Calamity Jayne Rides Again Read Online Free PDF Page B

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     day? Will Ranger Rick make you pay for his dairy disaster in spades? Hello: Your dad is totally pee-ohhed. And the roach rumpus
     didn't help matters. I expect Uncle Frank will be on a medium-to-high simmer for a while. But I think I managed to convince
     him that you weren't the one responsible for the bug brouhaha." I paused and squinted at Frankie. "You weren't, were you?"
     I asked.
    Frankie's smile disappeared. "Bug brouhaha? What are you talking about?"
    I proceeded to fill Frankie in on the major health code violations we'd avoided by our little midnight roach round-up.
    Frankie slowly got to his feet. "You're saying someone let a bunch of cockroaches loose in the Emporium and Dad thinks I'm
     the culprit?" he asked.
    "Not anymore," I assured him. "At least I don't think so. I mean, he wasn't threatening to hang you from the flagpole by your
     apron strings when I left, so that's a good sign. Isn't it? Uncle Frank will get over it. Remember how he was after the incident
     at the Dairee Freeze back home? It took a while, but he came around."
    "There was glass inside the colored sprinkle containers and blood all over the order window," Frankie kindly pointed out.
     "Not to mention the fact that one whole side of the place was missing."
    "Yeah, but Uncle Frank really needed to modernize," I insisted. "You know, update the place. That Beaver Cleaver look just
     didn't cut it anymore. Besides, there was no structural damage. And afterwards, Uncle Frank had customers by the droves. The
     place was packed. So, I figure I did him a favor."
    "Oh, so you put his business on the map. And what, I'm trying to put him out of business?" Frankie put a hand through his
     hair. The brown strands stuck out like a scarecrow's bad hair day.
    I stood up and walked over to Frankie and put a hand on his arm. "You have to understand: Your dad had just walked into his
     eating establishment and found a carpet of cockroaches. When he learned you'd walked off the job in a very cool, calculating
     way, what was he to think? You yourself said you tried to prove a point by delivering a low blow to his business," I reminded
     him.
    He shook my hand off his arm. "I meant to go back. Honest. But when I saw Rick Townsend in there kicking the candy condiments
     and cursing the confections, I panicked and bolted. And the longer I stayed away, the harder it was to face up to what I'd
     done." He turned and bent down to stick his feet in a long pair of dirty sneakers. "And now Dad thinks I roached the joint.
     He'll never forgive me. Ever. I'm outta here."
    Frankie hurried out of the bedroom, with me trailing along behind him. "What are you doing, Frankie?" I asked, shadowing him.
     "Where are you going?"
    "To find my destiny, cous," he announced. "And, hopefully, find myself in the process." He pushed the door open and was gone amid a community
     of cracker box trailers and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
    "Frankie!" I yelled. "Come back here! Frankie!"
    I shook my head. "Oh, Frankie—what are you doing man?" I said to myself.
    "I wonder if we'd better knock first. She might have someone in there with her, you know. It could happen. Not likely, but
     it could."
    I was still in bed, watching early morning sunlight peek in at me from the window at the head of the bed and wishing for a
     few more hours of sleep before the bedlam of opening day at the Iowa State Fair.
    "What if she's not alone? What if she and that hunky ranger are lying in that bed in there right now, naked limbs intertwined,
     bodies slick and sweaty, their breathing rapid and shallow?"
    I jumped off the bed.
    "You read too many romance novels, Hannah," my mother responded.
    "Maybe she doesn't read enough. If she did, she'd know just what to do with that boy," my grandma continued. I put a hand
     to one cheek. My face felt warm as a car hood in the state fair parking lot in midafternoon. I raced to the front door and
     opened it. Hey, like I had a choice here, guys.
    "Greetings,