CHAPTER 19 
CHAPTER 19 Have you ever tried to pay for a cheeseburger with a diamond?
“You have got to be kidding me,” said the lady behind the counter at the Pie-in-the-Sky Diner. She squinted at the sparkling stone that Olivia had just handed to her. “Honey, we take Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and cash. No rhinestones.”
I took my notepad and pen out of my backpack. It’s not a rhinestone, I wrote. It’s real. I tore off the piece of paper and gave it to her.
She looked at it and plunked the gem down on the countertop. “Right. And I’m the queen of England.”
I sized her up. The name tag on her blindingly pink uniform read PEARL, but it might as well have read ONE TOUGH COOKIE. Her fingernails, which were tapping the formica countertop impatiently, were the same bright shade as her lipstick and dress, and that sky-high updo of hers looked like she’d set her hair dryer control to “stun.”
I elbowed Olivia and emptied my pockets. I had fifty-seven cents left. Olivia had two crumpled dollar bills and a quarter. We’d spent the rest of the money our friends had given us on granola bars, yogurt, and juice at one of the earlier stops. I shoved the pile of coins and bills across the counter and pointed to the picture of the cheeseburger on the laminated menu. We had almost enough money for one, and we could split it.
Pearl sucked her teeth as she counted up our money. “Sorry, kids. You’re still a little short.”
Please, I wrote on the pad. My stomach had the good sense to rumble just then. It was two thirty in the afternoon. Breakfast had been a long time ago.
She looked at me sharply and frowned. “What’s with the notebook, young man? Are you mute or something?”
I nodded. She jerked her thumb at Olivia. “How about her?”
Also mute, I wrote.
“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me you’re both mute?”
I passed her another piece of paper. It’s genetic. It runs in the family.
Her expression softened. “Oh, you poor little things.”
You have no idea, I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth closed and did my best to look like a poor little thing. Which, when you haven’t had a hot meal in over twenty-four hours, isn’t all that difficult.
“Cheeseburger, is it?”
Olivia and I nodded hungrily. Pearl sighed. “Well, I guess we’ll call it close enough,” she told us, scooping up our money. She leaned over the counter and lowered her voice. “Go find a booth. And don’t breathe a word to Frank. He’s the owner.” She looked over her shoulder at the man at the grill behind her, then straightened up again and gave a short bark of laughter. “Not that you could anyway,” she added. “Breathe a word, I mean. You two being mute and all.”
When she showed up with our order a few minutes later, she brought us not one but two cheeseburgers, plus two huge helpings of fries, two chocolate milk shakes, and two pieces of cherry pie. “Getting close to closing time,” she said, scowling. “No point leaving all this food sitting around going to waste.”
Olivia kicked me under the table, and I grabbed my notepad. Thank you! I wrote.
The waitress sniffed and trundled off. The diner was empty except for a lone customer on the far side of the room. Pearl refilled his coffee, patted her beehive hairdo as she chatted with him a bit, then came back to our table and looked us over. “So where are your parents?”
Olivia stopped midbite and glanced anxiously at me. It hadn’t occurred to us that someone might ask this question, and I didn’t have an answer ready. Grabbing my pen, I wrote the first thing that popped into my mind: Bolivia.
Pearl’s painted-on eyebrows shot up beneath her stiff blond bangs.
Olivia glared at me and reached for the notebook. They put us on the bus this morning before they left, she wrote. We’re staying with our grandparents in Ashland while they’re out of the country.
My grandparents, not yours, I thought, but I had to give my stepsister credit for quick thinking. It was a pretty decent answer.
Pearl thought so too, apparently. “Well, that’s good,” she said, sounding relieved. “You had me worried there for a minute. We get runaways coming through here every now and again.”
She went back over to the counter and busied herself refilling ketchup bottles.
Olivia leaned over the table. “Bolivia? What the heck did you say that for?” she whispered furiously, brushing a fistful of dandelions and another diamond off her cheeseburger.
“It just came out!” I replied indignantly.
“Yeah, like that stupid toad,” whispered Olivia again, flicking a french fry at the amphibian on my plate. She flicked one at me, too, for good measure.
I grabbed the toad and stuffed it into my backpack. I’d release it outside later, before we got on the bus to Crescent City.
“You kids need anything else?” Pearl called from the counter.
We shook our heads.
“Croak,” went my backpack.
Pearl looked up and frowned. Olivia kicked me under the table again. I glared at her and shoved my backpack onto the floor.
Do you think she saw anything? Olivia wrote on my notepad.
No.
How about that other guy?
I glanced over at the customer on the other side of the room. He seemed engrossed in his newspaper.
I don’t think so.
No more talking, Olivia wrote, underlining the words sternly.
Like I don’t know that, I scribbled back, underlining mine just as sternly.
You shut up!
“You’re not eating,” said Pearl, materializing by our table. She put her hands on her hips. “What’s the matter, don’t you like our cooking here at Pie-in-the-Sky? Best breakfast-and-lunch spot on the I-5 corridor, bar none.”
Olivia picked up her cheeseburger and took a bite. I stuffed a handful of french fries in my mouth. We both smiled at her.
Pearl nodded. “That’s more like it.”
Croak.
She cocked her head. “What was that?” she asked suspiciously.
I shrugged, feigning innocence.
Croak.
“There it is again,” she repeated sternly. “It’s coming from under the table.”
Olivia reached for the notebook. My little brother has a pet frog in his backpack. Sorry.
I hung my head, trying to look sheepish.
Pearl sighed. “What is it about boys and frogs?” she said, shaking her head. “I had me a couple of little boys, back in the day. They’re grown men now, but when they were young, they were just like your brother here. They loved critters—snakes, frogs, even a baby squirrel once—I was forever finding things stashed in their rooms.” She patted my head. “Well, I guess it can’t harm anything, as long as it stays put and Frank doesn’t find out. Better not let the bus driver catch you with it, though. He won’t like a frog aboard, no sirree.”
She left and went over to check on the other customer.
Olivia and I ate in silence for a while. Then Olivia picked up the pen again. That man is staring at us.
Who, Frank?
Duh. The other customer.
This time I was the one to kick her.
Quit it! she scribbled. I’m serious! He’s watching us.
It was probably her imagination, but I sneaked a peek anyway. It wasn’t her imagination. He was definitely staring at us. So was the headline on the front page of his newspaper: NO LEADS YET ON DIAMOND GIRL AND HER SISTER!
My heart sank. I didn’t realize they got the Portland paper down here in Grants Pass! I grabbed the pencil and paper from her. We need to get out of here, NOW!
Olivia nodded and started to pull on her jacket. Before we could get up from the table, though, the man on the other side of the diner stood up, threw some money down by his empty plate, and strode out the door.
Olivia and I exchanged a glance. Now what?
I slipped Connor’s cell phone out of my pocket and sent A.J. a text, telling him what had just happened.
Might be your imagination, he texted back. Advise staying put until the last minute, then making a run for the bus.
Olivia took her jacket back off and we sat there warily, sipping our milk shakes. I expected to hear sirens any minute.
“Quitting time, Frank!” called Pearl a few minutes later. “You go on home to that new grandbaby of yours, and I’ll finish up here.”
The owner of Pie-in-the-Sky emerged from the kitchen, murmured a few instructions as he said good-bye to Pearl, then left. Once he was gone, Pearl turned the sign on the door to CLOSED, crossed the room to where Olivia and I were sitting, and threw the newspaper and its screaming headline down on the table in front of us.
She folded her arms across her bright pink uniform. “Now I think it’s time you two girls told me what’s going on.”