Chapters (62)
- Cover
- A PENNY
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- A Sample Chapter of Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
- About the Author
- Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
- About the Publisher
“Okay,” I said. “We can wait a minute.”
“Thanks, Callie.”
I dug through my pockets until I came up with half of a Kleenex; I handed it to him, and he took it gratefully, blowing his nose.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened today, Carlos. Start with when you hid yourself inside your Aunt Judith’s car. That was a very stupid thing to do, by the way.”
“I know that now,” he said. “I got in her trunk, and we drove for a while, and then we stopped. I heard her get out of the car, so I waited a minute, and then I kicked through to the backseat and climbed out.”
“She didn’t see you?”
“She was already gone. I was in the parking lot of apartments. Then all of a sudden I could hear arguing, and she was coming back. I didn’t have time to get back in the car, so I hid behind some bushes.”
“She was arguing with Alan?”
“Yeah, they were talking about going on a trip, and she wanted to take his car, and he wanted to meet her later and all this stuff. Finally, she got in her car and drove away. I didn’t know what to do, but when I saw Mr. Bennet loading some suitcases and things into his car, I decided to hide in there. He left the hatchback open and went back in the building for a minute, so I climbed in and got under a hanging bag and he never even saw me.”
“Were you scared?”
“Petrified. But then I got mad.”
“Mad, why?”
“Because when we were driving, the hanging bag slipped open a little and I could see inside. Do you know what he had?”
“The shirt?” I asked. “Thomas Jefferson’s shirt?”
“Yes! How did you know?”
“Lucky guess. So what happened when you got here at the airport?”
“I did the same thing. I waited until Mr. Bennet was gone, and then I climbed out of my hiding place and got out of the car. Just in time, too, because the next thing I knew, he had the back open, and he was unloading all this stuff and putting it on an airplane. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew something wasn’t right. He wasn’t doing what he told Aunt Judith he was gonna do. And he had the shirt. I had to stop him.”
“So you waited until he and the pilot went inside, and then you stuck the hose into the gas tank.”
“I figured if water could stop a bus, it could stop a plane.”
“That was very quick thinking.”
“Then after I did it, I got scared. So I ran up here to watch. And the next thing I knew, there were cops here and sirens and everybody was yelling, and then they were shooting!”
I could see him tearing up again.