Page 47 of Gideon

“See, this is why I lock my doors now,” Joey said.

“You get a lot of mobs stopping at the front of your place?”

“You never know.” Joey poked his head out the window and shouted, “What’d you want?”

“It’s that trouble-making son of yours,” someone shouted back.

Joey looked in at Gideon and snickered, “Trouble-making son? What is this Scooby-do?” He yelled back at the crowd. “What about him?”

“Our fight’s not with you, old man,” Phineas said. “We don’t want to cause you any trouble. We just want to talk. Send Gideon out. We know he’s in there.”

“If you don’t want any trouble,” Joey said, “what are you doing crowding around my home?”

“He has to pay,” someone else shouted.

“For what?”

“Your son destroyed public property.”

Joey looked at Gideon. “Did you hear that? They think you did it.”

Gideon nodded solemnly. “Yeah. It was me.”

“Huh.” He turned his curiosity back to the crowd. “How’d you know it was my boy that did it?”

“Barb saw,” Phineas said. “She saw his truck parked in the square.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“Give me a second,” Joey said, then pulled his head back inside. “Haven’t I taught you anything? I thought you were street smart. You should have been more careful.”

“We were.”

“We?” Joey raised an eyebrow.

“No. Just me. I don’t want anyone else involved.”

“I see.” Back out the window, he said, “Is this about those ugly totem poles?”

The crowd began to roar and chant with Phineas’s encouragement. It was hard to make out what they were saying. A few words and phrases made it through. Some were demanding Gideon’s head, others were commenting on the power of the gods.

Joey shook his head and looked at Gideon. “They’re frothing at the mouth.”

“I can see that.”

“And they sayI’mout of my mind.”

“We’ll come up there if we have to!” a woman yelled. “Either way, we’re going to make him pay.”

The group added their agreement.

“You want to hurt my kid because he cut down a few trees?”

“They aren’t just wood,” Phineas said. “They are the lifeblood of this town. Those gods provide for us. They’re angry. We cry out with words, but they will respond with action.”

Joey put a hand up. “Give me a sec,” he shouted above the noise and tucked back inside. “They’re pretty mad.” He snickered.

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