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with nothing to do but roll the thing up to the front of the store and get in line to buy it.
    But then I saw—or smelled, really—who was ahead of me. It was that crazy old guy who’d tried to take me down the day before at the dump. I started to pull back, but he jerked his head up all of a sudden and saw me.
    He looked me over for a minute, and then his eyes got narrow and he moved in really close. “You’re one of them aliens, ain’t you?” he said, breathing on me with his dead-fish breath. “I’ve seen your kind falling from your spaceships into the lake at night.” His claw-hand came up and gripped my arm, hard. “I’m on to you, space man.”
    â€œCarl!” Gram’s voice spoke up behind me and he backed away fast, turning to throw a bunch of money onto the counter and grabbing up a couple of big bags. Then he gave me one last dirty look and took off out the door.
    I wondered if he’d just paid for his stuff with the same money I’d seen Gram slipping him the day before; he didn’t smell like somebody who held down a regular nine-to-five job.
    Gram wasn’t looking so happy anymore. I paid and we wheeled the bike outside. And the whole time, I kept thinking how ticked I was at Crazy Carl. I mean, it wasn’t that I cared about him hating on me or anything, but I was feeling really bad that he’d managed to dump all over Gram’s good mood.
    She didn’t say anything until I’d finished loading the bike into the back of the truck. “I’m not sure what to tell you about Carl, Travis. He wasn’t always like this.”
    She paused and rubbed her hand along a scratch in the truck’s paint. “Your father was just a little boy when your grandfather died in the car accident.” She reached down and rubbed her leg. “The same accident where I acquired this limp. Carl was a buddy of your grandfather’s, and he stepped in and took on a fatherly role with John, while I was recovering and afterward. I was so grateful for that—John was a boy who really needed a good man in his life, and Carl was certainly there for him when he was a little guy. He took him fishing and later hunting, taught him something about construction. Then, as your father got older, it was clear Carl was having some problems—but things really went downhill for him after John disappeared.”
    She looked over at the giant fish statue and shook her head. “In all these years, whatever his problems, I’ve never known Carl to hurt a flea. I can’t imagine why he’s taken such a dislike to you. Maybe you remind him too much of your father and it’s stirred up hard memories for him. I guess you should stay out of his way as much as you can.”
    Like that wasn’t already my plan.
    But I was tired of talking about Crazy Carl, and I really wanted to put the happy-birthday look back onto Gram’s face. So I gestured at the bike. “Thank you. It’s a really great bike. I love it.”
    And there she went, smiling this big face-splitter. Then we both just stood there looking at each other while the thank-you-hug moment passed us by, because even when I saw her when I was little, she was never a start-it-off hugger. Back then, I had always hugged first and it always seemed to take her by surprise. Maybe I should have gone ahead and tried it again now, but I had given up on hugging altogether a while back.
    Gram’s watch alarm suddenly chirped, and we both jumped a little. “Oh, I said we’d be at the church by now. Travis, would you run across the street to the grocery store? Go to the deli counter and tell them you’re picking up the big order for the church fundraiser.” She handed me another wad of cash. “I’ll go pick up the order at the bakery and meet you here at the truck.”
    Of course, that wasn’t as easy as it sounded, because Crazy Carl had worked his way