The Rightful Heir (36 page)

Jon walked up to Benjamin. “Couldn't have picked a better day!”

“Nope!” Benjamin laughed, looking at his cousin's sack. “Is that the—”

“Hamburger buns? Yeah, you asked me to bring hamburger buns, right? Here ya go!” Jon tossed him the sack of buns and plates, then beamed. “Oh, alright. They're in the car. Give me a minute and I'll grab ‘em.”

Benjamin felt antsy. Jon stopped to say ‘hi' to everyone before they went to the car. Then Jon teased him by pulling out random things…an ice scraper, a road map. Finally he grabbed a large paper sack that bulged at the sides. “Paper or plastic?” He dropped it into Benjamin's hands, causing his arms to give a little.

“Man! What did you put in here?!”

“I made those cherry bombs
extra
special!” Jon flashed his teeth as the wind blew his hair wildly.

“How many are in here?”

“Five.”
His straight face almost cracked.

“Five?” Benjamin's jaw dropped.

“You said you were gonna blow up a dinosaur. I figured three wouldn't be enough!” Jon laughed and slapped Benjamin on the back.

“Wow! What else did you put in here?”

“Basically
about five times more of everything than I gave you last time.” Jon perked up. “Oh! I also added something new this time. Let me look in there.” He rummaged and found what he was looking for—a square red, white, and blue box.

“What's that?”

“Saturn Missiles. You ever seen ‘em?” Benjamin shook his head. “Fifty little screaming missiles shoot one-by-one out of the top of this!” He pointed at the top of the box and wiggled his hand around like a missile. “So if you happen to drop it after you light it,” A devilish smile came over him, “you'd better run like heck and pray it's not pointed at you.”

“Cool!”

“Yeah, I put a couple of ‘em in there for ya.” He pushed the sack back into Benjamin's hands. “Enjoy!”

Benjamin had what he wanted, and more. He envisioned the Trojan Pig being swallowed by the gargantuan snake, the fuse slowly shortening to detonation, and
BOOM!
He smiled as he put the sack in his parents' car…as far under the seat as it would go.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

T
HE
SUN STARTED TO SET
as the autumn day grew shorter. Jonah, Malcolm, and the raccoons had traveled across the pastures. Luckily the coyotes that survived the wild goats' retaliation weren't anywhere to be seen.

“So what exactly do you have planned?” Jonah asked Malcolm.

“I'll tell you when we get there. You're just gonna have to be patient. We'll be there by tonight.” Malcolm huffed and puffed. Carrying the barrel was starting to get tiresome for all five raccoons. “Anyways, don't complain. At least you're not carrying this.”

In the tall grass they couldn't see the western side of Persly's Woods in the distance.

M
AC GREW ANXIOUS
for the moon to rise. He ran in and out of the tunnel to see how much farther the sun had dropped in the west. It was taking forever for night to fall.

Roscoe's head poked out of the den. “Be patient,
Your Majesty
. You'll be crowned soon. And then you'll have so many problems you'll probably wish you'd never got the job.”

“What problems?”

“Are you kiddin' me?
Whoop!”

“…Why do you do that?”

“I can't help it. Anyway, haven't you been listening? Didn't you see that monstrous snake eat an armadillo back in Persly's
Woods a couple nights ago?”

“Uh…yeah, but that's Persly's Woods. That's far, far away. I won't have to deal with that stuff here. We're safe!”

That comment disturbed the goat. “Oh, Your Majesty… I think you underestimate the situation.”

Zeus popped up next to Roscoe. “It's getting close, My King.”

Roscoe sighed and dropped in the hole. They heard his words fade as he walked through the tunnel. “If you don't act quickly you'll be in for a big surprise…”

“What's wrong with him?” Zeus asked.

“Oh, he's jabbering on about that giant snake.”

“Wha-” Zeus's eyes grew wide. “What about it?”

“He thinks it's going to come all the way out here to attack us,” Mac snorted.

“So…what if it does?”

“Well, you heard my dumb little brother earlier. He said he's going to go kill it!” Mac was starting to understand what Roscoe meant about problems. The pug and Doberman went inside to wait for the ceremony.

T
HE SUN DROPPED,
and along with it the wind.

“Oh, sure! Right when it's time to leave, the wind stops blowing!” Tom Biggs declared to his cousins, Bert and Janice. They smiled politely. They all hugged each other good-bye, Aunt Karen threw in one last drawn-out story about somebody's appendicitis, and
finally
Benjamin Biggs was able to get in the car with his parents and leave.

He firmly shook Jon's hand and shut the car door, watching through his window as his cousin imitated lighting a roman candle and aiming it at him. Benjamin laughed. It was getting dark; clouds were building in the west and blocking the last of the sun.

Benjamin
grabbed the back of his mom's head rest and leaned forward between the two.
“Now
can we go to the Harvest Home Festival?”

“I thought that was next Sunday?” Tom said innocently, then guffawed.

“Yes, yes, we can go now.” Carol ignored her husband's attempt at humor.

T
HE RACCOONS AND
J
ONAH ENTERED
P
ERSLY'S
W
OODS.
The full, orange autumn moon teased them with glimpses of light behind the tall trees. The Trojan Pig got heavier but they continued east.

“Malcolm, which spring did you say this was going to?”

“I'm not positive where it's at. I just know it's close to the eastern edge of the forest.”

“Oh, that's just great!”

“Listen, the Snapper said—”

“Malcolm, you got your information from the Snapper?!” Zeke nearly dropped his end of the Trojan Pig.

“Um…yeah.”

“Are you crazy?! This whole thing could be a setup!”

“No, he wasn't lying about this. He said you could hear the cicadas and locusts sing really loud at the spring…louder than at any of the other springs.”

“Malcolm, open your ears! There're locusts screaming
everywhere!
Okay…so let me get this straight. We need to take this
thing
—which is really hurting my back—to a spring clear on the other side of the forest that one of our oldest enemies told us we could find by listening to loud singing bugs?”

Malcolm was embarrassed. “Yes…”

“Oh, brother! If this is a joke you're gonna have to tell Marlon we couldn't make it to work today because we were carrying…
Oh, just forget it! Let's keep moving.”

“Hey, look at this!” Jonah said, indicating an old, square metal sign leaning against a tree in the moonlight

“Let's take a break, guys.” Malcolm carelessly dropped his end and they all stretched their backs and legs.

“What do you suppose it is?”

None of them were able to read
“The J.Q. Lazarus Traveling Carnival.”
It was the sign Benjamin and his group had encountered the last time they journeyed there.

“I honestly have no clue,” Malcolm replied, looking it over. “It's definitely another one of those human things.”

They rested a couple of minutes and walked on.