How I Got My Shrunken Head Read Online Free Page A

jogged to keep up with her.
    Sweat ran down my forehead. The back of my neck started to itch.
    Why was Carolyn in such a hurry?
    “We’re kind of trapped here, right?” I said, studying the low, twisted trees beyond the small headquarters buildings. “I mean, how do we get off the island when we’re finished?”
    “We radio for Ernesto,” Carolyn replied, not slowing her pace. “It takes him about an hour to get here from the mainland.”
    That made me feel a little better. I scurried through the tall grass, struggling to keep up with Carolyn.
    My suitcase began to feel heavy. I wiped sweat from my eyes with my free hand.
    We were nearing the headquarters. I expected Aunt Benna to come running out to greet me. But I couldn’t see any sign of anyone.
    A radio antenna was perched off to the side. The low buildings were perfectly square. Flat-roofed. They looked like upside-down cartons. Square windows had been cut in each wall.
    “What is that stretched over all the windows?” I asked Carolyn.
    “Mosquito netting,” she replied. She turned back to me. “Have you ever seen a mosquito as big as your head?”
    I laughed. “No.”
    “Well, you will.”
    I laughed again. She was joking — right?
    We stepped up to the first building, the largest in the row. I set down my suitcase, pulled off my baseball cap, and mopped my forehead with my shirtsleeve. Wow. It was hot.
    A screen door led into the building. Carolyn held it open for me.
    “Aunt Benna!” I cried eagerly. Leaving the suitcase on the ground, I ran inside. “Aunt Benna?”
    Sunlight filtered through the netting over the window. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darker light.
    I saw a table cluttered with test tubes and other equipment. I saw a bookshelf against a wall, filled with notebooks and books.
    “Aunt Benna?”
    Then I saw her. Wearing a white lab coat. Standing with her back to me, at a sink against the wall.
    She turned, wiping her hands on a towel.
    No.
    Not Aunt Benna.
    A man. A white-haired man in a white lab coat.
    His hair was thick and brushed straight back. Even in the dim light, I could see the pale blue of his eyes, blue as the sky. Such strange eyes. They looked like blue glass. Like marbles.
    He smiled. Not at me.
    He was smiling at Carolyn.
    He motioned to me by tilting his head. “Does he have it?” he asked Carolyn. He had a scratchy, hoarse voice.
    Carolyn nodded. “Yes. He has it.” I could see that she was breathing hard. Short, shallow breaths.
    Was she excited? Nervous?
    A smile crossed the man’s face. His blue eyes appeared to twinkle.
    “Hi,” I said awkwardly. I felt really confused. What did that question mean? What did I have?
    “Where is my aunt Benna?” I asked.
    Before he could answer, a girl appeared from the back room. She had straight blond hair and the same pale blue eyes. She was dressed in a white T-shirt and white tennis shorts. She appeared to be about my age.
    “This is my daughter, Kareen,” the man said in his hoarse voice, more like a whisper. “I am Dr. Richard Hawlings.” He turned to Kareen. “This is Benna’s nephew, Mark.”
    “Tell me something I don’t know,” Kareen replied sharply, rolling her eyes. She turned to me. “Hey, Mark.”
    “Hi,” I replied. Still confused.
    Kareen flipped her blond hair back over the shoulders of her T-shirt. “What grade are you in?”
    “Sixth,” I told her.
    “Me, too. Except I’m not in school this term. I’m in
this
dump.” She frowned at her father.
    “Where is my aunt?” I asked Dr. Hawlings. “Is she working or something? I thought she’d be here. You know. When I arrived.”
    Dr. Hawlings stared at me with those strange blue eyes. It took him a long time to reply. Finally, he said, “Benna isn’t here.”
    “Excuse me?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly. It was hard to understand his raspy voice. “Is she … uh … working?”
    “We don’t know,” he replied.
    Kareen played with a strand of