Read Culpepper's Cannon for Free Online

giggled. Amos reached down to pick his jaw up off the ground.
    â€œShe must have been looking for me when I went through the hole,” he whispered to himself. “She must have seen how Idid it and gone through after me. She must really love me if she’s willing to travel through time to be with me.” Melissa waved, and he raised his hand to wave back. His hand was shaking so hard, he didn’t have to wave it. It waved itself.
All these years, all this time she’s loved me
.
    â€œBe cool now,” he said to himself, “just be cool. They like it when you’re cool.” He lowered his hand and put on his cool expression. Melissa looked at him and said something to her friend that he didn’t hear.
    â€œAll right, you’re cool,” he said, as if he were trying to convince himself. “Now go over and talk to her.” He didn’t know what he would say. He had never spoken to her before, and Melissa had only said six words to him in his whole life. He had been standing next to her in the lunch line at school, and she had turned to him and said, “Hey, you’re standing on my foot.”
    Now Amos’s shoes were untied, and when he tried to take a step forward, he found that he was standing on his shoelaces. He started falling down.
Great
, he had time to think—
she finally loves me, and
I’m going to make a complete dork out of myself
.
    He fell forward into an elderly woman who shrieked and started beating him with her parasol. He took a step back and raised his arms to fend off the blows. He took another step back, and on the third step back his heel caught on a mooring line, and he fell off the pier head over heels into the water.
    Dork
, he thought—
classic dork
. Just before his head went under, he saw, upside down, the aft part of the
Merrimack
. There was a white piece of notebook paper wedged between two plates of armor.
    The water was cold. He came up sputtering, with dirt and mud running from his hair into his eyes. Two overhand reaches brought him to the
Merrimack
. As he reached for the gunwale, strong hands grabbed his shoulders and started to pull him up. He clawed the paper note and shoved it into his pocket before they had him on the deck.
    â€œYou all right, son?” A sailor with sunburnedskin and creases around his eyes was looking at him.
    â€œYeah, I’m fine. I just tripped.”
    â€œI’ll say you did.” The ship had stopped and was slowly backing up toward the pier. Amos looked at the sailor, then at the people in the crowd. Some where laughing, and some looked concerned. Melissa looked concerned.
    â€œWhere’d you get these funny clothes, son?” the sailor asked.
    â€œI got them … my mom made them.”
    â€œShe’s not much for making clothes, is she?” They were at the pier now, and the sailor helped him off the ship. “Tell your mom to get you some dry, less funny clothes,” he said.
    â€œI will.”
    â€œGood.” The sailor waved toward the iron tent, and the boat started back out to the bay. The crowd cheered again, and the band started playing.
    Amos stood shivering and watched the
Merrimack
move away from the pier. He remembered the note and reached into hispocket. He felt a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around he saw Melissa.
    â€œLand sakes,” Melissa said, “are you all right?”
    â€œFine. A little cold.” He stood there shivering and watched a puddle form around his feet. “Melissa, why did you follow me?”
    â€œFollow you?” She looked puzzled.
    â€œDo you know where the time hole is? I can’t remember. If you do, we’ve got to find Dunc and—”
    â€œYou are a strange boy, aren’t you? I just don’t know what you are talking about.”
    â€œMelissa, we don’t have time for this. We—”
    â€œMelissa? Who is this Melissa?”
    â€œAren’t you