A Hard Bargain by Jane Tesh Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t know.”
    “What about the history course at PCC? Are you interested in that?”
    “I don’t really want to go back to school. My studying days are over. Not that I ever did that much studying.”
    “Something in the theater, maybe?”
    “It’s fun, but I don’t think it’s something I’d want to do all the time.”
    I didn’t want to suggest anything remotely paranormal, but I’d promised Hayden I’d ask about a séance at the store.
    “Hayden’s worried the bookstore may be haunted. Could you say a few magic words and make the boogiemen go away?”
    “Sure. That’s my idea of fun, too.”
    “But it’s not a real job, Jerry.”
    “I wouldn’t charge Hayden, anyway. He and I oughta work together. I’ve never met anyone so sensitive to the spirit world.”
    I was going to continue my argument with the fact that Hayden was prone to mental breakdowns when a small red Ford Escort drove up the drive. Twenty hopped out, her hair in wild curls.
    “Jerry! Have you rented your house to the movie company?”
    “Not yet,” he said. “What’s the matter?”
    “I just cannot believe this! The movie is going to be about Mantis Man!”
    Jerry and I exchanged a puzzled glance. “Mantis Man?” I said.
    Twenty flopped into a rocking chair. “We’ll be the laughingstock of the entire country. Poor dumb rural hicks seeing giant insects. It’s awful!”
    Jerry leaned forward. “Giant insects?”
    She sighed. “Here I was, hoping for a sensitive portrayal of our wonderful little town, and all we get is a second rate horror film.”
    Jerry said, “But it could be a really good second rate horror film.”
    She glared at him. “Jerry, just because you like all that supernatural stuff.”
    “Well, I don’t know anything about Mantis Man,” he said. “Fill me in.”
    “It’s ridiculous. It’s like that stupid story about the Hook. Teenagers out on a lonely road, their car won’t start, they see glowing red eyes and some ghastly creature tries to eat them up.”
    “So people have seen this thing?”
    “Drunk teenagers and old coots who have nothing better to do than run around in the woods all night.”
    “What’s Mantis Man supposed to be? A mutated insect? An alien?”
    “Oh, there are all kinds of stories. He’s a hobo who fell into some radioactive swamp gas. He’s a pet let loose from a UFO. He’s an escaped experiment from Peterson Air Force Base.”
    “And he looks like a praying mantis?”
    “Yes, a great big stupid bug-eyed praying mantis.”
    Jerry looked at me in mock anger. “Mac, why have you kept this from me?”
    “I knew it would stand in the way of you getting your doctorate in history.”
    Twenty blinked, trying to follow our exchange, and gave it up. “Well, I had to come out here and tell you the bad news in person.” She pointed a shiny orange fingernail at Jerry. “And Jerry Fairweather, if you let those movie people use the Eberlin house to make a gory movie about Mantis Man, I’m not sure I’ll ever speak to you again.”
    “Take it easy,” he said. “They may not want to use the house.”
    “I’m going to start a campaign against this, see if I don’t.”
    “Are there that many people in town who’d object to a movie about the mantis?” I asked.
    “Everyone in my gardening club, for starters.”
    “Guess they wouldn’t like any kind of insect,” Jerry said with a grin.
    “That’s not funny.”
    “Twenty, all you need is a really big fly swatter.”
    “If you’re not going to take this seriously!”
    “I never take anything seriously.”
    Twenty turned to me. “You know what I’m talking about, don’t you, Madeline? You see how the town could be overrun with awful Mantis Man stuff? Cheap tee shirts that say, ‘I Saw the Mantis Man,’ or ‘Celosia, Home of the Mantis Man.’ We’d never live it down.”
    “It could be a lot of fun,” Jerry said.
    Twenty was almost in tears. “You’re not from here. You don’t know how people