by Valerie L. Egar
Sheriff Joe continued talking into
the radio, calling every deputy in the county to respond, while Melchinor lounged
in the parking lot, preening his wings. I had to do something and do it
fast.
I
didn’t want to attract Melchinor’s attention. He might run over if he noticed
Ziti or me. If Sheriff Joe thought I was in danger, Melchinor might get hurt. I
needed to distract Sheriff Joe and get Melchinor out of the way.
I’ve
got a pretty good pitching arm, so I picked up a few rocks. I tossed one
lightly at the back window of the police cruiser to get Sheriff Joe to turn
around. Then I pitched another at Melchinor, aiming for his tail. I didn’t want
to hurt him, I just wanted to startle him, hoping he would fly away.
With
a yelp and a huff of smoke, Melchinor took off. I ran up to Sheriff Joe’s car.
“Get
back, Terry!” Sheriff Joe yelled. “There’s some kind of monster—”
Three cruisers
pulled up, lights flashing, sirens blaring.
Melissa, Mr. Gibbons, Ms. Quirkhorn, Jenna and Mom all came running. I
saw a few porch lights flash on as people who had been asleep wakened to the commotion.
“It’s
not safe out here!” Sheriff Joe
shouted. “I want all of you to go home
and stay there.”
I
whispered to Melissa that I’d seen Melchinor and that he’d taken off towards
Bridge Street. “The problem is, Sheriff Joe saw him, too.”
Melissa whispered
the news to her father and then she and Jenna slipped away to try and catch
Melchinor. Meanwhile, Ziti, excited by
the noise, tugged at his leash and jumped up and down. A few sparks flew from his nose and caught
Sheriff Joe’s attention. He stared at Ziti for a long time. “What kind of dog is that?”
“
All American shelter dog, ” I said. Mom nodded.
“He
looks a lot like the thing that just flew away. I swear, I saw sparks come out
of his nose!”
Sheriff
Joe is a reasonable man, kind and well-respected. He’s also thorough, which is
why everyone voted for him. I didn’t know what to say about the sparks, so I
looked at Mr. Gibbons.
“Sheriff, can we
speak to you alone?”
“I can make some
coffee,” Mom volunteered.
“I can’t leave my
deputies with a monster on the prowl.”
Sheriff Joe looked
skeptical. “I know what I saw: a creature with wings, that huffed smoke and
sneezed sparks. It looked dangerous.”
“But it isn’t,”
said Mr. Gibbons.
“I’ll give you a
half-hour of my time,” said Sheriff Joe. “After that, if I’m not convinced, I’m
going to form a search party and capture it.”
To be continued….
