A Boy Called Duct Tape Read Online Free PDF Page A

evening, six days a week. It was hard work, and Mom had developed arthritis in her right hand during the three years she’d worked there. The pay was minimum wage.
    “Morning, Pablo,” Mom said in a worn-out voice. She walked into the kitchen and set a pan of water on the stove for her morning cup of tea. She gave me a faint smile. “How’d you sleep?”
    “Fine, Mom,” I said, studying her face.
    Mom had always stressed the importance of learning new words and their definitions, and I couldn’t help but recall a word I’d learned the week before in Language Arts. Haggard : appearing worn and exhausted. Mom looked haggard. And her head. Lately it seemed to be drooping.
    Mom turned on the burner beneath the pan of water. “Any plans today?”
    “We thought we might ride into town and hang out at the park and watch them set up for the Outlaw Days Festival,” I said, throwing my legs over the side of the sofa and sitting up.
    Mom rifled through her purse, which was sitting on the kitchen cabinet. She fished out several one-dollar bills, then came over and handed them to me with another tired smile. “Can you make three dollars stretch?”
    “Oh, sure, Mom. There’s plenty of free stuff to do,” I said, feeling guilty about taking the money. “We might go to Harper’s Hole to swim.”
    I wanted to tell Mom about the gold coin I’d found—such news was certain to bring a little joy into her otherwise gloomy day—but there were still a few loose ends to tie up. I hoped A GUIDE TO U.S. COINS was right about its value. Mom’s car was in need of major repair, the cracked block and all. The tires were also bald.
    Earl Blood stood behind the glass counter staring at the gold piece in his hand, his dark eyes creeping me out. Burl Blood stood at Earl’s side peering at the shiny coin. Earl and Burl were twins. They had greasy, shoulder-length hair, and bushy beards.
    Pia, Kiki, and I stood on the other side of the counter. My pulse was hammering in my temple. The suspense was about to kill me.
    “Interesting coin,” Earl said, munching on a wad of tobacco and grasping the $20 gold piece between his bony fingers. His cheerless eyes swept over us.
    When Burl squeezed in for a better look, Earl dismissed him with an angry wave of his hand. “You’re crowding me, Burl! Git back!”
    Burl gave a quick, shy nod and stepped back. “Okie dokie.”
    The dusty interior of the pawnshop was stuffed to the ceiling with used items of every size and description. Guitars. Fishing rods. Outboard motors. Chainsaws. Garden tools. A set of used snow tires was stacked in one corner. The grimy glass display case behind which the brothers stood was divided into two sections: one for jewelry, watches and rings, and the other for antique coins.
    Each coin in the glass display case was neatly wrapped in a cellophane package. A hand-lettered sign taped to the glass read:
    ASK FOR ASISTENCE IF YOU WANT TO SEE A COIN
    “Where’d ya say ya found this here coin?” Earl asked, raising his chilling gaze until it found me.
    “I didn’t say.” I knew better than to divulge that information.
    “We’d like to have it appraised,” Kiki said.
    A skinny rack of bones, Earl stared at Kiki. “And who’s this? Don’t think I’ve seen this pretty little gal ’round town before.” Earl turned his head and spit a stream of brownish tobacco juice into some sort of receptacle that sat on the floor out of sight. Probably a spittoon.
    “Did you just … spit?” Kiki asked, her eyebrows pinched together.
    “Shore did, little gal,” Earl said, smiling around a lump of chewing tobacco lodged in one side of his cheek.
    “That’s, uh, what I thought,” Kiki said, grimacing. “Anyway, I’m just visiting.”
    “And where’d ya say ya found this here coin, little sister?” Earl asked again, this time looking at Pia.
    “In James Creek,” Pia said proudly. “Pablo found it at the bottom of Har—”
    “Pia!” I blared.
    “James Creek,