Who Won the War? Read Online Free PDF

and Beth looked at their sister in horror. Every so often Eddie did that. She just went out on a limb and said she was going to do things she never could. Or never should.
    “Is there barbed wire on the top of the fence?” Eddie asked.
    “No,” said Josh, “but it's a tall fence. Ten feet tall.”
    “Is there a guard on duty?”
    “No, but the sheriff drives by once in a while.”
    “Is there a guard dog inside the fence?”
    “Not that I've seen,” said Jake, “but—”
    “Then I'm going in,” said Eddie.
    “When?” asked Wally, looking astonished.
    “I don't know. I'll have to case the place first. Anybody going in with me?”
    “Not me,” said Beth. “You're nuts, Eddie.”
    “Not me,” said Caroline.
    Eddie looked at the Hatfords.
    “I'm not going in any coal mine!” said Peter. “You're really going to get in trouble, Eddie. My dad said never, ever, ever go there!”
    “I'm not going either,” said Wally.
    “Count me out,” said Josh.
    Eddie looked at Jake. There was a long pause.
    “Okay,” Jake said. “If you find a way, I'm in.”
    Caroline and Beth exchanged glances. They were not going to move out of Buckman. They were going to be kicked out of Buckman, Caroline was sure.

Six

Shadows
    “W hy didn't you tell her no?” Wally asked Jake as they went back across the swinging bridge in the near-darkness. “You'll only get in trouble, and you know it!”
    “And have her call me chicken?” said Jake. “Relax. There's no way she can get in. The joke's on her. I'll go along like I'm ready to go in, and it'll be up to her to find a way to open the gate, which she won't be able to do.”
    “I don't like it,” said Josh. “Eddie's going to keep pushing the limits until she makes us do something we don't want to.”
    “Who says I don't want to?” Jake asked. “If she finds a way to get in, I'll go too.”
    Wally didn't like this. Why couldn't the Malloys go? Just go! Now! Before anything happened.
    “Don't say anything to Mom,” Jake warned Peter as they approached their house.
    “I won't ! What do you think I am? A tattletale?” Peter asked.
    As Wally lay in bed that night, he decided he was in the clear. Their parents would not let them go out at midnight, so he could stop worrying about the old Indian burial ground. He had told Jake and Eddie he would not go with them inside the old coal mine, so he wouldn't get in trouble there. They had already been to Smuggler's Cove, and nothing much had happened, so he was home free. Let Jake get in trouble. He was just asking for it.
    Wally began to relax. He didn't have to show up at the Malloys' ever again if he didn't want to. He could spend the rest of the summer doing exactly what he wanted, which was … well, nothing.
    Not exactly nothing, though. Because what was nothing to someone else might be something to Wally. For example, he was looking forward to spending one whole day trying to figure out how many different calls a mockingbird could make. He wanted to sit out on the porch and listen when a mockingbird perched on top of a telephone pole and began to sing. Usually the bird repeated each song twice, which would give Wally a chance to write down the call: robin, cardinal, wren, blue jay … But of course he didn't recognize all birdcalls, so maybe he should take a recorder….
    Or maybe he would like to go a whole morning with his hand over his right eye, and all afternoon with his hand over his left, just to see which eye was stronger.
    Or maybe he would climb through the trapdoor inthe attic leading to the widow's walk on the roof, and sit up there on that little balcony and see if he could tell whenever the wind changed direction.
    There was no end to the things Wally Hatford could think of to do on his own. Sometimes he just liked to get on his bike and ride around town. He'd try to memorize the streets going east from the library, and then the streets going west. Or he'd go to the Dairy Store and ask for a cup of