It's a Little Haywire Read Free

month? I mean, what are they
going to do for all that time? Won’t they get bored?
    Maybe they’ll get sick of each
other. Yeah, and Ar-throw-up won’t move into our condo with us after all. He can just
drive away in his fancy schmancy two-seater car and never come
back.
    That way, maybe Dad would come home.
    I’m making myself sick with all
this sissy thinking. Mom’s not going to get bored of Ar-throw-up and Dad’s not coming
home. He’s too busy with his really
important job . So busy, I couldn’t even go live with
him for a month.
    Man, my life sucks. One month of Haywire
Heck and then back to Suckage in Seattle, aka, seventh grade. What
is there to look forward to, I ask?
    My morbid line of thinking is
interrupted by the train whistle. I almost sprint back to the
house, when I remember that the trains don’t run through Haywire
anymore.
    But I hear the tooting sound again. It
sounds just like a train whistle.
    I strain my ears. There it is again. And
again. Something is coming from down the track.
    The sun has disappeared behind the hills
and the sky is that pink smoky gray color that girls seem to really
like. Dusk.
    And some kind of fog? Weird. I stare
hard not believing what I’m seeing. The fog rolls and twists like a
big snake made of white cotton candy. It breaks into sections like
a string of sausage, staying on the tracks as if it were an actual
train.
    I admit, I’m a little freaked out, but I
can’t peel my bugging-out eyes away.
    The whistle blows again and I dare to
look around. Does anyone else hear it? I half expect Gramps to come
bounding out the door.
    Actually, I really, really wish he
would. Maybe I should just go back to the house. But my legs won’t
move. It’s like I’m paralyzed!
    The foggy snake/sausage thing draws
closer. My heart is thumping like a banging drum, but I can still
hear the whistle.
    I squint my eyes, trying to make it out.
It’s kind of like when you watch the clouds move and you can pick
out different images. Rabbits and things.
    This one is a train. Except it isn’t
daytime and it’s not in the sky.
    And, man oh man, it’s barreling towards
me! My legs won’t move and I think I’m going to pass out. At least
it’s staying on the tracks, which are on the other side of the
creek.
    It shoots by, and I can almost hear a
chug, chug, chug.
    Then, when the “caboose” approaches, an
enormous being springs out of the “window”. I’m so freaked out I
slide off the log and fall hard onto my butt. I think I’m even
whimpering.
     
    The thing develops a face and its eyes
look straight at me. Two massive sheets spring from its back like
wings.
    Then it raises its arm
and...salutes?
    And disappears into thin air.
    I spring to my feet and flee to the
house. My heart feels like it’s the size of a basketball, and
someone’s bouncing it in a big gym.
    I blast into the house searching for
Gramps. The door slams behind me, but I can’t get my breath to call
out.
    Gramps is in the living room, stretched
out on the recliner. The TV is too loud, blaring out the news.
Gramps’ eyes are shut and his mouth is a gaping hole. He fills the
room with a loud snore.
    I don’t have the heart to wake him.
Besides, what would I tell him? I just saw a ghost train?
    And did I even...? I’m no longer sure.
The whole thing’s pretty crazy. I go back outside and peek around
the corner of the house. Nothing but darkness.
    It has been a hard day and I am pretty exhausted.
    Maybe I just imagined it.
    Maybe.

CHAPTER THREE
    Owen True – The Overdressed
     
     
    UGH, I THINK MY BLADDER’S going to
burst. I quickly throw on a t-shirt and head (very carefully) down
the steps. In my boxers. Good thing there aren’t any girls
around.
    Did I mention it’s uncomfortable?
Kind of like torture? Did I also mention the bathroom is in
the basement ? That’s two flights away.
    I tip-toe through the kitchen, the mud
room, and down the cement stairs that lead to the “dungeon”.
    The cold cement