Read On the Road to Mr. Mineo's for Free Online Page A

and down this road three times since yesterday, searching the cornfields and peach orchards. He had turned onto the far end of Main Street, past the dirt driveway that led to the cluster of ramshackle houses, past the Ropers’ farm, and into town. He had driven past the barbershop and the post office and the bank and Luther’s Chinese Takeout. He had even gone up past the Waffle House on Highway 14.
    But he had not found Sherman.
    He hadn’t told Ernie yet, but his aggravation was turning to worry.

 
    CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
    Stella Feels Sorry for Herself
    Stella watched as Levi and C.J. and Jiggs headed in one direction and Mutt in the other.
    She definitely smelled a rat. But she was hot and hungry and wanted to go home.
    By the time she and Gerald got back to Waxhaw Lane, the sun was starting to disappear behind the shiny white steeple of Rocky Creek Baptist Church. They went up to the garage roof to look for the pigeon, but he wasn’t there.
    So Stella went home to feel sorry for herself.
    She sat in the empty doghouse in her front yard. The doghouse had been empty when Stella’s family moved in, way back when she was a baby. She had asked and asked and asked if she could have a dog to live in the doghouse, but her parents always rolled their eyes and flapped their hands and then finally told her to stop asking.
    When she and Gerald were little, they used to pretend they were puppies living in the doghouse. They ate pretend dog food and scratched pretend fleas and barked at the neighbor’s cat when he sauntered across the yard.
    Stella had given up any smidgen of hope that she would ever have a dog. But maybe if she couldn’t have a dog, she could have a pigeon.
    She hugged her knees and sighed.
    Why did Levi have to mess everything up?
    And what about Mutt Raynard?
    Mutt Raynard was crazy.
    There was no telling what he was up to.
    She sat in the empty doghouse until dark and listened to her mother hollering for her from the front stoop. When she finally went inside, she had to go right to her room and say her prayers.
    She sat by the open window, feeling sorry for herself and whispering into the night.
    She sells seashells by the seashore.
    She sells seashells by the seashore.
    She sells seashells by the seashore.
    The words drifted through the screen and floated across the street and hovered under the streetlights, dancing with the moths. Then they swirled up into the starry sky, where a one-legged pigeon flew above the road on the outskirts of town.

 
    CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
    Little Brown Dog
    Ethel stared up at the water stain on the ceiling of the bedroom. She had told Amos about a hundred times to get up there on the roof and fix that leak.
    Amos snored beside her. The chirp of crickets drifted through the open window. The sweet scent of the honeysuckle that clung to the side of the screened porch swirled around the bedroom and mingled with the crisp, starched smell of the gingham curtains.
    Ethel tiptoed over to the window and peered out into the yard, looking for the one-legged pigeon and the little brown dog.
    That afternoon, while hanging the sheets on the clothesline, she had realized how much she was looking forward to seeing them.
    She waited by the window, hoping they would come.
    Amos snored and Ethel waited.
    Amos snored and Ethel waited.
    Suddenly, the silhouette of the pigeon appeared against the moonlit sky.
    It swooped in circles around the top of the barn and landed on the weathervane.
    Then it hopped onto the roof and disappeared through the opening under the eaves.
    Ethel squinted into the darkness, searching the yard.
    She waited and waited.
    Amos snored.
    The crickets chirped.
    The gingham curtains blew gently in the breeze.
    Ethel’s heart sank. Where was the little brown dog?
    The clock over the mantel in the dining room ticked away the minutes.
    Ethel’s disappointment began to grow.
    Then, just as she was about to give up and go back to bed, the dog