Terri already knew this; she quickly turned through the pages to “Toads.” She wanted to double-check her facts. Maybe there were some rare kinds of toads that had fangs and ate animals instead of insects and worms.
The book also told about how toads laid eggs in ponds and fresh-water lakes—sometimes they laid as many as 20,000 eggs at a time—and that they slept during the day and only came out at night to feed. Terri already knew all about this too; this wasn’t the information she was looking for.
But then—
I knew it, she thought.
The book plainly stated that toads, however rare, had no teeth; instead, they had big, sticky tongues which shot out of their mouths to catch insects to eat. And the book also stated that American toads never grew larger than six inches long. The toad she’d seen last night was over a foot long! And so were the ones she’d seen in the glass tanks when she’d snuck into the backroom at the boathouse.
Then she turned to the “Salamanders” chapter and discovered the same thing. Salamanders never grew to be more than ten or so inches long, and Terri was sure the one she and Patricia had seen on the pier was easily three-feet in length, and the ones she’d seen in the glass tanks were huge too. And salamanders didn’t have teeth or fangs either. Like toads and frogs and all other amphibians, salamanders ate insects. In fact there was a special word for that, Terri noted. According to the book, toads, frogs, and salamanders were called insectivores, which meant that they only ate insects and worms.
But the toad I saw last night, she felt certain, was trying to eat that baby rabbit. And rabbits definitely aren’t insects! They’re mammals!
All these things, all these facts and details, only mystified Terri more. And she knew now that there was no way her eyes could have been playing tricks on her. Patricia had seen the salamander too.
Terri didn’t know what to do.
She wished she could call Patricia, but how could she? Uncle Chuck had confined her to her room all day, and he was in the house.
clack!
Terri glanced up. The sound she’d just heard was familiar, and after a moment’s thought, she knew what it was.
It was the sound of the back sliding door closing.
She went quickly to her bedroom window, which faced the back yard, and she saw—
What’s he doing? she wondered.
Her Uncle Chuck was walking across the yard.
Maybe he’s going to mow the grass, Terri considered, but that couldn’t be, could it? He’d have to go out front to the garage first, because that’s where they kept the lawnmower.
But then Terri saw what he was doing.
He had a briefcase in his hand, like one of the briefcases she saw him and her mother bring home every day…
So that’s where he’s going, she noticed next.
Uncle Chuck was walking toward the path, then entering the path, then disappearing into it between the trees.
The path that led down to the lake, and to the boathouse.
And that gave Terri an idea…
««—»»
You’re in enough trouble as it is, Terri reminded herself. You must be crazy to take a chance like this.
But she couldn’t help it; this was an opportunity she wouldn’t have otherwise.
Still peering out her bedroom window, she waited a few minutes, to give Uncle Chuck plenty of time to get down to the lake.
Then she left her room.
She had to be quick. Getting caught out of her room would get her in more trouble than she could even think about.
But she had to call Patricia.
She moved quickly yet quietly, back into the kitchen, keeping an eye on the big glass pane of the back sliding door so she could see if Uncle Chuck was coming back up to the house.
No sign of him.
She snatched up the phone and dialed Patricia’s number as quickly as she could—
beep-beep-beep
It was busy.
She hung up and decided to wait a few minutes, keeping her eyes glued to the path entrance in the back yard. She had no idea how long he’d be down there. Sometimes he worked in the boathouse with her mother for hours on end, and sometimes he went down there by himself for hours too. But, then again—
Maybe he’s only going down there for a few minutes, Terri considered. To check some notes or something. Or…
Here was another thought.
Maybe he’s going to the boathouse to check up behind me, to see if I touched anything, or broke anything.
But if that were the case, then why would he be taking the briefcase with him? The fact that he was carrying the briefcase seemed like a pretty good sign that he’d be down there for a while, probably several hours, as usual.
Terri scratched her chin. Another thought occurred to her. Yes, Uncle Chuck definitely caught her in the boathouse, but only in the front room. She had gotten the door to the back room closed before he’d seen her. Which meant:
He doesn’t know that I was even in the back room, she guessed. So that means he doesn’t know that I saw those glass tanks with all the big toads and salamanders in them, or those bottles of gunk, or that trapdoor on the floor with the padlock on it.
And there was one more thing. Uncle Chuck had never asked her how she was able to get into the boathouse in the first place, had he? No, Terri was sure he hadn’t, and that seemed pretty absent-minded of him. Usually, adults always asked about every little detail.
These questions itched at her, along with many others. But her biggest question for the moment was this:
What’s Mom going to say when she finds out I was in the boathouse?
But Terri pushed these questions aside, at least for the time being. She would have to worry about them later. Right now, though, her goal was to call Patricia.
Terri glanced out at the path entrance again, and didn’t see any sign of Uncle Chuck. Then she picked up the phone and redialed Patricia’s number.
It’s ringing! Terri thought.
A woman answered, Patricia’s mother. “Hello?”
“Hi,” Terri said. “May I please speak to Patricia?”
But suddenly Patricia’s mother sounded very upset, like something awful had happened. “Patricia’s not here right now,” she said, her voice shaking. “She—oh, the poor thing!”
“What?” Terri asked. “What happened?”
“Patricia had to go to the hospital—”
««—»»
The hospital!
Terri couldn’t believe it; she felt crushed. Patricia was in the hospital! When Terri asked Patricia’s mother exactly what had happened, her mother said she wasn’t sure. “She got cut very badly,” Patricia’s mother had said over the phone, still very upset. “She has to get stitches.”
And that was all Patricia’s mother had said; she had to hang up quickly because she was expecting her husband to call from the hospital, and she didn’t want to tie up the phone line.