a sign that read:
FRIENDLIEST TOWN IN THE NORTH- WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND ‘FREE OF SERIOUS CRIME’ SINCE 1951.
‘That’s reassuring,’ said Ruby.
It didn’t take long to find Daily Supplies.
The man behind the counter looked somehow familiar, but Ruby couldn’t place him. She decided that he probably just had one of those faces, even-featured, nice looking, a friendly kind of appearance (at least what she could see of it under the beard), older than her dad and perhaps a tad taller.
He waved at them as they walked in, but continued chatting to a customer at the counter and ringing up groceries.
Ruby and Clancy checked out the shelves while they waited. They were stocked with a lot of interesting and unusual things. However, they had no luck finding the maitake mushrooms.
The customer finally paid and exited the shop, and Clancy and Ruby walked up to the counter.
She looked at the storekeeper and then figured it out.
‘Oh, I got it.’
‘Got what?’ asked the storekeeper.
‘Where I saw you before,’ said Ruby.
‘You’ve seen me before?’
‘Yeah, in the bookstore.’
‘In Mountain Books?’ he asked, pointing in the direction of the bookstore across the street.
‘Ray Penny’s bookstore,’ said Ruby, ‘in Twinford – you were reading a book on rare fungi. I mean you must have read the entire book while you were there.’
‘It was a cold day and I was waiting for my truck to be fixed,’ he said.
‘You often in Twinford?’ asked Ruby.
‘Rarely.’
‘You ever been to Penny’s before?’
‘Never,’ said the guy. ‘At least, not that I recall.’ He paused. ‘You ask a lot of questions,’ he said. He looked at Clancy. ‘She always this curious, your friend here?’
‘Curious is a nice word for what she is,’ said Clancy.
The guy smiled at that.
The bell above the door jangled and a burly man strode in, a shock-haired baby on his back.
‘Hey, Mo,’ said the man. ‘How’s the old leg doing?’
‘Limping a bit in this cold weather. You know how it is.’
‘You got those Brazilian beans in yet?’
The storekeeper reached behind him and took a package from one of the shelves and stood it on the counter top. ‘Anything else for you Sven?’
The man took out a newspaper. ‘Seven down,’ he said. ‘Mix cantaloupe citrus.’
The storekeeper frowned. ‘How many letters?’
‘Five.’
‘I’ll give it some thought.’
‘Thanks,’ said the guy.
‘Anything besides the beans?’
The man shook his head. ‘Just the coffee, that’ll do it.’
‘How are you there, Spike?’ The storekeeper directed this question at the baby and it gurgled and looked very pleased.
‘See you around, Mo,’ said the man as he turned to leave.
‘See you Sven, see you Spike, don’t be strangers.’
When they reached the door the storekeeper shouted, ‘Lemon! Anagram of melon, from cantaloupe.’
‘Of course! Can’t think how I missed it,’ called Sven.
The storekeeper turned to Ruby. ‘He’s a cryptic crossword nut,’ he explained. ‘So what can I help you with?’ he asked.
‘That’s your name?’ asked Ruby. ‘Mo?’
‘It’s what everyone calls me.’ He looked at her. ‘So what do they call you?’
‘Ruby,’ said Ruby.
The storekeeper shrugged. ‘I had you