Nobody Knows Your Secret

65

Elwin Dollie listened for any sign of the suspect. He had given chase, running as fast as he could down the path that Bill and the addict had taken. But his foot had become entangled in a root, and Elwin had tumbled forward on his face. It was a hard fall. He couldn't be sure he had not lost consciousness.

Elwin's nose throbbed. He hoped he hadn't broken it on the uneven paving of the path. This place was a jungle of decay and overgrowth. He thought he heard something near the roller coaster. Elwin ran toward it.

He was winded from the fall and breathing through his mouth because his nose had started to bleed. He stopped to catch his breath.

There was evidence of broken twigs and trampled grass near a low spot where the old roller coaster almost touched the ground. The blackness underneath the rotting wooden hulk looked far from friendly.

"Shoot," Elwin muttered, "there's probably a million snakes under that thing."

Elwin hated snakes. He hated lawbreakers more. Wiping his bloody nose on his shirt sleeve, Elwin spat on the ground. It was blood-tinged. The blood from his nose was draining down his throat. Elwin swallowed hard. He looked closely at the opening underneath the coaster, straining to see if any snakes lay coiled nearby.

"Shoot," he said, once more.

He dove into the blackness. Elwin batted at the cobwebs and spider webs that hung down in front of him. The air underneath the coaster had a wet, rotten smell. The dead leaves slid beneath the soles of his shoes. Elwin stumbled under the coaster, glad for the sun on the other side.

He looked left and right, trying to see a broken twig, a piece of cloth, anything that would direct him to the sheriff. The whole area was a tangle of vines and poison oak. Elwin was faced with a choice. He could charge into the snarl ahead or take a less overgrown route to his right.

Elwin bolted east. He ran about 150 yards, coming out at what was once a fairy tale house called Mrs. Oblopolopotros.

The crumbling structure now reminded Elwin of his worst nightmare. Pickets that once stood tall and vertical were leaning and weathered. A wet ditch filled with trash and debris trailed across the doorway. Vines covering the fairy house looked as if the house itself was fertilizing them. They were tremendous, trailing and intertwining, and poking out of the windows of the collapsing house.

Here was fun turned to insanity.

Elwin stood in front of the house, trying to decide whether or not to go in. No birds sang. The wind was deathly still. The sun slid behind a cloud. Daylight blinked from sunny yellow to blue-gray. Elwin heard his heart beating in his ears.

"El!" Bill called out.

Elwin followed the sound of Bill's voice.

He ran past the Ferris wheel and saw Bill standing over the boy. The youth was cuffed but cursing.

"How'd you collar 'im?" Elwin asked.

"I didn't have to," Bill said. "He ran right into a hole over there."

Bill pointed to a tangle of weeds on his left.

"It's some kind of drainage pit, I guess," Bill said. "It's shallow but deep enough to trip up 'im up. I think the buzzard broke his ankle."

"That doesn't usually stop them," Elwin said.

"Hit his head on a rock, too. Knocked himself right out."

"How we gonna get him outta here?" Elwin asked.

"You got me," Bill said. "I was just before seein' if we had service out here. Grab your cell, and see if you can call up EMS."

It took several hours, but the rescue team arrived, loading the youth on a stretcher. He was carried out of MEGA Park and sent to the hospital.

Maury and Hadley and Beanie were standing beside the giant clown when Bill and Elwin finally exited the park. Maury fell on Bill's neck.

"Elwin Dollie," Beanie said, "they takin' you to the hospital, too?"

"Yes, you are going, Elwin," Bill said. "Don't even start to say you're not."

"Elwin!" Maury said. "Are you all right?"

"I'm all right," Elwin said.

"Looks like that Barrymore profile might be ruined, Elwin," Hadley said.

"Bill," Maury said, "are you hurt?"

"No," Bill said. "I look like somethin' the cat drug home, but it's nothin' that a good hot bath won't fix."

"Hadley phoned me," Maury said. "I've been on pins and needles all afternoon."

"Ruth's thinking of pinning a medal on Sprat's chest," Hadley said. "Sprat's the goose that saved me."

"She needs to," said Bill. "Of all the hair-brained things, Hadley, what were you thinking showing up like that?"

"I wasn't thinking," Hadley said.

"Well, this time your curiosity almost got you killed," Bill said.

"I know," said Hadley. "Thank the good Lord for an angry goose."

"Is that the killer guard goose you told me about, honey?" Bill asked Maury.

"One in the same," said Maury. "But after today, I think even I have become one of that crazy bird's fans."

"Can I have a medal, too?" Beanie asked.

"We'll get you one just like Sprat's, Bean," Hadley said.

"Medals for a goose and a bean," Beanie said. "Or a bean and a goose."

"Either way you want it, Bean," Hadley said. "I think it's time we all go home."

"Amen," said Maury.

"Amen," said Beanie.