"Yeah," he admitted. "Witches and things."
"Did you try your bedroom?"
"Yeah, last night. I haven't got that much, though. Nothing with the details. And the public library stinks."
"They probably don't want to corrupt the youth."
"Anyway, what I was thinking was that maybe I could go along with you and take a look around while you're in class."
"For two and a half hours? Aren't you afraid you'll get bored?"
"I never get bored. Dad says boredom's a sign of a weak mind."
Tanya grinned, brushed a lock of hair away from her forehead,and took the plate from Benny. "Well, you're welcome to come along, if that's what you want. But you'd better check with your dad first. He might have some chores for you. Go on ahead. I'll finish with the dishes."
"Thanks," he said, and hurried outside. His father, in his faded blue swimming trunks, was down on one knee beside the pool, checking the thermometer. "Hey, is it okay if I go over to the college with Tanya? It's all right with her if it's all right with you."
"Fine with me. What's up?"
"Nothing. I just want to fool around in the library."
Dad's mouth curved in a half smile. "The only known copies of the Necronomicon are said to reside in the Miskatonic University library and — "
Benny laughed. "You know about that?"
"You'd be surprised what your old dad knows. I ain't completely illiterate, boy. Anyway, go ahead if you want. Be warned, though. Karen'll be showing up in an hour or so."
Benny's eagerness faded. He didn't want to miss Karen. On the other hand, this was too important to delay. Maybe he wouldn't find anything helpful in the college library, but he had to give it a try. "Well," he said, "I'd better go anyway. We'll be back around one."
"Karen should still be here. She's staying for supper, I imagine. Good hunting."
Chapter Twenty-eight
They were on a quiet, tree-shadowed lane no more than six blocks from home, Rose fooling with the radio dial to bring in a rock station, when a German shepherd wandered out from behind a parked car. Alice gasped. She threw an arm across Rose's chest, knocking the girl backward as her foot shot down on the brake pedal. The tires shrieked. The dog swung its head around, seemed to glare at Alice, made no move to get out of the way. The hood hid it from view an instant before it was struck. The impact jolted the station wagon. Alice whimpered as the left front tire bumped over the dog.
"Oh, Mom!" Rose cried. She had a look of horror in her eyes.
Alice glanced at the rearview mirror. The shadowy lane was deserted behind them. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to drive on and get far away from it all, but she couldn't do that without a rear tire passing over the dog. The thought of that sickened her. Her right leg, still stretched out and mashing the brake pedal to the floor, started to bounce in a frenzy as if its muscles had all gone berserk.
Rose fumbled with her seat belt.
"Just wait a — "
"We've gotta help it, Mom!" She flung open her door and leaped out.
"Rose! Damn it!"
The girl, paying no attention, was running around the front of the car. With a shaky hand, Alice turned off the ignition. She set the emergency brake, struggled to free herself from the seat belt, and shoved open her door. Her jumpy right leg started to collapse when she put weight on it. She hung onto the door to hold herself up. "Rose!"
It was too late. The girl was standing rigid by the front tire, staring down, her pretty features twisted hideously, palms pressed to her ears as if to block out a terrible noise.
Alice glanced down at the crushed remains of the dog. She raised her eyes quickly to Rose. "There!" she snapped. "Are you happy? I told you not to look!" She hadn't, not really, but she'd tried. "I wish, damn it, just once, you'd listen to me when I tell you something!"
The girl kept staring at the dog. "Oh, Mom," she muttered, and dropped her hands to her sides.
"Did you hear anything I told you?"
"We've gotta help it," Rose said again, and started to cry.
"Oh, Rose, Rose." Alice hugged her daughter fiercely. She started to cry. "I'm sorry, honey. I'm sorry I yelled. I just didn't want you to see. I'm sorry."
"We've gotta help it."
"It's beyond our help, honey. It's with God now."
"No. Please. It can't be dead."
"I'm sorry, honey."
"We've gotta take it to a vet."
"It's dead. There's nothing a vet can do for it."
"Please. If we don't try. We've gotta try!"
"Trouble?" someone called.
Alice spotted a young, bearded man striding down the nearest driveway. Please, she thought, don't let it be his dog. "It ran out," she said. "I couldn't stop in time. It just… ran right out in front of me."
He stepped past the front of the car, and looked down. "You sure creamed it, all right. What a mess."
Alice wiped her eyes. "Do you know who it belongs to?"
"Never seen it before." He crouched down close to the remains. "Doesn't seem to have a collar. A stray maybe."
"We're gonna take it to a vet," Rose said.
The man raised his eyebrows. "You want to put that in your car?"
"No — "
"Yes! We have to, Mom. Please."
"Honey, it's dead."
"No, it's not!"
"Looks pretty dead to me," the man said. He sounded a bit amused. "I'm no authority, but the way its guts are spread around — "
"Stop that!" Alice snapped.
"Sorry. I didn't. Tell you what. If you really want to take it with you, I'll give you a hand. Let's not mess up your car, though. You want to hang on a minute, I've got some Hefty bags out in the garage. Go ahead and open your tailgate. I'll be back in two shakes."
Alice stood mute while he hurried away. She didn't want the awful thing in her car. But she felt trapped. She couldn't drive away without running over it again — not unless she first dragged it out from under the car. Besides, Rose would never forgive her.
She supposed that she did have a certain responsibility for the poor creature. She couldn't blame herself for killing it — she'd been driving under the speed limit and it had stepped out right in front of her and nobody could've stopped in time. But she had been the one to kill it, even if it weren't her fault. As much as she hated the idea, she supposed that hauling its corpse to a veterinary hospital would be the right thing to do.
Let them dispose of it properly.
They could leave it here for the Department of Animal Regulation to pick up. But other cars might. Maybe the man would move it out of the road.
Hell, she might as well take it. Make Rose happy. Unless she was mistaken, there was a veterinary hospital on Wilshire, just a block from their dentist's office.
She saw the man striding down his driveway with a garbage bag and a shovel. A shovel. "Get in the car, honey."
As the girl obeyed, Alice took the keys from the ignition and stepped to the rear of the station wagon. She lowered the tailgate. Hearing a car behind her, she rushed to the driver's door and shut it. The car swung into the other lane. Alice looked down so she wouldn't see those inside the car as it passed. She was relieved that it didn't stop. Once it was gone, the road was clear.
"You sure you want to take this thing?" the man asked. "I could drag it over to the curb, have the pound come for it."
"No, that's all right. My daughter — "
"Yeah. Kids. You're always better off going along with them. Hey, they're usually right anyway."