told Jem. "I didn't lie to that man. Not once."
Del and Bo Peep stood in front of us, their faces yellow and stern in our headlights. As we came in Bo Peep walked behind us, very casually, and closed the gates. We wouldn't be leaving quickly. And we didn't have any bags of cash to offer Mr. Brandon.
"Honesty," I told Jem, "is good in small quantities."
Chapter 13-14
Chapter 13
"It's been a crazy day," Del Brandon said.
He opened Erainya's door for her. Jem clambered out first, did a beautiful tight-end run around Del, then headed for the old-fashioned carousel animals that flanked the steps of the office.
Del raised a finger and said "Don't" about the time Jem launched himself onto the blue elephant's saddle and started bouncing. Del put his finger down, giving up.
I got out on my side and found myself in rock-climbing position against Bo Peep's chest. I looked up into his nostrils. "Howdy."
He receded a step. Gravity stopped pulling my arm hairs toward his body.
Del sized me up, gave Erainya an amused "my-bodyguard's-bigger-than-your-bodyguard" kind of smile. "You want to take a look around the shop?" he asked her.
He led us through the open hangar doors. Bo Peep trailed about twenty feet behind, Jem doing tight fearless orbits around him and asking what PlayStation games he liked.
The tour was quick. Del waved in different directions, said a few words, snuck occasional glances at Erainya to see if bags of money were forthcoming. The corrugated walls of the warehouse were lined with workbenches and machine tools, welding equipment, scrap metal shavings heaped in corners. In the middle of the room were three carnival rides in various states of assembly - a Super-Whirl with the multicolored base attached but the seats scattered around the cement floor like massive wobbly Easter eggs; an eight-armed Spider Rider stripped to just the hydraulic mechanisms; a miniature carousel that looked pretty much complete.
"I can have the two ready in a few hours if I call up some of my boys," Del promised. "The carousel's cash-and-carry."
Del led us over to the Super-Whirl and started pointing out the hydraulics underneath. "Forty-five-degree lift-and-twirl action. Thirty rpms. You don't get any better on a trailer-mounted unit. It's a classic."
Erainya nodded sagely. "How much?"
"Very reasonable. Thirty thousand."
Erainya managed to keep any reaction off her face. I set my mouth hard, thinking about the few people I'd known in my life who dealt in cash amounts that large and were fearless enough to tote it around in grocery bags. None of them were nice people.
Jem had been jumping on the balls of his feet, anxious to try out everything. Finally he broke loose and ran toward one of the disassembled carriage units on the ground. Del lifted his finger, thought about the last time he'd told the kid "Don't," then turned to Erainya instead. "That's not safe."
"Jem," Erainya said. Jem scootched to a stop, reined himself back to his mom's side. He didn't stop grinning.
"It's late," Del reminded us. "Let's talk business."
Erainya said, "So this is all you got?"
"Right now. We can also repair any old units you got."
She nodded toward the Cro-Magnon man looming behind me. "You always need him in the room?"
Del glanced at Bo Peep, then at me. He apparently decided the security risk was not high. "Get a Nehi, Ernie. We'll be in the office."
Bo Peep drifted away. The rest of us followed Brandon out of the warehouse. "You got to understand about Ernie," Del said as we crossed the yard. "Guy's gone state-to-state with the carnies so long, on the lam, he's just about fanatical to me for giving him a settle-down job, no questions asked. You worked the road long?"
"I know Ernie's type," Erainya assured him.
We walked up the office steps between the plaster horse and the blue elephant. Both glistened with hysterical smiles.
Inside, the reception area was no more than seven feet square, rafter beams lower than a miner's cabin, walls so old and dim and brown it was impossible to tell what they were made of. Whatever it was, it was solid enough to accept nails, which is how the majority of things were posted - an old Hung Fong's calendar, some company notices, photographs of workers at the shop, pictures of the rides. Up along the top of the walls were ripped fragments of old party decorations in several different colors. A truly impressive collection of gimme caps hung on more nails behind the receptionist's desk.
The receptionist, in