The Scavengers (28 page)

I know this story isn’t over. I know that the Fat Man and Lettuce Face aren’t going to let this thing be forever. There are battles ahead that will make the GreyDevils look like two kids tickling each other. And there are so many unanswered questions: How is CornVivia getting the whole world hooked on URCorn? Are they dropping Activax from helicopters or putting it in the water? Where did the GreyDevils come from? What
are
the GreyDevils? Do the Juice Cruisers do more than just make PartsWash? And what about the people UnderBubble? I’ve still never been under and seen anything other than the inside of a white room and the top of one puny little dome. What’s really going on in there? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to bet it’s not all volleyball and ice cream cones.

Believe it or not, it was the Fat Man who helped me decide to return to Skullduggery Ridge.

It happened when Dad was giving his speech there right at the end, and the Fat Man grabbed Porky Pig like he was going to smash the glass, then didn’t. In that moment I realized it wasn’t the glass the Fat Man was protecting, it was that pig. For some reason he couldn’t explain, the Fat Man liked things from the past. Things that weren’t all based on fancy science and mystery. Things that gave him feelings that money and power couldn’t. And somewhere deep inside me I realized I felt the same way about Toad and Arlinda and Hoot Holler and Skullduggery Ridge. More than safety, more than health, more than long life, I wanted a
full
life. A
free
life. And if that meant tearing apart old cars and carrying a ToothClub and doing battle with solar bears and getting knocked around by GreyDevils now and then, well, I guess I think it’s worth it. “
I’d rather suit my foot / Than save my boot
,” wrote Emily Dickinson, and I think that’s what I’m trying to say.

I look at the book of poems on my lap, and the decrepit old station wagon beneath me and the countryside spread out before me.

This.

This
is Ford Falcon’s perfect world.

“Cock-a-doodle . . .
aaack-kack-kack-kack
!”

Did I say
perfect
?

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

MOM, FOR TEACHING ME TO READ AND FILLING MY WORLD WITH
books. Dad, for raising us in a quiet country nonetheless resonant with stories and storytellers. The Chetek Library, where I went for stories when I was young. Tom and Arlene, for the real-world example. Brad and Donna, for the topography. Christopher Moore, for that note. Alison Callahan, from way back. Alissa, for managing. Tara, for patience and encouragement beyond reason. Chris H, Lisa B, Dan K, Blakeley, Matt B, Dave E, and Karen R, for grown-up help. JDV and Kyle, for spinning the compass. Dan, Lisa, Katie, and all CB staff. Colorado family, you are always a part of our story.

That little banty rooster who never could quite crow.

Above all, for enduring the rough-draft me in every way, every day: My wife and daughters.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MICHAEL PERRY
is a humorist and author of the adult bestselling memoirs
Population: 485, Truck: A Love Story, Coop,
and
Visiting Tom.
This is his first novel for children. Michael lives in rural Wisconsin with his wife and two daughters. You can visit him online and read his blog at www.sneezingcow.com.

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CREDITS

Cover art © 2014 by Eric Deschamps

Cover design by Alison Klapthor

COPYRIGHT

The Scavengers

Copyright © 2014 by Michael Perry

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Perry, Michael, date

  The scavengers / Michael Perry.

      pages  cm

  Summary: With a neighbor’s help, twelve-year-old Ford Falcon learns to survive in the harsh world outside the Bubble Cities by scavenging for items to use or trade—skills she needs when her parents unexpectedly go missing.

  ISBN 978-0-06-202616-3 (hardback)

  EPUB Edition JULY 2014 ISBN 9780062239099

  [1. Survival—Fiction. 2. Family life—Fiction. 3. Ragpickers—Fiction. 4. Missing persons—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.]  I. Title.

PZ7.P43538Sc 2014

2014001878

[Fic]—dc23

CIP

AC

14  15  16  17  18    CG/RRDH    10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

FIRST EDITION