Banana Man (a Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

somewhere. Danny never knew if that rumor was true or not, but on several occasions he noticed the mailman wore mismatched shoes; not that one was completely different than the other, but that one shoe was definitely newer than the other, as if he mysteriously lost a shoe along his route.
     
    Getting bitten by a dog over a comic seemed like a stupid risk to take, but trusting Mr. Cleary to keep his promise was equally risky. If he didn’t get to the store and buy the last copy with his own hands, chances were he would never get it. The publisher – a small press out of Eugene, Oregon – kept its distribution limited, and no other store in town carried it. Mr. Cleary unknowingly purchased an already obscure comic when he first ordered it.
     
    He stopped his bike at the beginning of the alley before the asphalt ended and the mud began.
     
    Danny was a smart kid. He knew better than to think it would be an easy ride through the alley after so much rain. He hopped off his bike and poked a finger into the mud to test its depth. It was soft; his finger sank pretty easily. He’d have to slog through it on his bike between the weeds and trash bins.
     
    Tucker Street Alley wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t narrow at the exact spot where Charlie lived. The dog always hid in a stretch of wild bushes that extended from a home with backyard overgrowth so thick it was impossible to see the back of the house. The dog would lurk somewhere in that jungle, and wait for an unsuspecting kid to get close.
     
    Directly opposite where Charlie lived – on the other side of the alley – was a crumbling block wall. Between the wild bushes and the wall, the alley narrowed, squeezing anyone walking through it and forcing them within arms reach of the bushes. There wasn’t much space either; barely enough room for two kids to walk side by side. It was the perfect spot for an ambush.
     
    He figured he’d get a head start on his bike, hoping to get up enough speed to shoot by the bushes. If he could make it through the alley, the rest of the trip to the post office would be a breeze, and he would easily save ten minutes each direction. Of course, he would have to carry his bike across the tracks but that wasn’t a big deal. He’d done it before.
     
    He positioned his bike a good distance away from the mud, took a deep breath, and started pedaling hard, racing across the asphalt toward the alley. For a moment it seemed he’d built up enough speed to zoom by Charlie, but once his bike rode onto the mud, his tires bogged down. The further he rode, the slower his bike rolled.
     
    It didn’t take long before his tires sank up to the spokes. His speed slowed so much that he struggled to keep his balance, but he kept on pedaling. His legs started to burn, and he got winded. Even with all his effort, the bike barely inched forward.
     
    Danny looked down and noticed the back tire had dug a trench; it was spinning freely. The mud was too deep to continue on bike. He would have to walk.
     
    He gave up pedaling and got off the bike and almost slipped, his sneakers squishing into the slimy mud. His first thought was to head back, but when he twisted around to see how far he traveled, he realized he had already gone a good distance into the alley. His plan had sort of worked. He might as well push forward.
     
    He held his bike by the handle bars and kept it on his left side – the same side as Charlie’s bushes – and began the muddy walk to the other end of the alley.
     
    Charlie had tried to bite Danny one time before. He hadn’t forgot that. And here he was doing the very same thing: taking a shortcut to get to the post office.
     
    Cutting through the alley probably wasn’t such a good idea after all.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    Charlie The Dog
     
    The air was calm, and the alley quiet. The clouds had thinned, and the late afternoon sun peeked through and painted the alley in streaks of golden light.
     
    Danny trudged onward