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Why hadn’t she thought of this? Her grandfather had probably always had that alar a kid would notice

But I’ht now

"There’s got to be a way to get in," Dee was saying

"Why?" Audrey’s voice was snappish-because she felt bad, Jenny knew Because she was scared

"There doesn’t always have to be a way just because you want one, Dee"

Think, Jenny Think, think, think You forgot the alarotten?

"If we’re going to get philosophical-" Michael began

"Mrs Durash," said Jenny

They all looked at her

"She was randfather’s housekeeper Maybe she still takes care of the place Maybe she has a key"

"Brilliant!" Dee said and finally reot to find her telephone number-oh, God, if she still even lives here There should be a phone at-at-oh, I guess the dairy bar It’s that way, I think It’s a long walk"

Michael looked cagey "I’ll stay here and guard the bags"

"You’ll cos in the bushes"

"Yes, dear," Michael muttered "Yes, dear, yes, dear"

Petro’s Dairy Bar, like everything they had passed on the way, had an air of gently going to seed Jenny stepped into the blue-and-white ling froes

"Yes! B Durash-there can’t be another Durash in Monessen It’s got to be her"

She stuck in a quarter and dialed before she realized she hadn’t planned out what to say

"Hello" The voice on the other end made the word sound almost like yellow There was a faint accent, earthy, not as slow as a drawl

"Hi Hi Uh, this is Jenny Thornton and-" Debate tea break-parents Where are my parents supposed to be?

"Is this Mrs Durash?" she blurted

There was a pause that seeht now This is her daughter-in-law"

"Ohbut she does live there? Mrs Durash? And-look, okay, do you happen to know if she’s the sa a total fool of lass door

Another pause "Ye-e-es, she’s the caretaker for the Evenson house"

Wonderful! Caretakers had to have keys Jenny was so buoyed up that she forgot about reat I reat to talk to her Do you knohen she’ll be back?"

"She always goes over to her son’s in Charleroi on Saturday She’ll be back around seven Call then"

"Seven pm?" Michael said bitterly when Jenny repeated the conversation He flopped onto the splintered green bench against the dairy bar wall "And we have to wait outside until then I’et some ice cream"

"Money," Audrey said with a toss of her copper head

A bus roared up to the corner Jenny stared at it absently as she thought Nine hours to kill They’d be conspicuous in this little town They’d have to hide in her grandfather’s backyard or-So on the side of the bus came into focus

JOYLAND PARK, ROLLER COASTER CAPITAL OF THE world The poster was illustrated with roller coasters and o-rounds

The wooden bench seemed to drop away beneath Jenny

When she could breathe again, the bus was revving its engine to drive away Jenny o!"

Dee bounded up, ready at once Michael leaned his head against the wall and shut his eyes Audrey said, "Where?"

"On that bus Colass door before it could straighten shut "Do you go to Joyland Park?" she shouted

"Clairton, Duquesne, West Mifflin-West Mifflin’s Joyland," he said laconically

"Right Four, please"

The others straggled up the steps The bus was almost empty and smelled like old tires They sat on the torn leather seats in the very back, and Audrey looked at Jenny

"Noill you please explain where we’re going?"

"Joyland Park," Jenny said a little breathlessly

"Why?"

" ’Cause they’ve got corn dogs," Michael said, very quietly

Jenny looked Audrey straight in the eye "Did you see that poster on the side of the bus? It was in my drea about Summer, and that poster was in it"

Audrey considered, teeth set in her cherry-glossed lower lip "It ht have had the park on yourback here and all"

"Or itelse," Jenny said "Like -I don’t know, soe" She shifted "Look, do any of you ever wonder if-well, if Summer is really dead?"

Audrey looked shocked Dee said dryly, "We’ve been telling the police so for a hly awake now, said, "She was alive in my dream She talked just like her"

Jenny felt uneasy "What did she say?"

"She washer She was scared"

Jenny felt even more uneasy Audrey said, "So you think ? And that it was soe?"

"I don’t know It’s so complicated And I don’t even knohy anyone could possibly want to send us to an a

"Never rinned wickedly and thumped her on the back "You ith your instinct; that can’t be wrong And even if it wasn’t a e-so what? It’s an auys?"

"I’d rather go shopping," Audrey said "But it’s a way to kill the tiainst the battered metal seat in front of him "And kill our htmare I had when I was a kid-?"

"Shut up, Michael," three female voices chorused, and he shut up

It was a long, rather lonely drive to West Mifflin Joyland Park seemed to be one of the few places still in business in a rundown and isolated area It was almost a surprise to find it out here, in the middle of nowhere

Michael made an inarticulate noise of awe as they filed off the bus "Good grief," he said mildly "It’s Noah’s Ark"

"That’s the fun house," Jenny said "You go in the whale by the side there"

Even in the bright sunshine she felt strange as they walked through the gates Maybe because it’s changed, she told herself This place really had changed The fun house was the sas were different

The old train ride roller coaster was gone, and there was a mine ride called the Pit in its place There was a new metal coaster called the Steel Deiant inner tubes

The biggest shock was the new arcade It was full of shining video garams, virtual reality Jenny missed the old penny arcade, which had been dark and somewhat spooky, filled with machines from the turn of the century Ancient, beautifully carved wood and genuine brass-not this steel and neon stuff