After that, things in the park seemed wrong. The barker for the ringtoss game seemed to have an odd gleam in his eye. Even Leo the Paper-Eating Lion seemed vaguely sinister.
"What in the name of God is it?" Michael asked as he sat down heavily on a bench. He was staring at what looked like a car from a circus train, with a red roof and silver bars. Thrust between the bars was a lion's head, muzzle gaping open in a big friendly smile.
"I'm Leo the Paper-Eating Lion!" The voice was bright and peppy and it came from the muzzle. The timing bothered Jenny; she felt something like the quick cold touch of an ice cube at her neck.
"I eat all kinds of paper," the voice continued joyfully. "I eat cardboard, too. Old gum wrappers, orange peel, popcorn containers. So feed me."
"It's a trash can," Dee explained, squatting to look up the lion's muzzle. "It sucks stuff up like a vacuum cleaner."
A mother wheeled a double stroller up to the car. Both kids stared at the lion with hard expressions.
"Want to feed him?" the mom said.
The kid in front nodded, still unsmiling. She wadded up a paper napkin and threw it at the lion's mouth.
"No, you have to give it to him. Here." The mom retrieved the napkin for the kid. The kid, still unsmiling, leaned forward, hand outstretched.
"I bet I'll have a tummyache tomorrow!" Leo caroled.
Forward, forward-the little hand reaching-
"Leo's always hungry... ."
Jenny jumped up and clapped her hand over the hole in the lion's muzzle just before the kid's fingers got there.
The kid stared at her, never changing expression. The mom squeaked.
"Sorry," Jenny said. Everyone was staring at her, even Dee and Audrey and Michael. She didn't move her hand. The kid sat back. The mother, after a flummoxed moment, turned the stroller sharply and wheeled it away.
The back of Jenny's neck was still prickling as she slowly withdrew her hand. She'd been afraid that-what?
"All right," she said defiantly to the others. "So it was a stupid thing to do. So sue me."
"We're all kind of jumpy-" Michael began soothingly, and then proved it, by ducking as two small figures charged him with a blood-freezing battle yell.
Jenny crouched defensively by the lion before she realized that the two figures were children.
They dived under the wrought-iron bench and came up screaming triumph. "We got it! We got another one!"
"Got what?" Dee said, blocking them with her hightop.
"A doubloon, dummy," the boy said in friendly tones, holding up something round and shining between dirty-nailed fingers. To Jenny, it looked like one of those chocolate candies covered with cheap gold foil. Then he pointed. "Cancha read?"
Jenny twisted her neck. There was a large billboard behind them. Swashbuckling crimson letters announced:
ALL-NEW ATTRACTION! COLLECT THREE GOLD DOUBLOONS AND BE THE FIRST TO SET FOOT ON ... TREASURE ISLAND.
"You get three tokens and they letcha in free the day it opens. You get to go over the bridge first. They've got 'em hidden all over the park."
Spotting something else interesting, the kids ran away. On the billboard a pirate's treasure chest slowly opened and shut, like a clam's shell. Behind it Jenny could see the central island of Joyland Park, a manmade island in an artificial lagoon. The last time
Jenny had been here, it had been a sort of stage, with acrobatic shows and bands. Now it was clearly under construction, with a tall lighthouse in the middle. She couldn't see any bridge to it.
Why should that make her feel uneasy?
"Just pop those discards in my mouth! Leo's waiting..."
"Let's go," Jenny said. Her stomach was churning and she felt she had to distract herself. "Let's do something stupid-something kiddie. Let's go fishing."