Chapter 24

Aloysius

The part arrived first thing in the morning.

Jo and Sam got to work doing life-saving surgery on Rusty . . . um, Dolly . . . well, the car.

Laughter and also a few howls of pain came from the garage.

I slipped another two bucks into the computer bin, but no one had updated the fan site in the last few hours. I’d try to check in again later. It sounded like we’d still be stuck here for a while.

Finally, Leslie appeared.

I practically jumped on him as he flipped the sign on the front door from Closed to Open.

“LESLIE!”

He did jump. “Whoa! That’s a loud pre-coffee greeting, young Zed. Just give me a second.”

“But I want to see your gallery!”

His eyes twinkled. “Jo told you about that? I’d be glad to—after coffee.”

I stood around impatiently as his ancient coffee maker dripped and dripped liquid as thick as molasses into his mug.

The mug had “Don’t talk to me until I’ve eaten this mug” written across it. I suspected that he’d made it himself.

Gabe came in through the back door, yawning and stretching.

“Shhhh,” I said, pointing at Leslie. “He’s not alive yet.”

Gabe nodded and grabbed a granola bar from a nearby shelf. He sat on the floor, munching away.

Finally, after a second cup of coffee and one paying customer, Leslie gave a satisfied “Ahhhhh.” “Strong enough to raise the dead,” he said.

“See, Gabe? Told you.”

“C’mon, let’s go visit my critters.”

We followed him between the stacks toward a locked wooden door. Honestly, it was like a labyrinth in this place.

A sign on the door said Leslie’s Magnificent Menagerie. He opened it, revealing the coolest room I had ever seen!

Inside were skunks playing miniature violins. A fox stood in front of an easel, painting a version of the Mona Lisa. Two cats danced under a flying squirrel holding the moon.

And staring at me from a pedestal along the back wall, with almost a smile, was a long-eared rabbit with deer antlers.

“Is that a real jackalope?” I said in an awed hush.

“Well, as real as they can be. You know about them?” Leslie asked with a smile.

“They are the coolest fake animals EVER! Practically monsters! Taylor even throws a reference into one of the chapters. Yves the werewolf has one as a pet.”

“Aloysius,” Gabe said. “Part hare, part deer.”

Just mentioning Yves and Aloysius made me anxious. I hoped Jo was as good a mechanic as she was a punster because we needed to be back on the road.

I cocked an ear and heard the ding of metal and then Sam swearing.

Gabe heard it too. “Sounds like progress?” he said.

“I think we’re still gonna be here for a bit,” I said, and I walked straight up to the jackalope. “Hello, little feller.”

I imagined it, I know, but he twitched his nose in return.

Gabe walked up beside me. “He looks so alive! Nice work, Leslie.”

“You like him?” Leslie said.

“I love him!” I said, stroking the soft downy fur.

“Well, he is for sale, like all my animals. I want him to find a good home.”

I reached into my pockets and pulled out a handful of loose bills. I had only about fifteen dollars left. The price tag under the jackalope read “$200.”

“Well, I guess I could let it go for a steal,” Leslie said. “Fifteen dollars it is.”

The image of a happy jackalope and me bounding through a field appeared before my eyes. But it wasn’t right.

“Leslie, I can’t do that,” I said, pocketing the money. “This is too beautiful. And it would be disrespectful to me—and to Aloysius—to let you do that.”

There was a cough from the doorway.

We looked back. Jo was leaning against the jamb, wiping grease from her hands onto a rag.

“Rusty back and ready?” Gabe asked.

“Hear for yourself,” Jo said, nodding her head behind her. We could hear Sam gunning the engine. She gave out a loud “WHOOOOOPPP!!!”

I patted the jackalope a final time. “Farewell, fair Aloysius,” I said. “We must depart on our quest.”

Jo tucked the rag into her back pocket.

“How about we work out a deal? Les, you open to that?”

“Always. Bargain is my middle name.”

“It is, actually,” Jo said.

“Long story.” Leslie smiled. “But what bargain are you suggesting, cousin?”

“I’ve got to be back at school, and you were planning on driving me this weekend. Which means closing up the store, and gas and all that. But Sam has a car.”

Gabe and I traded a look.

Leslie began to nod. “So we can exchange the jackalope for a ride to ASU. Hmmm.” He rubbed his chin.

“That’s not really my decision to make,” I said. “It’s Sam’s car.”

“Sam already said yes, so if I drive back with her instead of making Leslie do it, a stuffed dead rabbit seems like an even exchange for my cuz to make.”

“Sounds good to me,” Leslie said.

I still didn’t think it was quite fair enough.

But then Jo clinched the deal. “And Sam says that you two are amazing at finding the best ice cream places. And that Zed here knows all the words to ‘Single Ladies.’”

“Bracket ‘Put a Ring on It’!” I shrieked. “And I know the dance moves too!” I began shuffling and waving my hands in front of my face.

Gabe groaned. “Please, no.”

Jo smiled. “Sing along in the car with me and that’s also worth a lot—Leslie has a strict ‘no music while driving’ policy, so we’re not the best road-trip companions. I know you were being nice,” she said to Leslie, “but this’ll be much better, and you won’t have to leave the store.”

He smiled, reached up and carefully plucked Aloysius from his perch. “Seems like a fair deal to me.”

He handed him to me. My eyes definitely teared up this time. Part hare, part deer. Something that doesn’t exist IRL but should. “It’s a miracle,” I said.

Leslie laughed.

I looked at Gabe. “Even if the historian beats us to the book, at least I have a real jackalope to bring home with me.”

Sam’s voice boomed from somewhere behind Jo. “Let’s move it, losers! The Dolly Carton Express is packed and leaving in two minutes!”

“Packed?” I said.

“She’s a pro,” Gabe replied.

“And she’s not kidding about leaving,” Jo said. “My stuff’s already in the trunk.”

Leslie walked over and gave Jo a giant hug. “You get more of those straight As and make us all proud,” he said.

“I’ll do my best. See you in a few weeks.”

“Not if I see you first.”

We marched out to the car, but as we passed the computer, I secretly tucked the fifteen dollars into the tin on the desk.

Gabe saw me. “You’d better have a good run of gender-guessing or you are going to owe me big time.”

I kissed Aloysius on the head. “Worth the risk,” I said.

Dolly Carton, in all her glory, sat in front of the store. Sam was doing some last-second trunk reorganizing.

“Don’t even think about chucking my sweaters!” I said.

“What do you think we used as rags when we were fixing the car?” she replied. But she was smiling.

I got in and used the middle seat belt to safely secure Aloysius in place.

Jo hopped into the passenger seat. Unexpectedly, she held up the walkie-talkies Jimi had given me.

“I found these in the trunk. They work?”

I laughed. “My brother ‘fixed’ them. Which usually means they work as paperweights.”

She had opened the back of one and was fiddling with the wires.

“Actually, whoever did this is pretty smart. He added an antenna from a cellphone, which increases the range a lot.” She put the cover back on and pressed a button. “And it’s way quieter now. Might come in handy.”

I was too shocked to speak. Jimi had fixed something and made it work better?

Jo plugged in her music player. “As soon as we’re back on the highway, it’s time for ‘Single Ladies’!”

Gabe put on his headphones.

Sam got into the driver’s seat.

“The quest is back on!” I yelled.

“Seat belts!” Sam announced. She started the car. “We’re leaving in three, two—”

She looked in the rear-view mirror.

“What in the actual heck is THAT?”

I stroked Aloysius’s fur. “Say hello to our new mascot.”