Slingshot and Burp
Page 4
“What did you just call him?” asked Slingshot.
“Jackpot,” said Kate.
“That’s his name,” said McKenzie.
“Jackpot!” said Burp. “That’s just what we said when we found him out there in the Boneyard.”
“Whoa!” said Slingshot. “I think the pup should stay with Burp and me. We’re like three brothers from the same ranch.”
McKenzie rolled her eyes. “Oh, brother. Now who’s nuts?”
“I have an idea,” said Burp. “How about we let Jackpot pick who he wants to be with?” Without waiting for the girls to say yes or no, he set the pup down on the ground between them.
The girls dropped to their knees. “Here, boy! Here, boy!” they called.
The boys dropped, too. “Stay, boy! Stay, boy!” they coaxed. Jackpot ran around in circles, nipping and fake-growling at the boys first, then the girls. Then he chased his own tail.
“Who’s going to make you look pretty?” Kate cooed.
“Baked beans and jerky for breakfast — all you can eat!” Slingshot pleaded.
“Lemon verbena shampoo,” McKenzie sang, “with lavender rinse.”
“Red bows and green nail polish,” Kate wheedled, flashing her nails.
“We’ll give you bones,” Burp promised.
The pup looked from the girls to the boys and back again. He sniffed the air and wagged his tail double time. Finally he bounced over to Burp . . . Liiiick!
“Hah!” said Slingshot. “He wants to be with us.”
McKenzie shook her head and made a face. Then she and Kate huddled and whispered. Finally McKenzie announced, “You can borrow him . . . on one condition.”
“Name it,” said Slingshot.
“You have to promise to give him a bath and hand him back to us by noon tomorrow. That’s when his owners are coming to pick him up. What do you say?”
“It’s a deal,” said Slingshot and Burp, crossing their hearts.
Grabbing the skull and Bloody Eyes, the boys ran off yippee-ki-yaying. Jackpot, that half-wild desert pup, chased after their boots like they were escaping armadillos.
“That was close!” gasped Slingshot.
“I thought for sure they were going to turn us in,” said Burp. “We would have done two years in jail this time.”
“Let’s go show Big Jim the loot we found!” Slingshot said. “Windy’s spur, Bloody Eyes, the skull.”
“And don’t forget Jackpot,” said Burp. “He led us right to it.”
“Just wait till Big Jim hears about our brush with the Ghost Cat,” said Slingshot. “He won’t believe that we almost had to take that cowboy killer on with nothing but our bare hands. C’mon! What are we waiting for?”
“Aw, I’m done for!” said Burp. “I can’t move a muscle. Besides, Boots and Saddle isn’t open this early.”
Slingshot rubbed and polished the spur on his jeans, then held it up to the morning sun and whistled. “We were close, Burp. Close! And I’ve got a feeling the rest of Windy’s loot is right near where we found Jackpot. It has to be.” He pulled out Big Jim’s map, studied it, and marked an X on the spot.
“And his bones,” said Burp, yawning.
Just past the ditch, the cowboys holed up under a bush, hidden from any dead outlaws, howling mountain lions, or rattlesnakes. They set Bloody Eyes back inside the safety of the skull, then settled down with Jackpot for forty winks.
Hat over his eyes, Slingshot said, “After we catch some z’s, it’s straight to the Shelf of Honor at Big Jim’s with Windy’s spur. Then we hightail it back to the Boneyard for more loot.”
“And bones,” said Burp. “Don’t forget the bones.”
“Deal?” said Slingshot.
“Deal,” said Burp. “Just as fast as Thunder and Lightning can get us there.”
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either
products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2016 by Richard Haynes
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Stephen Gilpin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,
or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2016
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2016937999
The illustrations in this book were created digitally.
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