Odds on Oliver Read Online Free

coming to get us. Let’s go, Ol!”
    Oliver hit the dirt and lay flat, like an infantryman. If only I’d worn my camouflage suit, he thought, I’d be invisible.
    â€œI don’t hear anything,” he said.
    â€œIt sounds like a monster,” Arthur said as the crashing sound came closer.
    â€œWe could dig a hole and hide,” Oliver said. He could hear a heart beating and didn’t know if it was his or Arthur’s.
    A shape hurtled out at them from the darkness.
    â€œAarrrgghhh!” Arthur cried.
    â€œNo!” Oliver shouted. “No, you’re not getting us!”
    He felt something wet against his face.
    Something wet and rough, like a dog’s tongue.
    â€œIt’s only Edna!” Oliver yelled. “Edna, for Pete’s sake!”
    â€œI knew it all along,” Arthur said. He got up and brushed himself off. “Give Edna a treat, Ol,” he said. “Give her the other doggy bag, why doncha?”
    â€œNah,” Oliver said. “Edna hates leftovers.”

7
    S KUNKED
    The next morning, the trap was empty, the food from the doggy bag gone.
    Oliver dropped to his hands and knees and sniffed the ground.
    â€œBear tracks, most likely,” he said.
    â€œLooks like cougar droppings to me,” Arthur said.
    When they got back to the Blue Burd, the restaurant was humming. Extra help skimmed around, chopping, peeling, shredding, whistling.
    â€œHeap big blast,” Arthur said. He had just read a book about Indians and apparently that was the way they talked.
    â€œWho’s setting off the fireworks, Dad?” Oliver said.
    â€œU. Crumm,” his dad replied.
    â€œBetter nail down the refreshments, then,” Oliver said. “U. Crumm’s a class-A eater, don’t forget.”
    â€œA champion,” his dad agreed. “And a great lady.”
    He scratched his head suddenly, sending his tall white chef’s hat awry. “Help me hang this poster, Ol. It just came from the Department of Health. It shows how to perform the Heimlich maneuver.”
    â€œOh, I know about that,” Arthur said. “Beany Allen’s uncle saved a rich lady’s life when she was choking on a piece of steak. He squeezed under her rib cage like the Heimlich maneuver says, and that piece of steak just came right out. She wanted to give Beany’s uncle a reward but he said no thanks, it was all in a day’s work.”
    â€œWhat’s Beany Allen’s uncle do?” Oliver said.
    â€œHe’s an auto mechanic,” Arthur said.
    â€œHe’s also a dope,” Oliver said. “You wouldn’t catch me turning down any reward from a rich lady.”
    â€œU. Crumm’s rich,” Arthur said. “You oughta see her car.”
    Just then, U. Crumm pulled up in her big white Caddy with its tail fins gleaming and its chrome trim ablaze.
    â€œHeap big squaw,” Oliver said.
    â€œI told you she was a big shot,” Arthur said.
    â€œI’ve come to inspect the fireworks,” U. Crumm said.
    Oliver’s mom and dad led U. Crumm to the boxes marked CAUTION: FLAMMABLE that were stacked against the wall.
    â€œVery good, everything seems to be in order,” U. Crumm said. “Is that gingerbread I smell?”
    Oliver’s mom and dad took U. Crumm into the kitchen so she could inspect the gingerbread, too.
    That night, at dusk, Oliver and Arthur set their trap a second time.
    â€œTonight’s a full moon,” Oliver said. “That means good luck.”
    Later, that same moon woke Oliver up with a long, bright finger poked right in his eye. He sat up and put one foot down, on his way to calling Arthur to ask if he was asleep. Then he decided to go back to sleep instead.
    In the early morning, with the dew still thick on the grass, they set out again.
    â€œBraves tread softly, carry heap big stick,” Oliver said.
    â€œTeddy Roosevelt said that and he wasn’t an Indian, he was