Michael Malone - Weebly

"Yes, it's so dark, they might have fallen into the
pond or been attacked by something wild, that's what's
been worrying me."
"Orchid. Please!" Miss Dingley hit her thighs hard.
"Absurd, crippled old busybody. Sometimes I think I
have no more brains than the rest of the Dingleys. Me
playing Hardy Boys with their legs."
(God knows what was out there, a ring of car
thieves, drug smugglers, a maniacal hermit, kidnappers,
and rapists.)
A sudden rap at the front window sent Mrs. O'Neal
into a loud scream. Ramona flung open the door. "It's
just them, it's them, Orchid, good God, calm down!
You two! Get in before they eat you alive. Oh, my
God, look at you! Are you all right?"
Luke and Polly huddled in the backseat. Their eyes,
eerily light, looked fluorescent in their mud-brown
faces. Their skin was blistered with scratches. "It got
dark so fast," Polly mumbled. "And then we got lost."
Her mouth was stiff with dried mud.
"Poor things, poor things," sighed Mrs. O'Neal.
Miss Dingley twisted around. "Was it there?"