The Case of Dunc's Doll by Gary Paulsen Read Free Book Online

• 1
    Duncan—Dunc-Culpepper and Amos Binder were sitting on the bench in Dunc’s garage. Dunc’s bike crank was loose, and he was taking it apart and tightening it, greasing the bearings carefully as he fit them back into the clean housing, sitting in new grease. He put each steel ball in separately, gently.
    Amos was frustrated. “Come on—you’ll be all day with that. I want to get down to the mall. We haven’t tried that new video game—Splatter Space Defense. It’s in high-definitioncolor, and you can actually see pieces of the aliens flying off if you hit them right.”
    Dunc stopped, looked up. “A job worth doing is worth doing right. It might be ten years before I have to take this crank apart again.”
    â€œTen years?” Amos snorted and picked at a scab on his chin. “I’ve
never
taken the crank off my bike.”
    Dunc looked at Amos’s bike, leaning against the wall. It looked like a car had been parked on it for a week. “I can see that.”
    â€œIn ten years,” Amos said, “I’ll have a car, and Melissa and I will be happily married, and you can come over and teach my kids how to take their cranks apart. But for now, let’s get
going
. You want to spend your whole life in a garage?”
    But Dunc didn’t hurry, and he didn’t pay any attention to Amos’s pushing. They’d been best friends for as long as he could remember, and for at least that long Amoshad been pushing at him. “How did you cut your chin?”
    â€œIt happened last night. I was home alone, or thought I was, reading in the tub, and the phone rang. I was certain it was Melissa’s ring—it had that sound. You know, that kind of ring she has, followed by another ring?”
    Dunc nodded. Amos had been waiting for a call from Melissa as long as he had known Amos. Melissa didn’t show any sign that Amos was alive. It was like, Dunc thought, like he was invisible. Like she could read a book through him.
    â€œWell, you know I like to get it on that all-important second ring. So I cleared the tub still wet and naked and hit the hallway and hung a left trying to get to the phone in the front hall.” Amos shook his head. “Man, I had it all—my balance was working right, I was in good stride, had some form, and I think I would have made it.”
    â€œWhat happened?” Dunc put the lastball bearing back into the crank and fit the shaft through the hole. Carefully.
    â€œMother came home. She’d been doing Welcome Wagon and had three Welcoming ladies with her. They were all by the hall phone.”
    â€œBad,” Dunc said, shaking his head, trying not to smile. “Bad style—you naked and all.”
    Amos nodded. “I tried thinking of an excuse, but I was moving too fast. I did manage a grab at the phone—it was just instinct—and that threw me off, and I hung a foot on the doorjamb. That’s”—he took a breath—“when things started to go bad.”
    â€œNot until then?”
    Amos shrugged. “Well, I was a little embarrassed, but I still hadn’t been injured.”
    â€œSo how did it go bad?”
    â€œI lost it. I was still going at a full run, and I went down. I was so wet I was slippery and I kind of scooted across the carpet on my stomach. Like a dead fish. I hit a dining-roomchair headfirst and caught my head between two rungs on the bottom.”
    â€œHow did you get out?”
    â€œMother had to grease my hair.” Amos sighed. “All in all I had a pretty bad night. You ever try to get dressed with a chair stuck on your head?”
    Dunc shook his head and finished tightening the crank. “No—there, it’s done. Let’s get going—you going to mess around all day?”

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    Pioneer Mall was on the way toward town. Dunc’s home was on the outskirts in a development, and it took the two boys just fifteen