The Case of Dunc's Doll Read Free Page B

“See, I look a lot better.”
    â€œI was just kidding. Now let’s get going.” Dunc ran the blond wig back into his sister’s room.
    As they were going out the front door, they ran into Dunc’s mother. She had her arms full of sacks of groceries.
    â€œHi, Mom,” Dunc said.
    â€œHi, Mrs. Culpepper,” Amos said, and was out the door before it closed, ducking under the sacks to get by.
    Dunc’s mother turned, looked at the closed door for a moment. She started to say something, then changed her mind and walked away, shaking her head.
    â€œIt’s better,” she said, “not to know.”

• 7
    They looked at the gate.
    Dunc had hidden his bike out of sight in some bushes across the road from the gate.
    â€œYou go over there and push the bell button next to the gate,” Dunc said. “I’ll go hide with my bike. When they come, you tell them you’re doing a paper on doll collections for a summer school project. You got that?”
    Amos nodded. “Of course. We’ve been over it a couple of hundred times.”
    They separated, and Dunc went to thebrush across the road. Amos went to the gate. On the side of the gate was a plaque with a push button and Amos pushed the button.
    Nothing happened for what seemed a long time.
    Then the dog came to the gate. It stood on its back legs, its front feet up on the metal, and looked at Amos, down into Amos’s eyes.
    Amos turned and looked across the road at where Dunc was hiding, raised his arms, and shrugged. The movement wiggled his wig, and he straightened it. Dunc made a furious motion to Amos to turn around, and he did.
    And the dog still stood there, looking down on him.
    â€œHe can drip spit on the top of my head,” Amos turned and yelled.
    â€œDon’t look at me,” Dunc yelled.
    Then the sound of an engine came from the driveway, and Dunc dropped out of sight.
    A dark car pulled up to the gate and a tall, thin man stepped from the car.
    â€œWhat do you want?” he asked.
    â€œMy name is Sally Carstairs,” Amos said. “I’m doing a paper on doll collections for a summer school project. May I see your collection?” Amos had it memorized perfectly and said it all in one breath.
    The tall man looked around, up and down the street, then across the street almost directly at where Dunc was hiding.
    â€œWhere are you from?”
    â€œIn town,” Amos answered. “Some of us—some of the girls were talking about your collection, and I got the assignment. To do a paper. On your dolls. The collection, I mean.”
    â€œJust a minute. It’s not my collection. I just work here.”
    â€œCould you do something about the dog? He’s looking at me funny.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThanks, anyway.” Amos shot a lookacross the road at Dunc but could see nothing.
    Dunc was on his stomach by this time, peering through the grass.
    The thin man turned to the car and took out a small hand-held radio. He spoke low for a moment, then nodded and put the radio back in the seat.
    From across the road Dunc saw the tall man say something to the dog. The dog turned and walked away and sat down while the man opened the gate and motioned Amos inside.
    Amos took one last look in Dunc’s direction and disappeared into the car. The man closed the gate, stepped into the car, and drove away. Dunc sat watching the gate, wondering what he’d done and wondering what to do next.

• 8
    Dunc did the only thing he could do.
    He waited.
    A half-hour passed, then another, then another hour.
    â€œTwo hours,” he said. He was still down in the grass across the road, but he had moved several times, scratched himself, and every time he had looked over to the gate, the dog was there.
    Watching.
    The dog seemed to know right where Dunc was lying, and his gaze was so intentthat he had forgotten to lick his chops and drool was dripping while he stared at