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Monster Blood Chapter 06

“Okay,” Evan said. “Let’s check out the town.”

“I have to go to a toy store and look for a present for my cousin,” Andy said, hoisting her bike up by the handlebars.

“How old are you?” Evan asked, tugging Trigger toward the street.

“Twelve.”

“Me, too,” he said. “Can I try your bike?”

She shook her head as she climbed onto the narrow seat. “No, but I’ll let you run alongside.” She laughed.

“You’re a riot,” he said sarcastically, hurrying to keep up as she began to pedal.

“And you’re stupid,” she called back playfully.

“Hey, Annnndreeeea— wait up!” he called, stretching the name out to annoy her.

A few blocks later, the houses ended and they entered town, a three-block stretch of low two-story shops and offices. Evan saw a small brick post office, a barbershop with an old-fashioned barber pole out front, a grocery, a drive-through bank, and a hardware store with a large sign in the window proclaiming a sale on birdseed.

“The toy store is in the next block,” Andy said, walking her bike along the sidewalk. Evan tugged Trigger’s leash, encouraging him to keep up the pace. “Actually there are two toy stores, an old one and a new one. I like the old one best.”

“Let’s check it out,” Evan said, examining the cluttered window display of the video store on the corner.

I wonder if Aunt Kathryn has a VCR, he thought. He quickly dismissed the idea. No way….

The toy store was in an old clapboard building that hadn’t been painted in many years. A small, hand-painted sign in the dust-smeared window proclaimed: Wagner’s Novelties & Sundries. There were no toys on display.

Andy leaned her bike against the front of the building. “Sometimes the owner can be a little mean. I don’t know if he’ll let you bring your dog in.”

“Well, let’s give it a try,” Evan said, pulling open the door. Tugging hard on his leash, Trigger led the way into the store.

Evan found himself in a dark, low-ceilinged, narrow room. It took awhile for his eyes to adjust to the dim light.

Wagner’s looked more like a warehouse than a store. There were floor-to-ceiling shelves against both walls, jammed with boxes of toys, and a long display counter that ran through the center of the store, leaving narrow aisles that even someone as skinny as Evan had to squeeze through.

At the front of the store, slumped on a tall stool behind an old-fashioned wooden cash register, sat a grumpy-looking man with a single tuft of white hair in the center of a red, bald head. He had a drooping white mustache that seemed to frown at Evan and Andy as they entered.

“Hi,” Andy said timidly, giving the man a wave.

He grunted in reply and turned back to the newspaper he was reading.

Trigger sniffed the low shelves excitedly. Evan looked around at the stacks of toys. It appeared from the thick layer of dust that they’d been sitting there for a hundred years. Everything seemed tossed together, dolls next to building sets, art supplies mixed in with old action figures Evan didn’t even recognize, a toy drum set underneath a pile of footballs.

He and Andy were the only customers in the store.

“Do they have Nintendo games?” Evan asked her, whispering, afraid to break the still silence.

“I don’t think so,” Andy whispered back. “I’ll ask.” She shouted up to the front, “Do you have Nintendo games?”

It took awhile for the man to answer. He scratched his ear. “Don’t carry them,” he grunted finally, sounding annoyed by the interruption.

Andy and Evan wandered toward the back of the store. “Why do you like this place?” Evan whispered, picking up an old cap pistol with a cowboy holster.

“I just think it’s neat,” Andy replied. “You can find some real treasures here. It’s not like other toy stores.”

“That’s for sure,” Evan said sarcastically. “Hey—look!” He picked up a lunchbox with a cowboy dressed in black emblazoned on its side. “Hopalong Cassidy,” he read. “Who’s Hopalong Cassidy?”

“A cowboy with a stupid name,” Andy said, taking the old lunchbox from him and examining it. “Look—it’s made of metal, not plastic. Wonder if my cousin would like it. He likes stupid names, too.”

“It’s a pretty weird present,” Evan said.

“He’s a pretty weird cousin,” Andy cracked. “Hey, look at this.” She set down the old lunchbox and picked up an enormous box. “It’s a magic set. ‘Astound your friends. Perform one hundred amazing tricks,’” she read.

“That’s a lot of amazing tricks,” Evan said.

He wandered farther back into the dimly lit store, Trigger leading the way, sniffing furiously. “Hey—” To Evan’s surprise, a narrow doorway led into a small back room.

This room, Evan saw, was even darker and dustier. Stepping inside, he saw worn-looking stuffed animals tossed into cartons, games in faded, yellowed boxes, baseball gloves with the leather worn thin and cracked.

Who would want this junk? he thought.

He was about to leave when something caught his eye. It was a blue can, about the size of a can of soup. He picked it up, surprised by how heavy it was.

Bringing it close to his face to examine it in the dim light, he read the faded label: Monster Blood. Below that, in smaller type, it read: Surprising Miracle Substance.

Hey, this looks cool, he thought, turning the can around in his hand.

He suddenly remembered the ten dollars his mother had stuffed into his shirt pocket.

He turned to see the store owner standing in the doorway, his dark eyes wide with anger. “What are you doing back here?” he bellowed.