Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb by D. R. Martin Read Free Book Online Page B

grinned back.
    “And I want your story in the Clarion, ” Mr. Cargill said. “We’ll give you both contracts and a nice hunk of cash.”
    Johnny was excited, almost vibrating. This could be a huge break, a dream come true. A contract meant he was halfway to getting on the Clarion payroll as a staff photographer. And there was hardly anything he wanted more.
    “I think we should do it, Mel,” he said. “I think something big’s going on, and it’s real important that people find out what happened. Nobody could tell this story better than you and me.”
    Johnny knew Mel had hoped that when the Gesellschaft hit the front pages, it would be with some huge discovery that would benefit mankind. She had told him—as the Night Goose limped back to Zenith—that she didn’t approve of the idea of writing about ghosts as thugs and assassins. It would only reinforce the bad feelings that many of the living had toward specters. And Johnny understood that prejudice against ghosts was way too common. Was it their fault they died and got stuck in the ether?
    So he was surprised and cheered by Mel’s response.
    “I think Johnny’s right when he says something big is going on,” the exhausted etherist agreed. “This’ll give us a chance to explain why the Hausenhofer Gesellschaft matters. And why we have to get to the bottom of this terrible plot.”
    She looked from Johnny to Uncle Louie to Mr. Cargill and gritted her teeth.
    “Let’s do it,” she said. “Do you have a typewriter I can use?”
     

 
    Chapter 12
    Late that evening Mrs. Lundgren greeted her two “babies” on the front porch with hugs and kisses and blubberings. She said she’d listened to radio news reports and had been dreadfully worried. “But you’re safe now,” said the ghost housekeeper, as they all trooped inside.
    Within a matter of minutes she had whipped up some chicken sandwiches and plopped the plates down on the kitchen table. Uncle Louie filled everyone’s glasses with root beer, then nodded to Nina. “Old Bean, you do the honors.”
    Nina hoisted up her glass. “A toast to the illustrious Miss Melanie Graphic, for valor and bravery in the face of extraordinary danger.”
    “To my big sister,” Johnny added with a grin.
    They clinked their glasses all around and took hearty slurps.
    Johnny heard a mild “harumph” from the far corner of the kitchen. He and Mel turned their heads simultaneously. Colonel MacFarlane stood next to the pantry door, snapping to attention and saluting. “To the commander, huzzah!” he barked in that odd, papery voice of his. “The bravest woman I’ve ever known, alive or dead!”
    Mel forced a weak smile. “Well, it didn’t seem brave at the time. Stupid, more like.”
    Everyone tut-tutted her and said that no, brave she had been and they would take no guff on that point.
    After the sandwiches and potato chips had been thoroughly demolished, Mel yawned a prodigious yawn. “Johnny and I have been mostly awake for forty hours. I just want to climb into bed and sleep for a year or two. But first, I have a question for my kid brother.”
    Johnny sat up straighter. He had a bad feeling about this.
    “Why,” Mel asked, narrowing her eyes, “did you put that mustache on me?”
    Mel was scowling at him and so were Uncle Louie and Nina. Even the colonel and Mrs. Lundgren didn’t look too happy with him.
    Feeling his cheeks redden, Johnny knew he had no one to blame but himself. “You were out like a light. And it was soooooo tempting. And…” He trailed off. “You’re not still mad, are you?”
    “Normally, a stunt like this means you’re washing dishes every night for a month,” Mel said, still looking grim.
    Uncle Louie nodded gravely and took a long sip of his root beer.
    Johnny was genuinely appalled.
    “And no radio,” Mel continued.
    “No radio?” A shock wave went through Johnny’s body. How could a guy live without his radio? No Duke Donegan Show ? No Gang Buster Adventures ? No