Boo Hiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

he’s never been to church and probably has never read a religious fiction book. I don’t know. They just seem peculiar. Frankly, they don’t really fit in.” He smiled. “But they sell well.”
    “A friend thought I should try writing one.”
    Hardy laughed. “You?”
    “I shouldn’t?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t think they have horror.”
    “I was thinking of writing something other than horror.”
    “Really. Can you do that?”
    “I think so.”
    “Like what?”
    “Maybe a good, cozy mystery.”
    “Did I mention my mysteries are over in the foreign food section?” “Yes. Clever.”
    “Well, I think you’re a capable writer, and whatever you decide to do, I’m sure you’ll do fine with it.”
    Hardy turned and saw people streaming out the doors, each carrying a grocery sack. He walked over to Dustin. “This is great! People are in and out in a jiff, able to find exactly what they need!”
    “Yeah,” Dustin said, checking out a final customer. “But we’re going to need to place an order.”
    “An order? We’re fully stocked.”
    “We’re completely out of every book on snakes.”

C HAPTER 4
    M ARTIN WATCHED MAYOR WULLISWORTH tug at the tuft of white hair protruding from his ear. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the mayor was one snake sighting away from a Caribbean vacation. He’d ripped down all the Lost Pet posters the kid had put up.
    “It’s frightening the residents!” the mayor had snapped in a shaky voice. That may have been true, but it was certainly trickling down from the top.
    He drummed all ten fingers against his desk like it was a typewriter, and his leg bounced up and down beneath him.
    “Sir,” Martin replied, “what this town needs is to see its mayor calm and collected, a reassuring voice in an uncertain time.”
    “This is horrible! It’s horrible!” the mayor shrieked, then gnawed at the fingernails of one hand, while with the other he grabbed a pencil and busily doodled across a memo on his desk. Martin had never seen the mayor this nervous about anything.
    It was supposed to be their weekly event meeting, so Martin decided that might get the mayor’s mind off of his self-described “worst horror of my life.”
    “So part of the soccer field mystery is solved. The Brewer family sold the land, for quite a good profit, to another family, apparently not residents of Skary. I guess they wanted a soccer field. They have a right to do what they want with it. I did notice a nice set of metal bleachershas just been put in. Who knows? Maybe a soccer league would be nice around here.”
    The mayor nodded, and kept nodding. He didn’t stop nodding. Martin resisted the urge to grab his head and make him stop.
    “Anyway, the other exciting news is that Lois Stepaphanolopolis is starting a community theater!”
    “A what?”
    “A community theater. She’s written a play and says she has people knocking down her door trying to get a part in it. She’s planning a Thanksgiving Eve performance.”
    The mayor grumbled. “What else?”
    “Trudy’s little coffee shop is going well. New tables, a new counter, and a lot of different options. And I mean a lot. I never knew coffee could be had so many ways. She must order the beans straight from heaven, because it’ll cost you the treasure at the end of the rainbow to try a cup. I just order Trudy’s Special myself.”
    “What’s so special about it?”
    “It comes black with nothing in it. Anyway, it looks like the economy is picking up a little. For the first time in years, I see a little light at the end of the tunnel.”
    The phone rang, and the mayor waved it off. “I don’t want to talk to anyone today.” He grabbed his coat. “I’ve got some things to do.”
    Martin answered the phone as the mayor hurried out the front door.
    “Mayor’s office.”
    “I hear there’s a snake on the loose. Making everyone real nervous.” The man had a distinct accent. “Who is this?” “The answer to all your