Chapter 2

Chapter 2 It took Green Lawn's fire truck only five minutes to get to the fire. Dink and Ruth Rose stood next to the barn. They watched with Josh and his family as the firefighters put out the blaze. "I wanna go see the fire truck!" Josh's brother Bradley announced, wiggling in his father's arms. "Afraid not," his dad said. "Besides, the fire's out, and you're going to bed." "No, I wanna stay up!" Bradley's twin, Brian, complained. "It's time to play!" Josh's dad just laughed.

Dink looked at his watch. It was about onethirty. Across the meadow, he could see the fire truck's lights. The firefighters' voices sounded muffled. A few minutes later, they saw the fire engine leaving. Soon the taillights disappeared on River Road. "Okay, the excitement's over," Josh's mother said, taking Brian's hand. "Back to bed, everyone." "You three get some sleep," Josh's dad said as he carried Bradley toward the house. "Okay, Dad," Josh said. The kids and Pal straggled into the barn. Pal flopped into the hay pile next to Polly again, and the kids climbed into their sleeping bags. Suddenly Dink popped up. "Hey, guys, I just realized something. I may have seen who set the fire!" he said. "What're you talking about?" Josh asked. "Polly woke me up before we smelled the fire," Dink explained. "I went out to look around and saw headlights over by the river!" "Maybe someone was camping," Ruth Rose said. She yawned. "We can check in the morning."

It's already morning, Dink thought, copying Ruth Rose's yawn. He lay back down. As he was falling asleep, he heard a scratchy sound in the dark. He froze, imagining some night creature crawling over—or into—his sleeping bag. Then he heard munching, and he smelled cookies. "Josh!" Dink said. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" "Sorry," Josh said, swallowing. "I was hungry!" When the kids woke up, sunlight was streaming through the dusty barn window. Birds chirped. The kids kicked out of their sleeping bags and stepped into their sneakers. "Let's go see that fire," Josh said. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair stood in spikes. Pal gazed up at Josh with big brown eyes. "Okay, you can come, too," he said, snapping Pal's leash onto his collar. Ruth Rose fed Polly a carrot, and then they left the barn. The sun peeked through the trees as the kids hiked across the meadow. The tall grass was heavy with dew. Their sneakers and legs were soon soaked.

"Look!" Ruth Rose said. Straight ahead was a soggy pile of blackened wood. The air stunk of smoke and wet ashes. The ground was even wetter here. There were still puddles from the firefighters' hoses. Dink noticed deep footprints in the mushy, trampled grass. "Why would somebody light a fire here?" Josh asked, looking around. They were standing near the edge of River Road. On the other side of the road, a short bank dropped off to Indian River. "Maybe they were roasting marsh-mallows," Ruth Rose said. She found a long stick and began poking the mess of charred wood and ash. "In the middle of the night?" Josh asked. "Who eats then?" Dink laughed. "You do, Mr. Cookie Monster." Josh grinned. "What's this?" Ruth Rose asked. She picked up a hunk of wood and wiped it clean. It was about six inches long and three inches wide. Both ends were charred, but the middle hadn't been burned. Stamped into the board with black ink were the letters ET CO. "What's ET CO?" Josh asked.

"CO could be the first two letters of Connecticut," Ruth Rose said. "Or Colorado," Dink added. "I wonder if someone started the fire just to get rid of this," Ruth Rose said, examining the narrow piece of wood. "It would be nice to know how many letters got burned off," Dink said. "ET CO could be part of lots of words, like pet comb or wet coat." "Or sweet cotton candy," Josh added. "The CO could be short for corporation," Ruth Rose suggested, shoving the wood into her back pocket. "I think it stands for get cookies!" Josh yelled. He started to run. "Last one back to the barn doesn't get any!"