Boo Who Read Free Page A

WolfeBoone, who has decided he no longer feels responsible for what happens to our beloved town, we will no longer be known as we were before. But do not fear!” She raised her hand over her head and pointed a knobby index finger skyward. A few people looked up, thinking she was pointing at something. “We will be known! Skary, Indiana, will not be a nothing town with nobody people. We will not sink back into obscurity. Do you hear me? We will continue to be famous. I will see to that.”
    “How?” came a voice near the back.
    “I have already made a way. Because, my friends, I am smart and determined. And I always have a plan.” She smiled and blinked slowly like the town matron that she was.
    “Well, if were not known for Boo, who will we be known for?” asked another voice.
    “First of all, let’s kill the pet names, shall we? Wolfe Boone no longer cares about this town, and saying his name with affection, like he means something to us, is just a sad reminder of what he’s done. Secondly, you ask, what shall we be known for? Well, that is my surprise. That is why I am here. To make this very special announcement. From this day forth, Skary, Indiana’s claim to fame will come from … drumroll, please.
    The crowd exchanged glances, and then two or three people timidly beat their hands against their knees.
    “Cats!”
Missy closed her eyes, anticipating cheers from the crowd. Instead she heard at least one hiccup and then mumbling. She opened her eyes to find the crowd looking at one another. “I
said … cats!”
But still, enthusiasm came only in the form of sporadic hiccuping.
    Then someone said, “I don’t get it.”
    “What’s not to get?” she asked, her eyes narrowing on a younger man who looked like a farmer.
    “I don’t get how cats tie into the name Skary. I mean, it worked with Boo … Wolfe, I mean … because he wrote scary novels and it was this great play-on-words thing. But why would anybody come to Indiana to see a town full of cats?”
    “Became,
” she said wistfully, “we offer them incentive. We have a theme. All our stores cater to the cat lover. I’ve got more ideas than Icould possibly share today, but I’m telling you this could work. We’ve got more cats in this town than we know what to do with. Why not use it to our advantage?”
    But the crowd sat silent, staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. For the first time in all her life, Missy Peeple felt inferior. But only for a fleeting moment. Then she said, “Well, let’s have a show of hands of who thinks this would be a good direction to take for our little town?”
    One person raised his hand, and Missy saw he was their resident homeless person, Mac something-or-other, who tended to hang around Skary near the holidays because he knew people were generous when they felt guilty for just having spent two hundred dollars on Christmas lights for their home.
    “Meeting adjourned,” Missy spat, hobbled down from the platform, and exited through a side door. Outside the day was bright. The eve of Christmas Eve. The streets bustled with last-minute shoppers, darting in and out of stores at a steady pace. Nobody noticed her. They were too busy with their own pathetic lives.
    Missy passed by Sbooky’s, now only Booky’s. The
S
had been taken down four days after Thanksgiving, but you could still see where it had once been. The Haunted Mansion restaurant was now known only as The Mansion. The little town that had rested in the comfort of its fame now sat on the brink of extinction. Every Christmas before, these streets had been filled with tourists. Now only townspeople.
    Their faces even seemed cheery. Why did everyone get cheery around Christmas? What was there to cheer about? Annoying lights. Carolers who couldn’t carry a tune. Kids wiping their snotty noses while they whined about what kinds of toys they wanted even though they had more things to do than the prime minister of England.
    A jovial woman offered a smile