The only thing no one could figure was Sally. Mom’s ankle was broken and Dad’s arm was burned and I was going to look pretty funny for a while without any eyebrows. But Sally had come through the worst of the fire without even a singed lock of hair.
Her face and clothes were streaked with soot but even that was mostly from us hugging her afterwards. The police just shook their heads. I heard one of them say that parents can get pretty “overwrought” in a situation like that. It was obvious they didn’t believe Sally had really been in danger.
Then the TV people came and things got really confusing. They kept pestering the cops about “Miss Everett” and trying to get pictures of us in front of the burning house. The police clammed up about the old witch and we didn’t tell them anything, either.
But I couldn’t help wondering. Her body still hadn’t been found. I could see the firemen searching through the rubble but some of it was too hot for them to get to. Maybe she was in one of those places.
I hoped they would find her.
The sun was up by the time the police told us we could go. The ambulance people wanted to take Mom and Dad to the hospital but Mom said “no.” All we wanted to do was go home.
We got into the station wagon and fastened our seat belts. Mom twisted around in her seat. “Sally, have you got Winky?” she asked. Mom’s eyes had crinkles around them and she still looked scared.
Sally held up the stuffed bunny in one hand, Bobby’s old teddy bear in the other. “Don’t be sad, Mommy,” she said. “Bobby’s happy now.”
Mom’s eyes widened but all she said was, “That’s good, honey. Try and get some rest, we’ll be home in a couple of hours.”
“And glad to be there, too,” said Dad, turning the key in the ignition.
We rolled down the driveway and pulled out onto the road. I twisted around in the seat as we passed Steve’s house to wave one last time to him and Lucy. I hoped I’d see them again—maybe even next summer—but not if we had to stay anywhere on Cherry Street.
Sally sang a little song to her stuffed animals as we drove on out to the highway. I settled back in my seat, thinking of all the stuff I’d do once we got home.
Then Sally made a weird noise. “Jaayyyyyyssssoooon!” she whispered in a gruff, raspy voice.
I shot up in my seat. But Bobby couldn’t be here! Could he? Could he have decided he didn’t want to leave my little sister after all?
I was afraid to look in Sally eyes. But I swallowed and made myself turn to her.
Sally giggled. Her blue eyes were clear and innocent, the eyes of a mischievous little girl.
“I was only fooling, Jason,” she said. “But look what I found!”
She slipped her hand along the seam of the teddy bear’s back. The seam parted. Sally reached in and brought out something big in her hand.
Sally opened her hand and showed me. It was a farewell present from Bobby. Glossy red and gleaming in the sunlight.
The ruby!
About the Authors
Rodman Philbrick grew up on the coast of New Hampshire and has been writing since the age of sixteen. For a number of years he published mystery and suspense fiction for adults. Brothers & Sinners won the Shamus Award in 1994, and two of his other detective novels were nominees. In 1993 his debut young adult novel, Freak the Mighty, won numerous honors, and in 1998 was made into the feature film The Mighty, starring Sharon Stone and James Gandolfini. Freak the Mighty has become a standard reading selection in thousands of classrooms worldwide, and there are more than three million copies in print. In 2010 Philbrick won a Newbery Honor for The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.
Lynn Harnett, who was married to Rodman Philbrick, passed away in 2012. She was a talented journalist, editor, and book reviewer, and she had a real knack for concocting scary stories that make the reader want to laugh, shriek with fear, and then turn the page to find out what happens next.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1995 by Rodman Philbrick and Lynn Harnett
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-4976-8537-6
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
THE HOUSE ON CHERRY STREET EBOOKS
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
Available wherever ebooks are sold
Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media.
Videos, Archival Documents, and New Releases
Sign up for the Open Road Media newsletter and get news delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up now at
www.openroadmedia.com/newsletters
FIND OUT MORE AT
WWW.OPENROADMEDIA.COM
FOLLOW US:
@openroadmedia and
Facebook.com/OpenRoadMedia
