Project Read Free

firstperson I run across who will actually talk to me is a complete wacko and carries a monkey around on her back.” He turned and stalked off in the direction of town.
    “Wait!” Maria ran after him.
    Jim stopped and turned around. “What?”
    “You wouldn’t want to play catch, would you, Jim Stanton?”
    “Did you say catch, like in baseball?”
    Maria nodded. “That is, if you scientist types aren’t too wimpy to throw a ball.”
    Jim smiled in spite of himself. “You just lead the way.”

C HAPTER 5
    Maria led him over the next ridge and down into a lush green valley. A weathered log cabin with a rickety old truck parked in front of it sat in the shadows of the tall pine trees.
    As they approached the house, Maria called out, “It’s me, Uncle Max. I brought a friend.”
    She whispered to Jim, “You have to do that. He doesn’t see so good anymore and he’s liable to shoot first and ask questions later.”
    Jim stared at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
    Maria didn’t answer.
    A gruff voice boomed at them. “Who’s that with you?”
    Maria glanced at Jim with a twinkle in her eye. “I found a flatlander down by the pond.”
    “What?” the voice barked. A big man with a scraggly gray beard limped out onto the wooden porch. He leaned on a gnarled walking stick. “You know better than to bring his kind up here. You’re just asking for trouble.”
    Maria let Sammy go and stepped up on the porch beside her uncle. “He’s new down there. They haven’t had time to work on him yet. Besides, I’m bored and he says he can catch.”
    The elderly man’s lip curled. He snarled down at Jim. “What are you doing up here? Snooping?”
    Jim shook his head. “I didn’t even know anybody lived up here.”
    “Well, they do.” The man’s face softened slightly. He turned to Maria. “Don’t keep him up here too long.” He inclined his head in the direction of Folsum. “No telling what they might do to him if they found out.”
    The big man turned and slowly limped back into the cabin, shaking his head. “Too bad.”
    Jim frowned. “What’s he talking about? Who’s going to do something to me?”
    Maria jumped off the porch and sat on the edge, stroking Sammy under the chin. “It’s probably better if you don’t know. After all, you
are
going to have to live down there.”
    “Look,” Jim snapped. “I’m getting sick and tired of all this mysterious mumbo jumbo. If you know something, spit it out. If you don’t, then shut up about it.”
    Sammy didn’t like his tone of voice and started chattering loudly.
    Maria hesitated. She stroked Sammy again and then put him inside the screen door.
    “All right, I’ll tell you. Ten years ago my uncle Max used to work at Folsum Laboratories as a custodian. He loved his job.… Of course, most of the people were different back then.”
    Jim kicked at a rock. “Did he get fired?”
    “In a way. He was asked to resign.”
    “Why?”
    “One day when he was cleaning Kincaid’soffice—Kincaid’s the president—he came across some documents on a top-secret experiment. The company was doing high-level radiation experiments on people without their knowledge.”
    “Did he go to the cops?”
    “He tried. He made copies of the information and called the authorities. But before he could prove anything, his house was ransacked and the papers were stolen. The thieves beat him up and broke one of his legs. The next day Kincaid asked him to resign.”
    “Man, those guys don’t fool around.” Jim scratched his head. “What makes you think they might try to do something to me? After all, that was a long time ago and they probably don’t do stuff like that anymore. Besides, my dad’s a scientist. It would be pretty tough to get anything past him.”
    Maria stood up and brushed the dirt off her jeans. “Haven’t you noticed that the people down there act a little strange?”
    “Yeah.” Jim smiled. “If I had to guess, I’d say the laboratory’s been