"Yes! B. Durash-there can't be another Durash in Monessen. It's got to be her."
She stuck in a quarter and dialed before she realized she hadn't planned out what to say.
"Hello." The voice on the other end made the word sound almost like yellow. There was a faint accent, earthy, not as slow as a drawl.
"Hi. Hi. Uh, this is Jenny Thornton and-" Debate team, Jenny thought. Vacation, hometown, late spring break-parents. Where are my parents supposed to be?
"Is this Mrs. Durash?" she blurted.
There was a pause that seemed very long. Then: "Mrs. Durash isn't here right now. This is her daughter-in-law."
"Oh ... but she does live there? Mrs. Durash? And-look, okay, do you happen to know if she's the same Mrs. Durash that worked for Mr. Eric Evenson?" I am making a total fool of myself, Jenny realized, staring at the graffiti on the glass door.
Another pause. "Ye-e-es, she's the caretaker for the Evenson house."
Wonderful! Caretakers had to have keys. Jenny was so buoyed up that she forgot about making a fool of herself.
"Thank you-that's great. I mean-it'll be really great to talk to her. Do you know when she'll be back?"
"She always goes over to her son's in Charleroi on Saturday. She'll be back around seven. Call then."
"Seven p.m.?" Michael said bitterly when Jenny repeated the conversation. He flopped onto the splintered green bench against the dairy bar wall. "And we have to wait outside until then. I'm not walking back until I get some ice cream."
"Money," Audrey said with a toss of her copper head.
A bus roared up to the corner. Jenny stared at it absently as she thought. Nine hours to kill. They'd be conspicuous in this little town. They'd have to hide in her grandfather's backyard or-Something on the side of the bus came into focus.
JOYLAND PARK, ROLLER COASTER CAPITAL OF THE world. The poster was illustrated with roller coasters and merry-go-rounds.
The wooden bench seemed to drop away beneath Jenny.
When she could breathe again, the bus was revving its engine to drive away. Jenny made her decision in an instant.
"Let's go!"
Dee bounded up, ready at once. Michael leaned his head against the wall and shut his eyes. Audrey said, "Where?"
"On that bus. Come on, quick!" Jenny ran up and grabbed the dusty glass door before it could straighten shut. "Do you go to Joyland Park?" she shouted.
"Clairton, Duquesne, West Mifflin-West Mifflin's Joyland," he said laconically.
"Right. Four, please."
The others straggled up the steps. The bus was almost empty and smelled like old tires. They sat on the torn leather seats in the very back, and Audrey looked at Jenny.
"Now will you please explain where we're going?"
"Joyland Park," Jenny said a little breathlessly.
"Why?"
" 'Cause they've got corn dogs," Michael said, very quietly.
Jenny looked Audrey straight in the eye. "Did you see that poster on the side of the bus? It was in my dream. I had a dream on the plane, while Michael was dreaming about Summer, and that poster was in it."
Audrey considered, teeth set in her cherry-glossed lower lip. "It might be perfectly natural. You might have had the park on your mind, since you were coming back here and all."
"Or it might be something else," Jenny said. "Like -I don't know, some kind of a message." She shifted. "Look, do any of you ever wonder if-well, if Summer is really dead?"