Page 18 - Demo

%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK6 Jack Fritscher%u201cGet out of that tree, Thommy,%u201d Beevo said.%u201cBombs away!%u201d Thommy dropped small rocks down on us.%u201cGet out of that tree or I%u2019ll chop it down,%u201d Beevo said. %u201cIt%u2019s my tree.%u201d%u201cGo on, Beevo,%u201d I yelled. %u201cChop it down.%u201dOur dog, Brownie, barked up at Thommy. %u201cThis is Beevo to Thommy. Beevo to Thommy. I%u2019ll count to three, then I start chopping.%u201d%u201cBombs away!%u201d Thommy screamed.%u201cOne...two...%u201d Beevo strung out the count.%u201cGo ahead, Beevo,%u201d I said. %u201cIt%u2019s your tree. Chop it down on him.%u201d%u201cOne more chance. One...two...three!%u201dI stood back, delirious in the fight, wanting to be the first to yell, %u201cTimber!%u201d I shouted the word a few times to test it out, like the movies, running in circles around the smooth trunk. %u201cTimber! Timber! Timber!%u201dThe frenzy on the ground agitated the little boy in the tree. Frightened, he lowered himself three branches. %u201cDon%u2019t timber me,%u201d he pleaded.%u201cDon%u2019t come any farther,%u201d Beevo said, %u201cor I%u2019ll chop your foot.%u201d%u201cCome on, Thommy. Don%u2019t let him scare you.%u201d%u201cDon%u2019t come any farther.%u201dThommy moved down two more limbs, looking at me, above Beevo%u2019s head.%u201cI%u2019ll chop your foot,%u201d Beevo warned.My little brother looked like a baby bird sitting up in the deep green of the tree. Unlike me, he was blond and fair and he sat perched on the branch beginning to cry because his rocks were all gone and he could not comprehend us dancing around the trunk in a shower of wood chips and our own dog barking at him.%u201cDon%u2019t let it fall toward the mailbox,%u201d I said. %u201cJohnny the Mailman will get mad and call the police.%u201d I turned to look across the quiet street at our big gray house. No mother in our window. Annie Laurie was away in the other rooms cleaning and fussing with the furniture that had been her own mother%u2019s. Even the elm trees, monstrous around the big corner house, were still. Only the trebling of the pigeons in our old carriage barn came from across the street. %u201cYou won%u2019t chop my foot,%u201d Thommy cried.%u201cWouldn%u2019t he, smarty. Come down and see.%u201d%u201cI%u2019m coming down.%u201dThat was the last thing Thommy said before Beevo smashed his ankle with the hatchet. Blood spurted up all over his sunsuit and he fell from the tree. Brownie barked and yelped and ran for the bushes. The noise I made