Culpepper's Cannon (7 page)
Read Culpepper's Cannon Online
Authors: Gary Paulsen
“Wrong word.”
“Oh, yeah. I found that out with Bremish breathing down my neck. Gazebo.”
Nothing happened.
“Let me try,” Dunc said. “Gazebo.”
Nothing happened again.
Dunc scratched his head. “Well, it looks like it's all used up. The end of an adventure. Kind of sad, isn't it?”
“Oh, yeah. I'll be crying all night on this one.” Amos looked down at the sweaters lying on the floor. “What do we do with all of these?”
“Pick one out. Buy it for your mom or something.”
“Why for my mom? What about Melissa?”
“She was just here. When she asked why I was in a women's clothing store, I said I was waiting for you.”
“What else did you say?”
“I told her you were trying on some women's sweaters.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“You must have told her more than that! You'd
better
have told her more than that!”
“She didn't give me the chance. She started laughing and left.”
Amos collapsed down to the floor again. “Great,” he said, “just great. Now she'll never talk to me.”
Dunc changed the subject. “Did you get enough information for your paper?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess so. I was on the
Merrimack
.”
“Really? Me too.”
“I know. I found your note.” He picked up an extra fluffy sweater and started drying his hair. “And I met Melissa's great-great-grandmother. Her name isâwasâMaggie.”
“How do you know she was an ancestor of Melissa's?”
“She had to be. She looked just like her.”
“That doesn't necessarily mean she was Melissa's great-great-great grandmother.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right.” He stood up. “Actually, when I think of it, there's no possible
way she could have been Melissa's great-grandmother.”
“Why not?”
“Because they were far too different to be related,” Amos said. “Maggie liked me.”
Amos sloshed through the store toward the exit. When they reached the sales counter, Amos put the sweater that he had dried his hair with down next to the cash register. Ramone stared down at him. He touched the sweater the way he might touch a snake.
“What on earth ⦔
“Don't ask,” Amos said. “Please, don't ask.”
“But it's wetâyou're wet ⦔
“He's had a rough day,” Dunc said. “I'll take him home now.”
“Yes,” Amos said. “Take me home now.”
And Dunc led Amos out of the store and the mall and down the street.
Be sure to join Dunc and Amos in these other Culpepper Adventures:
When Dunc Culpepper and his best friend, Amos Binder, first see the parrot in a pet store, they're not impressedâit's smelly, scruffy, and missing half its feathers. They're only slightly impressed when they learn that the parrot speaks four languages, has outlived ten of its owners, and is probably 150 years old. But when the bird starts mouthing off about buried treasure, Dunc and Amos get pretty excitedâlet the amateur sleuthing begin!
Dunc and his accident-prone friend, Amos, are up to their old sleuthing habits once again. This time they're after a band of doll thieves! When a doll that once belonged to Charles Dickens's daughter is stolen from an exhibition at the local mall, the two boys put on their detective gear and do some serious snooping. Will a vicious watchdog keep them from retrieving the valuable missing doll?
Best friends Dunc and Amos meet up with a new buddy named Lash when they enter the radical world of skateboard competition. When somebody “cops”âstealsâLash's prototype skateboard, the boys are determined to get it back. After all, Lash is about to shoot for a totally rad world's record! Along the way they learn a major lesson:
never
kiss a monkey!