17 The Calling Card

Chapter 17 THE CALLING CARD Back in the RV, Coke and his parents were starting to get impatient. Dr. McDonald looked at his watch. "What's taking her so long?" he said. "I thought she was just going to buy herself a souvenir and that would be it." "Women and shopping, Dad," Coke said. "You know." "That's a sexist comment!" said Mrs. McDonald. "How about a little patience? I had to sit and wait for you while you were watching that ball game in Chicago." "She's probably buying up the whole store and wasting money," said Dr. McDonald. "I read an article about this somewhere. People with

unusual names love to buy things that have their name on it. It validates them. I told you we should have named her Ashley." "You wanted to name her Sprite," said Mrs. McDonald. "One of us should go check on her." "I'll do it," sighed Coke. Coke hopped out of the RV and jogged down the street to the Birthplace of Pepsi. It was empty, just as it had been the first time he went in. "Pep! You in here?" No answer. Coke looked all around and, seeing no sign of his sister, pushed open the door leading to the back room. It was a small office, also empty. He stopped. Was that a muffled sound coming from below the floor? He found the steps and rushed downstairs. That's where he found his sister, bound and gagged, her feet submerged in a tub of some dark liquid, desperately trying to yell for help. "Pep!" he shouted, taking the scarf off her mouth. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I came down here and tied myself to this chair for the fun of it!" she yelled at him. "You dope! I was kidnapped!" "Hey, don't yell at me," he replied. "I'm rescuing you." "Get me outta here!" she shouted. "Quick, before the acid eats through my flesh!" "I'm working as fast as I can," he said, trying to untangle the ropes around her feet. "Who did this to you?" "Evil Elvis," she told him. "That's what the cipher meant. I was wrong. It wasn't ELVIS LIVE. It was EVIL ELVIS. He's an Elvis impersonator. He's the one who dropped the chest of drawers and the giant brain on me." "What was an Elvis impersonator doing in the Birthplace of Pepsi?" Coke asked. "Trying to kill me!" Pep shouted. "He stuck my feet in the tub of Pepsi so it will eat at my flesh. Hurry up! I think the bone in my leg is about to come through the skin!" Coke stopped. Then he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Pep asked. "Stop laughing at me!" "You think dipping your feet in soda is going to make your flesh dissolve?" Coke asked, doing his best to avoid doubling over. "It won't?" Pep said meekly. "That's one of those urban legends, you dope!" Coke told her. "Soda can't do that." "It can't?" "Of course not," Coke said as he removed the last of the rope that was binding her. "That's one of those stories that gets passed around on the internet so much that people think it's true. It's a hoax. There's more acid in orange juice than in Pepsi. See for yourself. Your feet are fine." Pep pulled her feet out of the tub and counted her toes. Satisfied that all ten were still there, she wiped them on Coke's shirt and put her sneakers back on. "Why would Evil Elvis do this?" she asked her brother. "He could have killed me easily

enough if he wanted to." "This is his calling card," Coke guessed. "He wants us to know he's out there, watching us. He's trying to get into our heads. Mind games, you know. And he's probably nuts, like those other people who have been chasing us." "He told me he's going to get you after he takes care of me," Pep told her brother. "Oh yeah?" Coke said. "Not if I get him first. And he's gonna have to do more than stick my feet in a tub of soda pop." They ran out of the Birthplace of Pepsi and back down the street to the RV. "So what did you buy?" Dr. McDonald asked Pep as he started up the engine. "Nothing." "All that time and you didn't buy anything?" said Mrs. McDonald. "What were you doing in there? We were starting to get nervous." "Not to worry, Mom," Coke explained. "Pep got kidnapped by an evil Elvis impersonator who tied her to a chair and said he was going to soak

her feet in Pepsi until it ate away at her flesh." "Kids …," muttered Dr. McDonald, shaking his head.