24 Keeping Austin Weird

Chapter 24 KEEPING AUSTIN WEIRD Except for a rip in Coke's T-shirt, the twins were fine. They told Mya and Bones everything they could remember about Doominator and Mrs. Higgins. "Let's go!" Bones hollered to Mya. "Maybe we can catch them before they get too far." Before following him, Mya put her hands on the twins' shoulders. "We will watch out for you, always," she said. Then she hugged them both and ran after Bones. Coke and Pep had no interest in hanging around to see the rest of the chocolate factory. They rushed back to the little storage room and climbed out the small window they had entered.

Their parents were waiting in the car. "So, did you have fun?" asked Dr. McDonald. "Was it exciting, having the run of the place?" "Exciting is the perfect word for it, Dad," Coke replied. "Not again!" Mrs. McDonald asked, poking her finger through the tear in Coke's shirt. "What happened this time?" "It... uh... got caught on something," Coke said honestly. "I'm really sorry, Mom." "I wish you'd be more careful," Mrs. McDonald said shaking her head. "I feel like you ruin a new T-shirt just about every day." Afterward, they had dinner and checked into a Waco hotel called La Quinta Inn & Suites. It was still early, and the twins, in the privacy of their own room, had some time to talk things over. "Do you think that robot is as dangerous to us as the real Dr. Warsaw?" Pep wondered as

she brushed her teeth. "It's more dangerous," Coke replied. "At least Dr. Warsaw felt guilty about what he was doing. That's probably why he had a nervous breakdown. Doominator has everything Dr. Warsaw has, except for a conscience. So the robot can kill a kid and feel no remorse." "Do you think Mrs. Higgins really loves him?" Pep asked. "I mean, is it possible to fall in love with a robot? Or for a robot to fall in love with a person?" "Beats me," her brother replied. "The two of them seem like they're meant for each other. They're both psychos." Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com). Click Get Directions. In the A box, type Waco TX.

In the B box, type Austin TX. Click Get Directions. From Waco to Austin is a straight shot south about a hundred miles down I-35. In the morning, Dr. McDonald let the Ferrari unwind and they made the trip in an hour and a half. As soon as they arrived in Austin, it was obvious that this was not your typical central Texas town. Besides its fame as the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin is also famous simply for being a weird place and proud of it. In fact, bumper stickers and signs around town say KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD. From the giant fork outside the Hyde Park Bar & Grill to the mural of a frog saying HI, HOW ARE YOU, the town has a refreshing oddball character to it. Nothing says that more than the Museum of the Weird on East Sixth Street. That's exactly where Mrs. McDonald wanted to

go to gather material for Amazing but True. People who are fascinated by UFOs, ghosts, sideshow freaks, and zombies feel right at home in this place. It's filled with displays of shrunken heads, Fiji mermaids, Bigfoot footprints, live reptiles, wax vampires, mummies, and strange animals like a hairy fish and a two-headed cow. There's a photo of a football team with six- fingered players. "This place creeps me out," Pep said as she

gazed at an exhibit about Ballyhoo Betty, a professional fire-eater who pulls nails out of her nose. But Pep made it a point to look at every photo on the wall and peer into every display case. Mrs. McDonald took a few pictures and jotted down some notes, but the Museum of the Weird was a little too weird even for her. And Dr. McDonald looked down his nose at the whole operation. "They call this a museum?" he said with a snort. "That's ridiculous. Your mother and I will meet you outside." After their parents left, the twins continued looking at the displays and giggling at the outrageousness of it all. On a table near the shrunken head display was a button that looked like a doorbell. On a piece of paper next to it, somebody had written in childish handwriting.... PUSH THIS BUTTON FOR A SURPRISE