The Traveling Vampire Show

“‘Got hurt,’ ” Slim said. “Your mom wouldn’t have worded it that way if he’d had something like a heart attack. Sounds like maybe he had an accident.”

“Or got shot,” Rusty suggested.

Slim gave him a dirty look. “Whatever happened,” she said, “it’s nothing really serious but he does need some sort of treatment.”

“Why couldn’t she just tell me?” I blurted. “He must’ve told her.”

“I don’t know,” Slim muttered.

“Maybe she thought it’d scare you,” Rusty said.

“But it’s not supposed to scare me not being told?” Slim put her hand on my back. It made me feel better, but not a whole lot. “We don’t have to wait for your mom to call. Why don’t we phone police headquarters? I bet somebody there can tell us what happened.”

I checked the kitchen clock.

“Dolly’ll still be on duty,” I said.

“So?” Slim asked.

I shook my head. Much as I hated the idea of talking to Dolly, I stood up and headed for the wall phone.

Rusty met my eyes. He looked as if he were in pain, himself. “Or you could call the hospital,” he said.

“How do we know which one?” Slim asked.

While the town of Grandville had a hospital of its own, the county hospital over in Clarksburg was better equipped for major emergencies. In nearby Bixton was a Catholic hospital staffed mostly by nuns. People from our area could end up in any one of them, depending on one thing or another.

“Start with the nearest,” Rusty suggested.

“Easier to ask Dolly,” Slim said.

We hadn’t gotten around to telling her about our run-in with the vicious little dispatcher. Under the circumstances, however, I figured Dolly would be sympathetic. Even if she couldn’t stand me, she liked my dad. For good reason; anyone else would’ve fired her a long time ago.

“Guess I’ll call her,” I said.

Just as I reached for the phone, it rang. I jumped and jerked my hand back, my heart pounding like mad.

Before the second ring, I snatched the phone off its hook. Hardly able to breathe, I said, “Hello?”

“Dwight?”

It was a mother, but not mine. And she didn’t sound happy.

“Is Russell there?”

“Yeah. Yes. He’s right here.”

“Please send him home right away.”

“Would you like to talk to him?”

Teeth bared, Rusty put up his hands and shook his head.

“I’ll talk to him when he gets here. As for you, young man, I must say I’m terribly disappointed in you.”

I felt my own lips peel back. My stomach suddenly felt even worse than before.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You ought to be. Elizabeth has always been very fond of you.”

“I’m fond of her, too.”

“You have a strange way of showing it.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

“Send Russell home immediately, please.” With that, she hung up.

Rusty and I stared at each other.

“You’re supposed to go home right away,” I said.

“Shit.”

“Bitsy must’ve told on us.”

“Told you she would, man. Shit. The little bitch.”

“Hey,” Slim said.

“Well, she is. I knew she’d spill her guts.”

“What’d you guys do to her?”

“We sort of ditched her,” I said. “She wanted to go with us to look for you. We tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t