Excerpt: VIRTUALLY LONDON, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 3
"Charlotte, didyou send Jinx to get Ford, tell him the news? Or would you like me to run up tothe old fishing hole and get him?" Mr. Zephyr said, when they came downafter the final trip, hauling the last set of bookshelves.
"Oh, you'dbetter believe it," Gram said. "That boy wasn't in so much a hurry toget out of town that he'd overlook something like that." She chuckled andgestured with her tray of lemonade and fresh sugar cookies, out onto the porch.We all settled down. Doni curled up next to Gram on the three-seater swing withone of her new books.
"Get out oftown?"
"Senior PrankNight." I took my usual spot on the steps with my back against the bigsupport pillar Uncle Jinx had carved to look like dragons had wrapped aroundit. The other pillar had unicorns chasing each other around and around up tothe top.
"Oh, joy."He shared grins with Mr. Carr. “Forgot about that.”
"What's SeniorPrank Night?" Doni asked, and sprayed a few crumbs from her mouthful ofsugar cookie.
It was kind of niceto see she was a normal little kid in some aspects.
We explained aboutthe long-standing tradition in Neighborlee for graduating seniors, on the firstWednesday of June, to play some extravagant prank. Sort of to leave their markon the town before they headed off into adulthood. If they survived. Somemembers of the police and fire departments, and teachers spent Senior PrankNight on patrol. They tried to head off any pranks that got out of control, andprevent expensive or long-term damage to people, places, and things.
"Lanie swearssome of these kids don't want to attend their own graduation ceremony,"Mr. Zephyr said with a chuckle.
"We're stilltrying to figure out how she and her friends threaded those tires on theflagpoles in front of the schools, the board of education office and the policedepartment," Mr. Carr said. "No ladder in this town tall enough toget to the top of those flagpoles. I tend to think that friend of hers, the onewith the gift for gizmos--" He looked around, stumped for a moment.
"KurtHanson," I supplied.
"That'sright." He nodded. "I think he rigged some elaborate pulley system tolift those tires up and over. At least Lanie’s prank didn't get anyonehurt." He chuckled. "And they used ordinary, worn-out tires thatcould be cut off easily. As I recall, the year that idiot Grandstone and hisfriends tried to blow up Blackwater Pool, some other fool in their graduatingclass put steel-belted radials on the shorter flagpoles in front of the bankand the post office. Brand new ones. That's what got them caught, as Irecall."
"How?" Donisat up, eyes wide, her fourth cookie in her hand.
"They trackedthe tires back to the store where they were stolen and the fools were caught onthe security tape. Had to get a special saw to cut those tires off theflagpole." He nodded to Mr. Zephyr. "Nobody was hurt or upset, anddidn't cost the town or the schools a penny to remove those tires, the yearLanie graduated."
"Yeah, Rainbowand I raised our kids right, I think," Mr. Zephyr said.
"I suppose Lanieis on patrol tonight," Gram said.
"You can bet onit."
