The Hobgoblin of the Redwoods (7 page)

BOOK: The Hobgoblin of the Redwoods
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Lucky was really howlin' now.

Danielle started to head outside, but we both grabbed an arm.

“Don't do it,” I said.

“It's all right,” Danielle said.

As she opened the front door, we all saw it at the same time. Lucky was laying on the porch. Dead.

“Lucky,” Sara cried.

Danielle pushed forward and knelt before her dog.

Suddenly, from out in the darkness, another wolf-dog came prancing forward. It whined and wagged its tail.

I was confused. So was Sara.

The only one who wasn't confused was Danielle.

“This is Sparky,” Danielle said. “It's Mr. Hatfield's dog. And he's hurt really bad, but he's alive.”

She picked up the injured dog and hurried to her pickup. I opened the door for her, and she slid it onto the front seat.

Danielle got in and started the truck. “Ben,” she said to me, very serious this time. “You two stay here. Go in and call Mr. Hatfield. Tell him his dog is hurt and to meet me in Orick at the vet.”

I nodded quickly and ran to the house as she drove off down the driveway. This time, I did exactly what she told me.

After I had called Mr. Hatfield, I sat with Sara in front of the fire, putting a small piece of wood on every now and then.

It was a long time before either of us moved or said a thing. From time to time we would hear Lucky barking at the bear in the tree.

But we were both dead tired, so we fell asleep.

The barking woke us.

22

Reluctantly, I went to the door.

It was Danielle with Lucky.

“Is Mr. Hatfield's dog okay?” I asked her.

She came in with Lucky and locked the door behind her. Then she added some more wood to the fire before taking a seat on the floor.

“Sparky will be fine,” she said. “The vet stitched up a hole on her shoulder. She'll have to stay there overnight, though. The vet couldn't figure out what kind of wound it was.”

I took a seat down on the floor, and Sara sat at my side.

“We know,” I said. “The Hobgoblin threw a spear at her. She helped us escape, and then she got hurt because of us.”

I wasn't sure if Danielle believed us.

Finally, she said to us, “That's just a story, you know. Maybe I should have never told you.”

Sara looked like she wanted to argue the point, but I nudged her in the side.

Sometimes it's best to let people think what they want to think. Sometimes the truth is too hard to believe. We had told the truth. What more could we do?

We spent the rest of the summer without T.V. or video games or the computer. And do you know what? We really didn't miss it all that much.

We spent a lot of time reading. Lucky became our best friend.

And we never wandered into the Redwoods alone the entire summer.

BOOK: The Hobgoblin of the Redwoods
7.36Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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