The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis Read Online Free Page B

ceiling and Dooley on the couch and I will live here in this silver dollhouse.”
    Then he was snapped out of his daydream by Elvis’s mother, who said, “I’m Glory Jewell.”
    She was sitting in a blue plaid chair up front next to the driver’s seat, her feet propped on the folded-down bed and her hands resting on her stomach. She was a great big overstuffed pillow of a woman, the exact opposite of Velma, who was as hard and dried up as a peach pit. On the ceiling above her, a tiny fan whirred and rotated back and forth, blowing her thin dark curls off her forehead.
    â€œYou can call me Glory,” she said, fanning herself with a magazine. “I bet you hadn’t counted on gettin’ new neighbors, huh?” She grinned at Popeye.
    â€œNo, ma’am.”
    â€œFurman’s supposedly coming up with a plan to get this thing out of the mud, but I got my doubts.” She dabbed her neck with a paper towel. “I swear, if that husband of mine had an idea, it would die of loneliness.”
    Popeye wasn’t sure if he should smile at that or not, so he did a little half-smile thing and shrugged his shoulders. Behind him, Walter and Willis were kicking each other on the bed, their legs flailing andtheir bare feet slapping each other’s arms. Prissy was trying to grab something away from Shorty, and Calvin was standing on top of the kitchen counter writing on the ceiling with a marker.
    â€œCalvin!” Glory snapped. “You got your stupid head on today?”
    So Calvin jumped down onto the bed and landed on top of Willis and everybody was suddenly kicking and hollering and Elvis said, “Come on,” to Popeye and flung the door open and disappeared outside.
    Popeye followed him, stepping down out of that noisy silver dollhouse and out into the real world.

8
    POPEYE AND ELVIS spent all morning at the creek. The first thing they did was dig under the pile of leaves to see if the little Yoo-hoo boat was still there.
    It was.
    Then they decided to build a bigger dam than the one they had built the day before. That way, if any other boats came down the creek, they would get trapped.
    They piled up rocks and branches and mud until they had a real good dam.
    â€œThere,” Elvis said. “That oughta do it.”
    The next thing they did was sit on the mossybank beside the creek and wait, while Boo curled up in the soft green ferns beside them and napped.
    â€œHow long you think we’ll have to wait?” Popeye said.
    Elvis tossed pebbles into the creek.
    Plunk.
    Plunk.
    â€œBeats me,” he said. “How long we been here?”
    Popeye glanced up at the sky. “Beats me.”
    They sat and they waited and they sat and they waited and after a while, Elvis said, “Aw, heck, this is stupid. Let’s go see where this creek comes from.”
    So the two boys and Boo made their way along the edge of the creek, farther and farther into the woods. Sometimes they had to push through pricker bushes or climb over fallen trees. Sometimes the creek went straight, and sometimes it curved around a corner and then straightened out again.
    As he walked, Popeye could feel Velma’s eyes on him, sharp as tacks. The farther he got into the woods, the sharper those tacks got. After a while, he could hear her voice, cutting through him like a knife.
    Don’t you be going too far into them woods, you hear?
    There’s snakes and I don’t know what else back there.
    But Popeye kept going.
    The three of them walked and walked and walked, following the creek.
    Elvis and Popeye and Boo.
    One behind the other.
    Finally, after it seemed like they’d walked about a million miles, Elvis said, “Dang! Let’s stop.”
    Popeye tried not to look too relieved when he said, “Okay.”
    â€œLet’s mark this spot so we’ll know how far we came,” Elvis said.
    They found two big branches and placed them beside the creek, one crossed